In response to Monday’s Letter from China, Joe Barnes writes:

Having lived through several deep recessions in the U.S. I found that there are still rewards to be obtained even when you have to redefine your traditional concept of productivity:

Spend your free time wisely. Focus on EDUCATION–learn a useful skill; learn a new language; read things that you previously ignored; reach higher than you thought possible when you were busy with the work that has now fallen by the wayside.

Be PATIENT. Think long term. This situation did not happen suddenly and it will not be cured suddenly. Focus your energies on WELLNESS. Depression and anxiety sicken and kill. Adopt a new regimen of exercise, fitness and healthy food. Grow your own; you have the time.

Focus on SPIRITUAL enrichment. Spend time being involved with and reaching out to those whose lot in life is worse than yours. All the things that abundant work denied you, due to too busy a schedule, will now be possible. REINVENT YOURSELF so that when global circumstances improve you will be ready to prosper.
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Pre-registration continues for Working Leadership Online. This program kicks off with Orientation on Jan 26. For more information, follow this link.

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I’m from China and manager of our sales department. The global financial crisis is hitting everyone in the world and China is not an exception. Among my staff, some people fear being laid off with little enthusiasm to work while others are even more negative about the future.

My question is how we can motivate people and how to relieve them from their worries, and rebuild hope for the future, though no one can predict what will happen.

Response:
The value most often cited for effective leadership is honesty. We seek leaders with integrity. These should be your guiding lights.

Unfortunately, you may not know what the honest answer is, so your response may sound hollow. When, in fact, you may not know what the future holds for your team or for your company.

What do we know? We know that this economic crisis will pass and that the world will get along. Life, goes on. In this case, not quickly. My advisors (Ecotrends.org) tell us not to look for relief until the summer of 2010, and even then, we may only see the first signs of spring.

That means things are going to be tough and uncertain.

In all of this however, there will still be opportunity. And that opportunity will only come to those organizations that are aggressive in finding and capitalizing on those opportunities. Even if the world’s economy is reduced by 40 percent, there is still 60 percent left. The question, for your team, is which group they want to be in, the 40 percent or the 60 percent. It is really a choice.

Today caught up with me. Running hard, just like you.

It has been a wild year, but then we knew it would turn out this way. Maybe we didn’t believe it, in our hearts until the past couple of months, but we knew it would turn out this way. We worked hard to prepare, get our balance sheets in order, wean off debt, and say goodbye to some of our favorite people. It was those last goodbyes that were the most difficult, those we hoped we could keep, but couldn’t after all.

And some companies are still growing, traditionally counter cyclical to economic circumstances. This will still be a time of change.

Some of what we know will no longer be valid. Some solutions will no longer fit the new problems. It will require our brightest mind and sharpest execution. And it will always come down to this.

Find a market need big enough.
Build a product or service to meet it.
Then produce it faster, better and cheaper than your competitor.

To help, we have created a new management program called Working Leadership Online. It will start at the end of January. You can find out more about by following this link.

But, now it is time to rest and enjoy the holidays with family and friends. Management Skills Blog will return on January 5, 2009. And now this story, first published here in 2005.
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As Matthew looked across the manufacturing floor, the machines stood silent, the shipping dock was clear. Outside, the service vans were neatly parked in a row. Though he was the solitary figure, Matthew shouted across the empty space.

He reached for the switch and the mercury vapors went dark. He slid out the door and locked it behind.

“Changes?”

“Yes, changes,” I replied. “Have a meeting and simply ask, what has changed?”

Roselle started to speak, then stopped.

“Why is it important to talk about Change?” I asked.

Roselle laughed. “Because without change, they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday.”

“And without change,” I continued her sentence, “if they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday, they would not need a manager.”

That hit close to home. Roselle got quiet again.

“Look, Roselle, now more than ever, your company depends on its managers to get through this thing. Your company is depending on you. Your company is depending on you being effective.”

“It still feels bad,” Lydia explained. “We spent the past ten years building this team, and now, we have to take it apart. I feel bad when I have to tell people they have lost their jobs. I feel bad for the organization. All of our hard work, our capacity, our competence, our place in the market, we have to dismantle.”

“And?” I asked.

“And we have to keep on. At the end of the day, life goes on,” Lydia admitted.

“What do say to those, you have to disconnect?”

“There is nothing to say. There are no words. I can only give them respect. They have a difficult journey ahead, and they face it alone.”

“And what do you say, to those who remain?”

“What kind of questions?” asked Ted.

“Look, in your position, as Manager, you often don’t have the technical details necessary to make a decision. As a Manager, that’s not your job. Your job is to bring value to the thinking and work of your team.” I waited for Ted to catch up.

“By asking questions?”

“Most Managers think their team will see them weak if they have difficulty making a decision, even if the Manager doesn’t have the technical details. So, sometimes Managers make a decision because they think it’s their job.

“If you have two engineers, each with a different method of solving a problem, you may not know which method is technically the best way.”

“So, how do you make the decision?”

“You don’t bring value by making a decision and telling them what to do. You bring value by asking questions.

• What were the top three criteria on which you based your recommendation?
• What impact will your recommendation hav on the time frame of the project?
• What two things could go wrong with your recommendation?

“Your job, as Manager, is not telling people what to do. Your job is to bring value to their thinking and their work.” -TF

Greetings from St. Louis, MO.
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Our next Leadership program begins Wednesday, April 30, 2008. For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com.
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“I’m not sure I know what you mean, bring value to a person’s thinking and their work. I know what it means, I guess, I am not sure how a Manager does that,” asked Ted.

“Do you bring value by telling a person what to do?” I replied.

“Well, I could make suggestions,” Ted answered. “But you are right. Technically, these guys run circles around me. I don’t know the technology and I don’t have their experience.”

“So, even if you did make suggestions, there is a high likelihood that you would be suggesting the wrong thing?”

Ted nodded his head.

“So, if these guys can technically run circles around you and have much more experience, then how can you, as their Manager, bring value to their thinking and their work?”

Ted was stumped.

“As their Manager, Ted, you don’t bring value by telling. You bring value by asking questions.” -TF