We are in choppy waters as the international trade war ramps up.

Markets are in chaos, oil process are 

The oil crash in 2014, from over $100 a barrel to $30 in 18 months, has been hard on our economy, with over 100,000 layoffs. Many companies have closed their doors and are in dire financial trouble.

The community is rife with terrible stories about how companies handle employee communications—from lies, senior leaders told people everything was good, then announced layoffs the next day.  One company asked all their staff to go into their offices, close the door and wait till 11:00. If they hadn’t been told by 11:00 that they had lost their job, they could have come out and continued.

In short, many companies and bosses have messed up by not treating their people with respect and dignity.

How Not To Mess It Up

How do you talk to your employees honestly about company finances and plans?

It’s hard to be a business owner with people counting on you when you have worries and aren’t sure what is appropriate to share. As an employee, it is also hard to be in the dark regarding your employer’s plans and wonder if layoffs are looming or your job is changing.

Here are four tips for talking with your employees when business is in tough times:

Tip #1: Don’t keep your employees in the dark- speak to them.

Here is the number one truism about your employees: They will make it up without information.

Employees are much closer to what’s going on than you are. They will know if sales are slowing because they are dealing with the phones and the deliveries each day. They also watch the news and follow social media, so they know. Never think that no news from you will be seen as good news.

There is a fine line to know when to discuss finances with employees. You didn’t want to alarm anyone, but you also didn’t want them to jump to conclusions because they aren’t getting information from you.

Bring everyone in, sit them down, and lay out a few key points about the company’s situation. Don’t dwell on bad news, and don’t always show a picture of sunshine and roses—be balanced. Tell your people the steps you are taking to address the situation. You don’t have to have all the answers (see the next point below), but you should also not give the impression that you’re clueless.

Read More about using silence while communicating

Tip #2: Allow for two-way communication.

When delivering bad news, I suggested speaking so your humanity and empathy come through.

Because we live through profit, losses, and recessions, you won’t have answers to every question. DO NOT make promises you cannot keep (like I guarantee no one will be laid off).

However, letting employees talk and ask questions will make them feel part of the process. They will know you are listening. Hearing their questions will tell you much about what your people are thinking. You may be able to dispel rumours and reassure them.

Please keep track of the questions you have not answered and address them in subsequent meetings.

Tip #3: Convey confidence.

Suppose you are in a panic; that will be magnified tenfold in your employees. If employees sense that you are coming across as if the sky is falling, they could start heading for the door.

The best way to deal with your emotions is to know, plan, and write out what you want to say in advance. Practice it if necessary. Take a deep breath and put on your game face before you meet with your people. You will feel calmer and more confident and convey that image.

Tip #4: Be a good fiscal role model.

Who would you support as a leader during challenging times?

The CEO of an oilfield services firm overheard griping about the first-class service he received on his last flight just before he told his managers they had to cut staff by 5%.

Or, the Boss who took a more significant pay cut than the staff got, cancelled the Palm Springs leadership Team retreat and cut out catered lunches for management meetings?

Double standards destroy your credibility. When you share bad news and try to reassure people, they will likely not believe you unless they feel you have skin in the game.

Let me close by saying that each situation is different, so there are no simple answers to how to communicate bad news to employees. But I do know that without your employees, your company is nothing.

Put yourself in their shoes and be the leader you would want to have during tough times.

Leading means you need to be in front.

A few years back, I hired a person against the wishes of other people on my team. I was sure he had the right skills and experience and hiring the usual suspects hadn’t gotten the results I needed & wanted so maybe it was time to be disruptive.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I liked him either. He wasn’t kind or diplomatic in his comments. He simply wasn’t likable.

I tried to focus on the content of what he was saying rather than the way he was saying it, and I coached others to do the same. I also invested time in helping him understand how he was coming across and coached him to alter his style. My attitude toward him never really changed but he slowly started to fit in and began achieving results.

What if you don’t like someone on your team?

Can you be a good & fair boss to someone you wouldn’t sit with if you had to share the last seat on a bus with?

The presumption is that your job would be easy if you liked everyone at work.

Life would be easy if cats slept with dogs and Mom’s kisses made boo-boos go away, but that’s not reality nor is it what’s best for you, your team, or your company.

You have to accept the fact that this person is not going to be your BFF.

The real test is: Are they doing good work? Are they achieving results?

The employees you gravitate toward are probably the ones you want to go for a beer with. You need people around you who can challenge you with new insights and help propel the group to be better.

Like the Boy who said the employer had no clothes people like these can ask the hard questions and, maybe, can stop you from doing something stupid.

Here’s how to get the most out of someone you don’t like:

1. Make it about You first – It’s important to learn how to handle your frustrations: Figure out why you are reacting the way you are by asking the following:

• Is the problem really with the individual?       Does the person remind you of the miserable old aunt or that first awful boss and now he or she can do nothing right.
• Do you see this person as a threat? If your direct report constantly interrupts you, you may react strongly.
• Are they a member of a group that I have a problem with? You need to be honest with yourself about any hidden biases you may have.

2. You have to put on a good face – Everyone wants their boss to like them. Whatever your feelings for your employee, he will be highly attuned to your attitude and will presume that any disapproval has to do with his performance. As the Boss, you are the adult in the room, and it’s up to you to be fair and respectful.

