Turning a Negative Into a Positive: A Corporate Culture Odyssey
2. Resignation is another powerful force in business. People accept their fates. People just do their jobs. It takes great courage to NOT accept fate and do things differently. People need to work in teams, with leadership setting the example, to look at all facets of a business and see what can be done to plug the leaks. Leadership needs to be open and in listening mode so that everybody in the organization can feel as if they're making a difference in the turnaround.
3. Engagement is key. People who are engaged in the turnaround will drive the process better than any rah rah speech can ever do!
4. Leadership needs to understand that people are always going to be resistant to change, even if this change will be for the better. As such, a turnaround can bring out the worst in people, causing infighting and even coup attempts. Leadership needs to be always looking around corners for employee issues that need to be addressed.
When I asked everyone to contribute to the meeting, some bristled. If you ask someone to do tasks outside their comfort zone, even if they have excellent intentions, they still feel the "heaviness" of the environment that they work in. Even if they're not working to capacity, the atmosphere of a sinking ship can cause people to psychologically feel overworked, thus creating a situation where extra work, no matter how meaningful, might be a big strain. At the end of the day, it may be a big thing for leadership, but to employees its still their day-to-day job.
Jim Gilbert has been creating direct marketing programs that drive superior ROI for almost 30 years. Fluent in consumer or B-to-B, creative, operations, and analytics, he marries the strategic and tactical sides of direct and social media marketing in a seamless fashion that gets results. He's CEO of a multidiscipline direct marketing agency, Gilbert Direct Marketing, Inc., which focuses on direct mail, catalogs, DRTV, telemarketing, print, alternative direct marketing media and social media marketing. Jim has been involved in start-ups, expansions and turnarounds, and is an expert in helping multichannel marketers get to the "next level." He's a former adjunct professor, teaching direct marketing at Miami International University, and is President of the Board of Directors of the Florida Direct Marketing Association. Jim loves to talk direct marketing, and has done many lectures on direct and social media marketing.
