Productivity In The Workplace Stems On The Employee's Ability To C.o.p.e.

In this tough economic climate, it can be difficult to motivate your employees

. They are anxious about losing their jobs, and this anxiety drains the focus and drive that you need for your company's success.

Your top job is to help your staff determine the best areas to focus on and how to take action so that productivity levels stay high. Over the years, I have discovered four effective emotions can help staff members move from fear to positive action. These include:

Control

Optimism

Purpose

Engagement

These techniques will help you guide your employees away from feelings of fear to empowering COPE feelings.

1. Control

The out of control feelings people have over the state of our economy is a key reason why so many people are anxious and fearful. People don't like to be out of control. Employees can better deal with the uncertainty if their managers help them regain the feeling of control.

It's true that many parts of our current economy arte difficult to deal with, but there is really nothing to gain by worrying over something that is out of our control. It would be much more productive to concentrate on empowering your employees to improve productivity and customer service, specific areas that they do have an impact on and control.

As a leader of a group of employees, you may find you need to give up a portion of your own control to give your staff a feeling of empowerment toward improving their lives. A know it all approach will do nothing but create suspicion and hostility from your staff. It is very important that you encourage them to involve themselves in the areas of the company where they can have a positive impact.

2. Optimism

Leadership examples from throughout history demonstrate the power of optimism in rallying troops, reinventing and reinvigorating failing companies, and transforming entire nations.

Leaders in a company must be able to inspire their employees to be positive and give their best on a consistent basis. It has been proven by countless studies that creativity, innovation, and other qualities needed to cope with the current economic factors are best fostered when the workforce feels positive emotions such as optimism and hope. The leader who can motivate employees to face challenges with a "can-do" approach will be much more likely to solve the business problems they need to in order to be successful.

3. Purpose

The performance of mundane daily tasks make it easy to lose sight on the ultimate goal and let short term stress take over. Find ways to keep your staff reminded of the reasons and purpose for their work and the organization they work for. Merely reminding them that their work makes a difference can give them renewed energy and motivate them to take action.

Jim Owens, Senior Vice President for North America operations of H.B. Fuller, stresses that the leader's job is to put a positive path forward and to be clear about what targets people, and the organization as a whole, need to hit. He says, "Don't leave it up to people to translate and fill in the gaps on their own."

4. Engagement

One final factor in the COPE strategy is engagement. Employees who are engaged know and care about how the company is performing and its goals for the future. Engaged employees also believe their job will help to contribute to those goals in a real way.

Engagement means actively involving your employees in looking for solutions. When your organization is dealing with challenges, provide opportunities for your employees to get involved in problem-solving. Doing so not only increases employees' sense of control, it also unites your organization and helps you come up with solutions!

Sashco Sealants, a Denver based company just recently asked the staff to provide their ideas for cost saving within the organization. They received dozens of ideas, which they shared weekly with the team leaders of each function within the company. Senior management encouraged the team leaders to take the ideas to their team to implement and report back the results. Significant savings within the company have already been achieved.

The COPE model of leadership in change is a positive, proactive leadership tool that will help you to realize the most from your employees, as well as provide a creative, innovative, purposeful and productive work environment to your staff.

by: Wendy Mack

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