Canning Cooperation

[Cartoon courtesy of Grantland Cartoons]

In a recession, the vast wisdom of too many corporate executives is to foster competition rather than cooperation, whether it be between co-workers or between high-level management and employees. Workforces are being asked to do without even cost of living adjustments, so you would think corporate management would feel the urge to be as generous as possible in other ways—such as by creating as pleasant a work environment as is possible under the circumstances.

Alas, my logic must seem awfully illogical to many executive bigwigs.  Instead of extending a hand of cooperation from on high, executive management at many companies appear to view the recession as a time to ask for more than they've ever asked before. The doubled workload is understandable since they couldn't afford to pay the staff that used to share the burdensome tasks, but what about mandates for remaining employees to be judged on harsher terms than they were judged before the recession set in?  On one level, it makes sense. Management doesn't have the resources it previously enjoyed, so it has to be much more selective in which employees to keep and which to discard. But on another level, it doesn't make much sense. They're already asking employees to provide them with free services (that's what it amounts to when you ask people to provide additional services without compensating them for those additional services), and instead of expressing gratitude for the pro bono work, the executives decide to crack the whip ever harder. It's like asking a friend who's done you a favor to scrub your tub instead of buying him or her a gift basket. It's not a perfect metaphor, but you catch the drift of what I'm saying, right?

In addition to it not being a humane way to act towards employees, this approach to workforce management inspires a desire to dissent rather than cooperate, or collaborate, with management. This isn't such a smart strategy for the "strategizers" to adopt. The strategizers, after all, need people to carry out their strategies. If they've only ingratiated themselves to their fellow strategizers (where the promotions and raises often mysteriously continue even in the midst of hiring and salary freezes), who's going to do the work to make the "strategies" a reality? 

You can argue that employees will work no matter what in a recession because if they don't, they'll simply be fired and replaced with another, more eager worker (the Grapes of Wrath principle that in desperate financial times, no matter how little you pay people, and how hard they work, there's someone ready to take their place at lower pay and with more strenuous labor). What's true is they'll do the minimum they need to do to not get fired. They'll do a job that's good enough not to raise eyebrows, and maybe even to make a marginal profit. But for the level of engagement you need to see outstanding results, you'll have to treat them a little better. When you're treated in such a shoddy manner, you don't feel you're working with a partner in good faith. If management isn't seen as a partner in good faith, employees won't provide the level of cooperation and engagement necessary for the kind of mind-bending innovation you need to get you out of your recessionary slump.

Another unfortunate phenomenon that occurs when the whip is tightened in the face of hardship is co-workers begin eying each other suspiciously, eager to catch one another in the act of slipping up. So little is dribbled out that workforce members become one another's enemies. Corporations that create the kind of recessionary culture I've described also succeed in creating a scarcity of resources model in which workers don't cooperate or collaborate—they prey on and fight each other for what little is left. 

To move your business forward, encourage executives to find ways of creating a culture that's generous rather than stingy. Everyone understands the corporate wallet isn't as fat as it once was (it's a little emaciated at the moment, maybe), but there's no reason to encourage added suffering just because you know you can get away with it. Why not offer one Friday a month when employees can take turns working from home?  Or why not stop counting vacation days?  It sounds like a wild idea, but it isn't. Those who are left are your dependable ones. They'll get the work done regardless of whether they take an extra five days for themselves. The important thing to focus on is whether the work is getting done and getting done well; not how late workers stay, whether they prefer working from home, and whether they've already used up their two weeks worth of liberation.

Improving your treatment of workers during the recession makes good financial sense. Who are you more likely to do a favor for (i.e. delivering the products and services you need to survive)?  The friend who took you out to dinner after the last favor you provided?  Or the one who left you at the curb?

What are you doing to encourage cooperation and collaboration during the recession?  Have you created a desperate environment in which good fights have taken the place of good ideas?