What Can HR Pros Take From the Government Shutdown?
I had a meeting with an HR executive today whose company is in the middle of integration after being acquired. I asked how that was going. “Very well,” she said. Do you know why - a tremendous amount of over-communication. They said what they knew. They said what they didn’t know yet. And they said how they planned to find out. The result? A sense that things – the most important things to an individual – were being handled fairly and transparently. In short, ambiguity and uncertainty had been reduced as much as possible.
Contrast this with what is going on in our nation’s capital. My inherent optimism has been challenged over the past several days as I struggled to find something positive about the government shutdown of 2013. There are lots of things to be negative about, certainly. As I reflected on our current situation, an important lesson – one that HR pros know all too well – came to mind.
Ambiguity is bad.
HR professionals see it in employees who cannot be productive because they do not know what will happen to them during a merger or acquisition. Financial watchers see the markets vacillate and pull back amid the uncertainty in Washington. Hardly anybody performs optimally under these circumstances. Not knowing how, or when, things will work themselves out is tremendously stress-inducing. Even when we get bad news, at least we can deal with something that is now known. When things are ambiguous, people tell themselves all kinds of interesting stories, many of which have little basis in reality and represent the worst possible scenario people can envision for themselves. The markets freak out because they don’t know what to do. Of course, all ambiguity cannot be eliminated. You are always going to have an element of the unknown.
There has been a lot written lately about how dealing with ambiguity is one of the most important “new” skills for managers. I totally agree – the fast-paced nature of our businesses necessitates an ability to work in the gray. Not everyone, however, has this skill set.
The question then becomes, what can we do as counselors and managers to reduce ambiguity for others? How can we create a buffer between the people we support or manage and the unknown so they can operate as productively and remain as engaged as possible? A few ideas…
- We can paint a picture, complete with a description of all the background characters. People like to understand all the factors in play.
- Be upfront about what is known, what isn’t known, and what information is needed to make a decision.
- Plan for contingencies. This seems obvious, but all too often the response to having multiple potential outcomes is to wait to plan until everything is as clear as it is going to get.
What have you found to be helpful in your practice? Leave your thoughts in the comments!