Tim Thornton finds his employees’ motivation for their work makes his job pretty easy. But every once in awhile, the Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale PC president is confronted with a challenge.
The economy has caused most companies to make tough decisions, and the Greensfelder law firm is no different. For Thornton, part of the process has been calming employees’ anxieties and maintaining motivation.
“There is a natural tendency in troubled economic times to want to cut back, but it may not be the time to cut back; it may be the time to actually invest and seek out opportunities,” Thornton says. “With that kind of outlook, there may be some anxieties that may need to be calmed.”
You can ease minds by providing thorough information and recognizing employees for their contributions to the company. Those are two keys for Thornton who has 289 employees, 171 of which are attorneys.
Smart Business spoke with Thornton about how to keep employees calm and engaged during tough economic times.
Maintain employee morale. The starting point is open communication.
Telling folks within the organization where we are, where we’re headed, what we’re confronting and how we’re confronting it, I think, is essential. Within any environment, not being told anything is a lot worse than being told bad news.
If you say nothing, that rumor mill is going to fill the void, and typically, what the rumor mill fills in won’t be good.
You have to be open, explain where you are, what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. If there is some piece of information, and there always are pieces of information that you can’t share for whatever reason, be open about that. Simply say there are certain things that you can’t share. Explain to them why that’s not information that is going to be released within the organization. Generally, I’ve found that people are satisfied with that. They simply want to be told, and they want to be treated like any of us would want to be treated. If you do that, that helps create a positive environment.
The second thing, I think, beyond open communication is recognition of employees, giving credit to them where credit is due, valuing their contribution. Those are all things that I think motivate employees. They make them want to do a good job for the organization.
If they understand where we are and what we’re doing and they’re being recognized for their efforts, I think that’s a pretty good combination.
