With the announcement of reductions in budgets by the government, there will be an inevitable rush to cut costs and reduce headcount. This is a predictable and ‘easy’ solution for most organisations but creates a number of problems. Often, the remaining managers and leaders will be expected to cope with the effects of the removal of friends and colleagues as well as to pick up their workloads. This can create unwarranted amounts of stress and turmoil. Ironically, this is an opportunity for most organisations to fundamentally look at systems, processes and procedures to figure out new methods and modes of operation, but the rush to cut costs simply results in the wholesale destruction of knowledge and goodwill within the company. This can often result in the most talented people (and those most desiring of a move) selecting themselves for redundancy.
Organisations need to consider a range of factors to help them maximise the returns from the remaining managers. They must involve those ‘left behind’ in fundamental changes in approach and process - as with insufficient resource, process always needs to improve or change. Leaders must spend time engaging with people and listen to their fears and concerns. This can be tricky as the traditional approach is either to wallow in personal grief or indulge in some form of ‘rah rah’, but it is vital to take time and be supportive to others.
Leaders and managers need to see the whole budget reduction issue as an opportunity to re-engineer both ‘what’ they do and ‘how’ they do it so they can begin to build change ‘competence’ by giving people choices and practical steps to re-engage with the ‘new’ organisation.
Whilst no-one is pretending that the future may be pretty difficult, it doesn’t have to be a tragedy. Some simple common sense can add value for both individuals and teams and, ultimately help the organisation re-group and build again.
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