It is never easy to deliver the bad news to your employees, but bad things can happen to any companies. Sometimes, few external factors like economy or exchange rate can affect your company’s bottom line. And at that time, company’s very survival might be at stake. And hence, you might be put in to the situation, where you have to take those tough decisions as a company’s executive. The primary challenge during these situations is – Communication. If handled incorrectly, you might risk of losing your employee’s trust and tumbling their morale. In this blog, I would like to share one of the success story, where listening to employee’s input while taking these tough decisions have helped the company. While taking tough decisions such as layoffs, restructuring, outsourcing, etc.; you should involve your stakeholders in the planning and implementation stages. You might not be able to involve all of your employees while taking these tough decisions, but you should at least engage your senior management and department heads in the consultation process. Depending on the situation, you might want to keep employees/employee representatives apprised of the situation to avoid any surprises. On various occasions, this strategy might prove to be helpful. Take this company for an example (company X), where I recently consulted them for downsizing. Company X had really bad financials. It was clear that they had to cut down two of their product lines, which were not performing at all. And hence, they had to layoff few of their employees due to tumbling financial situation of the company. So, instead of announcing few layoffs, the CEO announced voluntary retirement program and some pay cuts. Surprisingly, I was able to collaborate with majority of their employees and get them to agree upon a pay cut and retraining program. As a result, we didn’t need to layoff anyone. Though this was a success story, it might not work for everyone. But one thing is clear. If you are willing to share information with your employees, they will not only value your decision but they might also come up with a plan to handle the situation better. I hope, this example can inspire you to consider your employee’s input while taking these critical decisions. Have you ever encountered similar situation like this? Are you aware of any workplace/organization that considers their employee’s input before taking tough decisions? Thanks. – Bhavin Gandhi.

1. Why should you listen to your employees while
taking tough decisions?
by Bhavin Gandhi
It is never easy to deliver the bad news to your employees, but bad things can happen to any companies.
Sometimes, few external factors like economy or exchange rate can affect your company’s bottom line. And at that
time, company’s very survival might be at stake. And hence, you might be put in to the situation, where you have to
take those tough decisions as a company’s executive. The primary challenge during these situations is –
Communication. If handled incorrectly, you might risk of losing your employee’s trust and tumbling their morale. In
this blog, I would like to share one of the success story, where listening to employee’s input while taking these tough
decisions have helped the company.
While taking tough decisions such as layoffs, restructuring, outsourcing, etc.; you should involve your stakeholders
in the planning and implementation stages. You might not be able to involve all of your employees while taking
these tough decisions, but you should at least engage your senior management and department heads in the
consultation process. Depending on the situation, you might want to keep employees/employee representatives
apprised of the situation to avoid any surprises. On various occasions, this strategy might prove to be helpful.
Take this company for an example (company X), where I recently consulted them for downsizing. Company X had
really bad financials. It was clear that they had to cut down two of their product lines, which were not performing at
all. And hence, they had to layoff few of their employees due to tumbling financial situation of the company. So,
instead of announcing few layoffs, the CEO announced voluntary retirement program and some pay cuts.
Surprisingly, I was able to collaborate with majority of their employees and get them to agree upon a pay cut and
retraining program. As a result, we didn’t need to layoff anyone. Though this was a success story, it might not work
for everyone. But one thing is clear. If you are willing to share information with your employees, they will not only
value your decision but they might also come up with a plan to handle the situation better.
1 Author: Bhavin.Gandhi@live.com | Contact information: http://www.BhavinGandhi.com

2. I hope, this example can inspire you to consider your employee’s input while taking these critical decisions. Have
you ever encountered similar situation like this? Are you aware of any workplace/organization that considers their
employee’s input before taking tough decisions?
Thanks. – Bhavin Gandhi.
Bhavin Gandhi | October 24, 2012 at 11:38 AM | Tags: Change
Management, Communication,Communication with employees, Cultural Change, Employee
input, Employees, Executive decisions,Layoffs, Leaders of Tomorrow, Leadership, Manage
Change, Management, Managing Failures,Strategic decisions, The best leader, Tough decisions |
Categories: 21st Century, Leadership,Management | URL: http://wp.me/p103Cm-8o
2 Author: Bhavin.Gandhi@live.com | Contact information: http://www.BhavinGandhi.com