Leadership in Times of Crisis

Rajaram Govindarajan

Auditor Jefe of .SPG

In times of crisis, companies need to improve productivity and efficiency. This is not possible if senior management does not believe in a management system or does not exercise adequate leadership.

Self-motivation manager for your organization is excellent, and their ability to motivate the rest of the organization towards this goal, it is necessary before establishing a management system that provides the way to reach excellence.

Many models certified management companies do not have the active participation of its managers, since, in most cases, the need to obtain a certificate is imposed by the «market». Although these models define the responsibilities of senior management, just met, because only a few leaders have had the opportunity to understand the benefits of their involvement. Managers have to get involved and lead your organization towards excellence, with the help of proper management methodology.

Leaders should create and maintain an internal environment in which people can feel fully involved in achieving the objectives of the organization.

• Mission focus and perspective of the organization towards the needs of all stakeholders: customers, owners / financiers, employees, suppliers, local community and society as a whole.
• Establish a relationship between staff and the organization in which everyone wins. Give the personal freedom, with well-defined tasks and responsibilities.
• Propitiate the opening and transparency in all activities and communication. This will help to build mutual trust and eliminate fear.
• You have to enjoy the benefits of a friendly work atmosphere, sustained business growth and satisfied customers.
• Not being selfish, caring only for their professional and economic success. The leader is responsible for the success of all its workers.
• Be fair. It has to be a good role model (not preach what is not practiced).
• Provide staff with the necessary resources, including training. (Do not try to save money at the expense of overloading or unknowns staff. The job burnout of workers will lose interest and motivation and, ultimately, be more expensive).

The lack of involvement of staff is a pending issue in all sectors . The principle of participation of people helps organizations take full advantage of the goodwill and intellectual capacity of their workers.
People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the benefit of the organization. It is impossible to achieve excellence without the involvement of staff at all levels

. Participation, satisfaction, motivation and team work are essential personnel system requirements. Recognition and reward for good quality work should be part of the process. It is highly recommended to establish an indicator to measure (through anonymous surveys), analyze and improve the satisfaction and motivation.

As people better understand the importance of their contribution, the greater their desire to contribute. Therefore,  not enough to communicate the goals , but when they reach the staff who have contributed to this achievement must be informed of this and receive the appropriate recognition.
Must allow staff to participate in setting career goals and performance objectives and in evaluating the results.
Communication systems must provide workers  with regular opportunities to identify and report any difficulties encountered, Organizational constraints they have to face, their training needs and the additional resources needed for optimal performance. The system should include monitoring mechanisms so that staff know what is done with the feedback it provides.

Workers should have, to the greatest extent possible, adequate resources to  accept that the problems affecting them directly  and resolved without having to report them. This investment is needed to improve and sustain the benefits of the company.
We must completely eliminate conflicts of interest between workers in order to foster goodwill and exchange of knowledge and experience.
A clearly defined roles and responsibilities that allow workers try to do their job the best way possible. If there are conflicts of interest between workers, a good deal of time and energy is spent on resolving these conflicts generated by the system.
When people participate in management through the above steps, the organization can expect the following  benefits :

• Motivation
• Commitment and loyalty
• Participation and involvement
• Creativity and innovation
• Teamwork and synergy
• Staff feels responsible for their own performance
• Continuous improvement at all levels
• Better organizational performance
• Better service quality and customer satisfaction

Service companies in staff satisfaction is required to satisfy customers.

Can anyone expect to make a good quality product with no tuning machinery?

Likewise, it is not possible to provide good service with a dissatisfied staff. As preventive maintenance is done and try to ensure that the productive machinery is in good condition, ensure that staff are motivated to produce a service devoid of shortcomings. If staff are happy and motivated at work, there are benefits for everyone. First the worker enjoys more of his work. Worker motivation makes the organization provides excellent service .
In  large organizationsThe establishment and maintenance of the system can be delegated to a member of the management team, however the leader of the senior management should be involved in defining policies and objectives, and to provide the leadership necessary for effective management of the system.

In  small organizations , the participation of the top leader in system management must be direct, not delegate to others. People have to understand the relationship between their efforts and the results of the processes in which they work. They also need to know the problems of quality and improvement goals.
Senior management should make periodic reviews to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of system management.

Most companies do not control the costs of non-quality  (internal rejection costs, re-work, re – inspections, customer rejections, the cost of waste management, among others). Management system should enable defect prevention, because if a company has produced a defective product or service, production cost will not be the least possible therefore their efficiency is not optimal.

The relationship between quality and inefficiency in an organization can be compared with the relationship between health and obesity of a person. We can not achieve and sustain the effectiveness, if we ignore efficiency . In the case of an individual, obesity is the cause of health problems while in the case of organizations, inefficiency is the effect of quality problems.
In other words, there is a huge opportunity to improve their production costs by improving the quality and increase their competitiveness and their ability to survive the crisis. With the right leadership, staff will be willing to make a «race to the bottom» to improve the performance of your company and in times of crisis to make a «sprint» to survive in the market and thus save their jobs.