Motivating People In Uncertain Times

Written by Marcia Grubel Wednesday, October 07 2009

Global and economic uncertainty takes its toll on employees’ motivation as people struggle with overtime, lack of incentives, and feeling secure about their futures.  How have our times impacted the overall corporate climate of your business?  Are people coming to work with the attitude of just getting by or are they actively engaged in making a contribution toward making the company profitable. Are they being pro-active instead of re-active in responding to customers, technical problems, costs, safety, etc?  Do people respond with creativity, cooperation, and openness to new ways of doing things?

The challenge for companies who are preparing for an uncertain future is to encourage the culture to change from resignation to active engagement.  This entails putting strategies in place that help people to shift from feeling insecure and powerless to being empowered to take on the challenges of changing market trends. 

Some ideas to consider are:

• Keep people informed so that rumors and misinformation do not influence them. Make them aware of what is happening in the company, immediate departments, industry, so that they feel respected and have the best information to make decisions and prepare themselves for their futures.
• Encourage top management to be physically present during difficult times to answer questions.
• Ask employees for their feedback and suggestions.
• Acknowledge people for contributions, ideas and suggestions even when its seems “they were just doing their jobs’.
• Look for ways people can upgrade their skills through cross–training, job rotation, e-learning or other means so that they feel more secure about their employability and are more valuable to the company.
• Bring in some speakers who offer inspiration---or provide examples of leading edge thinking.  Perhaps there is someone in–house that has done something out of the ordinary they can share.  Success stories are good in these times.
• Create cost effective incentives for innovation, initiative, and teamwork.  Public acknowledgement, dinner out, theater tickets are examples of ways to show appreciation and drive incentive.

It is human nature during difficult times to focus on survival. However, this may be a good time to consider the possibilities of opportunities that may be ahead and ways to shift employee morale from  “getting by” to active contribution. Companies that maintain this level of commitment will have a competitive advantage and are best positioned to take on new business opportunities in the future.

Marcia Grubel is a career development and business coach who works with professionals, executives, and business owners nationally primarily through phone contact.  She has an MA in Psychology,  is a Professionally Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation, National Board Certified Counselor and Adjunct Professor of Coaching  for NYU..  She can be contacted  at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , www.MGcoach.com