I hate to be the dissenting opinion, but excluding Lighthouse's response, I don't agree with the responses you've received so far.
You absolutely can impact the morale of your workplace, no matter who you are or what position you hold. Leaders don't always have to come from management. Some of your most valuable and effective leaders are working in the trenches, beside all those low-morale employees.
Change is always difficult, and it causes stress in the best of us, but there are many ways to overcome the stress and turn the anxiety into positive action that leads to progress and a buy-in to the change process, rather than an alienation from "what's happening."
If your workforce feels they are a positive "part" of the change, they will be motivated by it, anxious to see "better times ahead" and willing to make the usually stressful adaptations that are necessary to make the process flow smoothly.
Who "in the trenches" do the employees at your company look to for guidance? Who do they take their troubles to? Who is the "den mom" of the secretary pool? These are the employees that are in the position to make the changes less stressful and actually rally the troupes to promote it and buy-in to the new vision.
The first thing to realize is that change happens constantly. It is simply your turn to feel it first-hand. Everyone else feels it too, and survives, and so will you. The future will bring more change, it's a guarantee, so the companies that are best suited to dealing with it will be the ones who survive.
Helping others cope with and overcome the negative potential of change is what people who are referred to as change leaders, or change agents, do. But anyone can fill this role. There are only a few key skills required, and most of those come naturally to the people you work with that are already the "ring leaders" or "den moms" in your company's various departments. Get them together for a pow wow over lunch and give them these simple ideas to start mini-revolutions for
POSITIVE change in each of your deprtments.
By far the most important skill is in communication (Lighthouse's answer is dead on here). Your change agents need to be able to encourage others to take ownership of the change and to adequately plan for it. It's more about removing barriers than solving problems. If everyone sits back and waits to see what the fallout will be like, nothing positive will come of the efforts management is making. So, jump in and make an overt effort to embrace the changes, the new individuals involved, the new stakeholders, and most especially their new ideas. Don't let misunderstanding arise, or rumors abound -- ask questions, ask what each of you can do to help make things move smoothly. Communicate openly! The PROCESS of change is far more disruptive than the course of the day once the changes are in place, so move it along, get it done quickly and efficiently. The new suits will love you for it and you'll soon realize that diferent is not necessarily worse.
So, what should you communicate? The truth! Always. People know when they're being misled. If you are not sure of the truthfulness of a rumor, DON'T SPREAD IT! Even if you do know it's true, if it's a morale killer, keep it to yourself unless it's important to the process of change or to the operations of your department. Then, put as positive a spin on it as you can, and if you can't, turn to humor -- see the examples below.
Provide a "big picture" of what the new future holds. Positive, secure, exciting! Would Disneyland be as fun if there was no pre-vacation hype about it? Do you wander into the Magic Kingdom thinking, "Awe, gee, this is going to be totally different than any other vacation I've had, that makes me nervous and uncomfortable." Of course not, you race in excited to experience something wonderful and new. Your company's new vision can be that. It's all a matter of attitude and perspective.
Stay constructive. Keep the imagery, goals, vision of the future, and pre-vacation hype positive and motivating.
Stay consistent. Verbal, written and even nonverbal forms of communication need to be consistent with the culture you are trying to build. Make sure your 'walk' and your 'talk' support each other.
Stay continuous. Keep that reinforcement coming. Compare what your attitude would be like if you saw only one ad for Disneyland three months before your trip, as opposed to watching ads on the Disney channel everyday. Which will keep your morale up? You, and others in the "trenches" can be that Disney channel. Every day, several times a day, reinforce that new image of a bright and exciting future.
That said, there will be people who are less able to adapt than others. Be there for them. Encourage others to be there for them as well. And not just fellow employees, but friends and family also. Show them empathy -- be someone they know will listen that they can express their concerns to. Provide an
intellectual understanding of what happened and what is going to happen -- remember that information is reassuring. Express ideas you and others have come up with for "moving on." Solicit ideas from them, the more they contribute to the growing bucket-o-change ideas (in one company I worked with they actually had a big galvanized bucket that people would stick their ideas, thoughts, suggestions, and not a small number of gripes, on. Then, after department heads addressed them they were thrown into the bucket. Mangers pretty much HAD to address questions and ideas, or the bucket would get completely covered and they would be shown as uncaring (peer pressure with the dept. head next door whose bucket was still shiney metal) -- the more they contribute, the better.
Keep the information flowing. You don't have to be the boss to find this stuff out. Ask questions, talk to others, heck, google it! Post notes on bulletin boards with positive things you've found out (with the change comes newer upgraded equipment, or better benefits, or whatever) -- there will be improvements -- companies are not stupid -- these changes are meant to increase the company's productivity and value. Your reputation improves right along with the company's, so do whatever you can to facilitate these improvements and your own value will rise.
Don't rely only on email to communicate either. It's a great invention, but it does not reassure and you cannot "infect" others with your great attitude nearly as effectively through email. Face-to-face is where this is at.
Most important, keep all that communication flowing on a two-way street. Solicit comments, ideas, and suggestions from everyone else. Each person who becomes part of the improvement now has a stake in its success. Offer rewards (nothing fancy) to the person each week who comes up with the most motivating story or idea. Keep it fun and exciting. laugh, smile, and crack a few jokes. Remember the ultimate comfort food -- ice cream!
In closing, take a lesson from some BIG companies who were struggling at one time with change... Feel free to post these on the bulletin boards, or send one out daily in an email...
1) In dealing with mandates for DuPont employees to trim travel expenses, ideas on how to do so were posted on bulletin boards. One such post encouraged employees to trim travel expenses by hitchhiking to business destinations, bunking with friends, and ducking meal checks with the old "dine - n - dash" routine.
2) At General Motors, a list was circulated -- inspired by David Letterman's Top 10 Lists. Titled "The Top 10 Reasons Lemmings March to the Sea", the list included items such as #10: "It's their corporate direction," and #1: "They heard the Japanese were doing it."
3) At IBM, casualties of "Management Initiated Attrition" (fired employees) were referred to as MIAs. And a few malcontents toyed at one point with the idea of adding "Or Thwim" to the company's ubiquitous "THINK" signs.
4) At Digital Equipment Corp., which slashed 20 percent of its work force in the mid-90s, the circulated email riddle read: "What's the difference between DEC and Jurassic Park? One is a high-tech theme park full of dinosaurs. The other is a Steven Spielberg movie."
5) Proctor & Gamble workers used to skewer current (back then) chairman Ed Artzt's penchant for acronyms. Leading into the turn of the century, the company's plan was to eliminate 12 percent of its workforce, or 13,000 jobs, under a program called "Strengthening Global Effectiveness," or SGE. Workers were overheard often telling others that SGE stood for "Say Good-bye to Ed."
6) Finally, General Electric Chairman Jack Welch (again, late 90s) had the nickname Neutron Jack for his ability to eliminate thousands of people and still leave the buildings standing.
Humor really can be an amazing medicine. Lighten up and watch others around you follow.
Hope this helps. Keep in touch with what happens, and if you need or want any advice, don't hesitate to ask. It's what I do, and I love doing it. Take Care.
Stukie
