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from the firm’s declining financial performance, and the more negativity they are exposed to from their fellow workers, the more likely they are to see if things are better somewhere else. 5. Petty disputes are on the rise. The less people have to do and the less focused they are on growing the firm, the more they fight over the scraps and perceived injustices of management. So what do you do about this? 1. Management has to confront the naysayers. Hear them out and then tell them what you are doing immediately. No delay. Delays allow the misconceptions to go on unchecked and make everything worse. 2. Management needs to show a willingness to move those out who no longer buy into the program. Yes it’s hard to find people. And yes, no one wants to step up to fill their shoes until a replacement is found. But it’s necessary. You cannot wait until those people decide to leave on their own. All that does is reinforce the idea to the rest of the employees that “they (the naysayers) were right,” and their negativity and cynicism was justified. 3. Better people have to be found. And when they are, you don’t want them to be trained by the negative people who are there (often someone who has already turned in their notice) allowing their minds to get polluted. By the way
– those who quit for most reasons need to be moved out immediately. There could be an exception for those whose spouses are being relocated, or those who are retiring, but most of the time getting them out now is best. 4. Management needs to communicate more. Open-book management. Sharing victories. Sharing stories of heroic behavior from employees. Sharing testimonials from happy clients. Sharing the business plan. Sharing progress toward goals. Positive stuff. More positive information has to be flowing than negative information. The problem usually is management doesn’t think they have time for this – they are busy selling and doing work. But they have to find time to do this. 5. Management needs to project confidence and optimism themselves. They cannot look or act defeated. They must demonstrate faith daily that the firm is on the right path. So does any of this sound familiar to you? Are you allowing a cancer to grow from within your firm? Or are you going to surgically remove it and treat yourself with chemo to be sure it hasn’t spread? The choice to act (or not to) is yours and yours alone. Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com .
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THE ZWEIG LETTER SEPTEMBER 9, 2024, ISSUE 1552
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