Making leaner organisations tick unlocking human power

After the lay-offs, the remaining employees are often called upon to multi-task and acquire new skills. For example, an employee in Human Resources or the legal department is asked to assist with project coordination. Multi-skilling is about providing training and support, as well as mentoring and monitoring progress. If managed well, multi-skilling can improve productivity and quality. If not, you are faced with employees unable to cope with the pressure, working hard and contributing little.

Start with clearly defining which jobs are getting re-allocated to whom. Apart from asking people to take on related roles, take a look at the actual load given to the person to ensure that the additional tasks are manageable.

Ensure smooth hand-over processes are followed. Files, documents, contact numbers, and other such important stuff need to be handed over properly to prevent unnecessary delays and frustration. Have an initial meeting with the employee, outline expectations, roles and responsibilities. Explain why they has been given the role, and what support will be provided. Where new skills are required of them, conduct a two to three day internal training workshop.

If productivity improvements are expected, the first step is to set measurable and realistic productivity norms. Leverage existing technology to improve time management and personal productivity. Avoid unnecessary duplication of processes and do a quick 'process optimisation' exercise to improve productivity.

Restructuring exercises could mean employees moving departments. Such employees need to go through a comprehensive departmental induction programme that clarifies their role, reporting relations and responsibilities. The investment in time will pay off in increased productivity and reduced errors.

New teams and superior-subordinate relations can be tricky. Department heads with new team members must invest in daily and weekly meetings focused on addressing issues, as well as clarifying roles and expectations. These can be very useful for large departments where people may be working in disparate locations. Instead of increasing travelling costs, use technology like video-conferencing to keep meetings cost effective.

Inter-departmental coordination can often take a knocking when everyone is too busy to meet! Departmental heads must take the lead to continue communication forums across departments. New MIS frameworks may need to be set up. This will help to keep track of where processes are going wrong.

As a facilitator, Human Resources must keep feedback channels open to address individual or group issues. Often, they are completely out of the picture post re-organisation, leaving employees and department heads to fend for themselves. They must update departmental heads and the chief executive on progress, highlighting motivation or competence issues, and suggesting further interventions.

Employees need to take concerted steps to manage this transition. Once induction is over, be clear on the deliverables. Think through potential overlaps or deadline clashes and resolve them early. Remember, working in lean organisations is never painless. Structure the process well, and at least you won't have more problems on the way.

Sanjiv Anand is the Managing Director and Bhaskar Menon is the Principal Consultant of Cedar Management Consulting.