3. You have to seek out the positive – No one is 100% annoying. It’s easy to see the worst in people who bother you. A boss of mine once said that no one comes to work hoping to do a crappy job, so assume the best about how they can help your team.

4. You have to keep your bias out of the way – When someone irks you, you need to be especially vigilant about keeping your bias out of the evaluation by asking: “Am I using the same standards that I use for other people?”

5. Sorry to tell you this, but you have to spend more time with that guy – This might sound like the last thing you want to hear, but it might help to give yourself more exposure to the problem employee. Sometimes over time, if you work together, you may come to appreciate them.

I sat across from a client recently who was struggling with the direction his company is going. As we delved into the matter I asked some probing questions:

How bad is the problem?

1. If the situation at work was a chest pain is it:

• Heartburn
• Angina; or
• Cardiac arrest?

2. What was the end-state he was hoping for from us working together?

3. Had he already made his mind up about what he wanted to see and needed me to provide justification?

4. Did he want out?

Luckily we are dealing with heartburn chest pain; he truly wants his company to be everything it could ever be; He knows it can be better and needs help getting there; and, He wants to grow and thrive with his team.

But he did say something that stopped me in my tracks … “I am a pleaser and want everyone to be happy,” I responded to him that being a pleaser is like making a soup-sandwich.

 Click to read more about how to recognize your people

How do you make a soup sandwich?

You take a slice of bread, pour a ladle of soup over it and cover that with the second slice of bread. What you end up with is not a bowl of soup or a sandwich, but a hell of a mess. Sort of what you get when a leader tries to make everyone happy.

Let’s accept one simple fact… Leadership is hard.

It is equally exhilarating and challenging, but it is hard.

Every hard decision a leader makes will inevitably excite some and upsets others. At the same time, we want people to like us personally and in our role as a leader: That can lead to people pleasing. When that happens, we begin to lead by opinion polls than vision.

What happens when we try to lead by pleasing?

1. No one is satisfied – When the leader tries to please everyone … no one is happy.

2. Tension mounts – People are conditioned to jockey for positions with the people pleaser leader. This creates a political tempest among people who should be working together.

3. Disloyalty reigns – People don’t trust a people pleaser. They quickly learn what the leader says isn’t necessarily the whole truth, but what will keep the leader popular.

4. Frustration rules – People pleasing leads to fractured teams and fragmented visions.

5. Visions stall – Great visions take us where we’ve never been. That means change and who is happy with change. People pleasers like people to be happy … see where this will end up?

Can you gauge if you are a people pleaser?

Someone told me once that when you move on from your current leadership role the way to gauge that you have been a good leader is that the going-away-party attendees should fall into three groups:

1. 25% should be crying that you are leaving;
2. 25% should be cheering that you are leaving; and
3. 50% shouldn’t care.

My guess is that when a people pleaser moves on … everyone is cheering.

Learn more about being a thoughtful leader by reading my book:

It was a dreary day 10 years ago, when a Cessna plane carrying 10 people crashed, shortly after taking off from Pelee Island. On Jan. 17, 2004 Georgian Express Flight 126 crashed into the icy waters of Lake Erie. The pilot, his fiancée and eight hunters from the area were killed. Without a doubt it was a huge tragedy for the family and friends of the 10 casualties, but in the big scheme of world disasters and crises it was a relatively small event.

That said there were over 10 agencies involved with the response: Ontario Provincial Police; local fire departments; emergency medical services; Red Cross; 2 municipal governments; provincial agencies; national transportation safety board; coroners; and, more. Each of these agencies had their own mandate & mission and they are all lead with by people with bosses & organizational agendas and all had HUGE egos.

How was this managed and led in a way that achieved all of the goals of all of the organizations? It was done by using the established emergency management systems and with communication with our organizations.

But the single most important thing that happened that day was the development of a team charter that laid out the game plan & role of each agency. And the most important part of the team charter was the definition of a clear MISSION.

I worked hard with the Police Inspector in charge of the response to define that mission that was posted prominently across the wall of the operations centre: To recovery the bodies and investigate the crash with the utmost respect & dignity to the casualties and their families.

Once your mission is defined then complete your charter by adapting this time tested 5-step military tool – SMEAC – to build your team’s charter.

1. Situation.
2. Mission and Objectives.
3. Execution.
4. Administration.
5. Command & Control.

Situation

This is the introduction to the charter and should answer the following questions:

• What problem is being addressed?
• What result or delivery is expected?
• Why is this important?

Mission and Objectives

By defining a mission, the team knows what it has to achieve as in the Pelee Island crash: To recovery the bodies and investigate the crash with the utmost respect & dignity to the casualties and their families.

Execution

By negotiating the execution phase of a Team Charter ensures that everyone understands:

• Why the project needs to be carried out;
• What the objectives and measures of success are;
• Who is doing what; and,
• With what resources.

Administration and Support

This section lists the resources available to the team to accomplish its goals. This includes:

• Budgets;
• Time;
• Equipment; and,
• etc.

Command, Control & Communications

Teams are most effective when they have members with:

• The skills and experience needed to do the job;
• They know where they fit into the organization;
• Who is in charge;
• What is expected of them; and
• That they not get bogged down in communication.