Managing employee expectations gets tougher during tough times when leaders have to think not only about the business, but also about employees grappling with all that bad news. Here are a few of the mantras that we at Marico have continued to chant during the tough times in the recent past.
Leverage Membership: Create a strong sense of ownership amongst employees. This entitles them to stop being employees and instead be ‘members’. The company then becomes theirs; they are not fighting the tough times for someone else. They are not “hired soldiers” but “generals in their own right”. To my mind, successful implementation of this is more than half the battle won. ‘Members’ can deal with tough times such as an economic downturn much better than employees, since they have the power of their belief. We have continued to invest in our ‘members’—there has been no cutback in recruitment, training, learning, in development of people for newer responsibilities. This also strengthens members’ belief in the future.
Continue to invest in brands: Membership is a powerful instrument, but we do need other instruments to play the symphony! We believe that it is important to retain and in fact grow consumer franchise in tough times, rather than focusing excessively on profit margins. Our investment in brands helps retain our members’ confidence in our business since they do not see visible signs of being under stress. When our members know that we can deliver in tough times, it is but natural that their belief in the long term moves up. Also, explore new spaces: opportunities abound in tough times. It makes sense to have two parallel teams working—one warding off threats and the other looking at opportunities. Thus M&A teams should be over-active during a downturn. And at Marico they indeed are!
Communicate openly, but... : Open channels of communication exist through which we can continuously share information about Marico and its business. This eliminates rumours and unproductive grapevine and bolsters our members’ belief in the future. It helps them stay on course and continue to give their best to the organisation. We have, however, generally refrained from issuing topdown communications about the times being tough. Sermons have a limited value. We have instead focused on first initiating the required counter-measures and enthusing people to participate in them, and then communicating as required. When ‘members’ see the leadership actually deal with tough situations and come out winning quarter after quarter, their belief in the system grows. They then start expecting a better future. That is quite a victory during tough times.
Be “Realistically Positive”, not just “Inactively Optimistic”: Leadership has to realise that employees’ expectations during tough times are governed also by the leaders’ reaction to the tough times. It is important for leadership to not react in panic, yet, at the same time, recognise and deal with the reality as it is. Jim Collins best captures this approach in his famous book, Good to Great. He describes the virtue of a prisoner who is “realistically positive”. This prisoner, unlike others, strives to get himself released while all the time presuming that he may perhaps never get released. He is optimistic, but not just for the sake of it. He gets into action, while assuming the worst. And he comes out a winner as compared to other prisoners—those who are just optimistic and do nothing and also those who are pessimistic and do nothing. Thus while radiating positive vibes during tough times, it is also important to ensure that there is enough action on the ground to deal with the tough times. It is important to strike the golden mean of positivity and action.
Be Genuine: Finally, it is important to be genuine—even more so during tough times. Smart techniques of mass management may enable a leader to manipulate employee expectations and help their morale. However, this cannot be sustained for long. If there has to be long-term credibility of the leadership, openness and transparency alone will create the required trust. And during tough times, trust in the future is what carries teams across.
(The author is chairman and managing director, Marico Ltd)
