FUD

“Right now, anyone who misses work could end up without a job.” That quote was from an article in my Sunday newspaper a few weeks ago. The quote was from an Administrative Assistant who had gotten a call that her daughter had a fever and needed to be picked up from school. “But this time, Ms. Rodriquez insisted her daughter go back to class.” Wow. Sounds like that is one dedicated and motivated employee! Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. If that is the best a company can do to motivate and inspire employees, then we are in for a long and nasty recession. Here’s the problem: when FUD is used as a “motivator” (intentionally or not) that employee will bring that FUD home and transfer it to whether they should buy product XYZ or not. As the sales of product XYZ go down, the company who makes XYZ gets nervous and starts instilling FUD into their employees so they work “harder”. And so it goes… Is the recession real? Absolutely. Will some companies be forced to layoff staff? Unfortunately, yes. However, using that FUD to motivate employees is a simply horrible idea. What would be far better is to try and make valuable employees feel valuable. Don’t lie or give false assurances that they will never be laid off. However, let them know you appreciate them — and work with them on personal and professional issues. They must be valuable; if they were dead wood, why are they still with the company? Why not AIM for Appreciation, Inspiration, Motivation?]]>