TOW#460 — Time to sound the alarm
Sometimes things just don’t go according to plan, and this holds true for all companies, regardless of ownership, size, location, achievements or awards they may have received. We live in a very turbulent time, surrounded by unpredictability, and so when things go wrong it can happen very unexpectedly.
On the other hand, reality isn’t always easy to accept, and so the answers to these kinds of questions aren’t always simple:
- When are things not going well?
- Is this something we can figure out for ourselves or do we need someone from the outside to tell us?
- When should the alarm bells start ringing?
It’s time to sound the alarm when some of these things/signs begin to appear regularly in your company or have been around for some time now:
- Unmotivated staff — when people are having to drag themselves to work, or are staying too late, or have too much time to blab and gossip, or are working on things that aren’t connected to their job description, that’s a sign that something’s not quite right.
- Personnel changes — if many people are leaving the company, that means they’re abandoning a sinking ship. Nobody wants to be last to get off!
- Quality — the quality of the products and services you offer has gone down. You’ll notice this decrease in quality either because of more frequent complaints or the fact that people stop calling you, which simply means that sales are dropping.
- Leadership — the stench of a rotting fish comes from its head, and the same goes for a rotting company. Leadership without integrity, motivation and honesty, and on the other hand constant criticism, is not true leadership. Criticism is good, but if management only criticises and waits for opportunities to criticise some more, then that company’s days are numbered.
- Communication — I won’t go as far as to say ZERO communication, but there’s a lack of understanding and nobody knows the ‘real’ truth, leading to communication that’s essentially gossip and other conversations that aren’t related to work. This leads to a sense of fear, worry and anxiety among employees, which only serves to accelerate gossip and ‘stories’ about what could or will happen within the organisation. This results in confusion, stress, and a serious lack of job satisfaction.
- Finances — you’re unable to pay off your debts, low profitability, inability to get money, whether from a bank or some other place…
- Tensions between departments — tensions between sectors are the norm in many companies, but that tension can be positive (if it’s motivated by competition) or negative (hatred and non-sharing of information between sectors, leading to reduced sales or delays in deliveries or poor communication with the outside world).
- Blame game — if the focus is on pointing the finger at who’s to blame for work not getting done properly, instead of accepting mistakes and learning from them, then something’s not right.
Keep these signs in mind, so the next time one of them appears you’ll know it’s time for thought and in-depth analysis on whether or not to make some changes for the good of your company, and also everyone in it.
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
@kalin.babusku
“Tip of the Week” Team member
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