“Operations is the heart of any company”, writes Ram Charan in his book, Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: The New Rules for Getting the Right Things Done in Difficult Times (McGraw Hill, 2009). “This is where the work gets done, and it is where the most fundamental changes will occur as your company adapts to the new circumstances and re-creates itself to become stronger in the future.” Charan points out that during times of economic uncertainty “the goals are common: lower operating costs, efficient use of resources, low working capital, and conservation of cash, along with the usual demands to meet customers’ need for quality and on-time delivery.”
As we plan for the future, leaders of service companies face some unique challenges. For them, their employees are “their engine of production and often deliver that production on a just-in-time basis.” While managing cash and cash flow are mission critical to their short and long term success, there are two other critical challenges for service organizations, namely “organizational capacity utilization and motivation.” As Charan explains, “Your people are your machinery and the term capacity utilization refers to how busy those people are.” Charan recommends we staff operations “commensurate with the need for customer service.”
I think one challenge is that as we staff for customer service we have to recognize that in the middle of a global pandemic and a time period of economic uncertainty, the capacity of staff to just keeping pushing forward through shift after shift, and day after day is limited. Burn-out is real, and there is little time for recharge, because all our normal coping systems have been disrupted. Furthermore, employees’ worries about health and family are mentally time consuming and always present. Therefore, we as leaders need to be mindful of the capacity of our staff to sustain excellent customer service. We are in a marathon more than a sprint.
Charan points out that motivation is the second challenge that demands the attention of leaders within service companies during times of economic uncertainty. He notes that it is very easy for staff to become “utterly demoralized” by the on-going challenges around uncertainty. As he continues, “… people need to feel that they are being treated equitably.” He encourages leaders of service organizations to communicate constantly with their staff and to focus on ways to keep morale high.
I agree 100% with his recommendations about communication and morale. As we continue to move through these most unusual times, I believe leaders need to update staff frequently, listen thoughtfully to their concerns and fears, and carefully explain what are the short and long term plans that the company is making and executing given the challenges before us all. When leaders are managing the intensity of the service work in a respectful and attentive manner, all involved can make realistic choices within a volatile environment
As Charan writes, “… your people need you to be present with them in the foxhole. Your grasp of reality is useless if you can’t bring the rest of your organization to understand it and act on it, and you cannot do this with memos and proclamations alone. You have to be interactive - listening as well as explaining, answering questions, taking the conversation to the next level, and then doing it again and again. Your people will be inspired not by stirring words as much as by seeing firsthand that you have put reality on the table and have a plan for addressing it decisively, as a team.”
These are challenging times and adaptation is required of all of us. When we start from a foundation of respect, integrity and teamwork, we will have the capacity to survive, thrive and ultimately learn from the experience. “You may encounter many defeats,” writes the late Maya Angelou, “but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Now is our time to rise and stand together. One day, we will get through this. Meanwhile, we must be mindful of what is most important in the process.
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