How Meaningful Are Your Learning Evaluations?

In a lingering recession, corporate survival strategies such as mergers and restructuring can result in employee issues that greatly affect a company’s bottom line, says business advisor Lori Dernavich of Lori Dernavich LLC. Dernavich offers some insights to your growing challenges:
• “The workplace is filled with employee performance issues. Most are minor distractions, but some, if left unchecked, can escalate into full-blown conflicts,” she says. “These situations sap corporate resources and profoundly affect culture, morale, and productivity, negatively impacting the success of the company.”
• Many executives are unaware of such simmering issues until they intensify into a crisis that’s too complicated to easily resolve, says Dernavich. Most conflicts, she explains, can be avoided by learning skills to implement strategies for ongoing employee performance success, but companies need to have a game plan in place.
• With “rampant” reductions in force, she says, managers are faced with new challenges such as handling the morale of those left behind and coping with increased workloads.
• This isn’t the time for managers to bury their heads in their finances or hide in their offices, says Dernavich. “Ignoring the circumstances only generates more fear and stress. Managers must walk around and talk to their employees. Transparency is key, as is honest communication,” she says. Managers may think they are protecting their employees from bad news, but if they are not hearing the truth directly, they will make up their own—never a good outcome.”
• Managers should be aware of how they are treating all employees, but especially their top performers, she advises. “How they treat their employees today,” she says, “determines how they will entertain calls from competitors and recruiters tomorrow.”
• Due to abundant merger and acquisition activity, such as the recent acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, notes Dernavich, many companies are experiencing a culture clash and are struggling to adapt to the new paradigm, resulting in inertia, resentment, and employee turnover.
• The CEO and C-suite should be role models in leading implementation of the new corporate culture, she says. “Change has to be believable and come from the top. Constant communication and transparency is essential,” Dernavich stresses. “Companies should have regular town hall meetings in which the CEO and C-suite bring everyone together, physically or electronically, to discuss what’s going on and to answer questions.”
• Executives should assess employees “before wielding the ax,” says Dernavich, otherwise overall morale will dissolve. At the same time, she says to balance it out; when there is a decision to be made, do it fast. “Address unvoiced concerns,” she recommends, “because they may never make it to the table otherwise—don’t assume because someone hasn’t brought up an issue that it isn’t there.”
• Unmet expectations often result in micro-management, acceptance of sub-par performance, or termination—none of which identify and combat the root cause, she explains. “Ninety-five percent of employee issues can be resolved through improved communication and accountability,” says Dernavich. “Typically, someone is not communicating effectively or is not recognizing their culpability in a situation. How the manager handles the employee is crucial. He or she should determine what an employee is great at, and where his or her strengths lie, and then delegate.”

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