Outsourcing - BPO
The Few & the Many: Free Trade, Outsourcing, & Communication
Have you noticed that some sound ideas get bad publicity? Two
I have in mind are outsourcing and free trade.
No doubt you could name others, but looking at these two initiatives
helps us understand a communication challenge for many companies
and not-for-profit organizations.
Free trade and outsourcing both produce a few (well, relatively
few) big losers, and many (very many) small winners.
More specifically, free trade leads to big losses for a relatively
small number of companies and their employees. Companies can go
out of business or be forced to drastically restructure; employees
can lose their jobs. The adjustment pains they suffer are very
real and very significant.
On the other hand, all consumers in a country that adopts free
trade are winners. In other words, just about everybody. The gains
for each person are small, yet, taken together those gains far
outweigh the losses suffered by the losers. And the gains keep
paying dividends year after year.
The story is much the same for outsourcing. A few employees take
a very big hit, losing their jobs. At the same time, though, a
lot of other employees get to keep their jobs because their companies
become stronger. A few suffer for the many.
Which do you hear more about? You hear far more about the losers,
of course. Why? Well, as a former news writer and announcer I
can tell you that losers holler louder and longer. They actively
seek media coverage. And that's not all: stories about layoffs
have an inherent drama that stories about the preservation of
jobs just can't match.
In addition, small-scale winners often don't know they've won,
how they've won, or what they've won, so they don't march in protest
or call news conferences. Add to that the general principle that
good news isn't big news.
What do you do if you face a decision leading to many small winners
and a few big losers? First, hammer away at the context, at the
circumstances that drive the decision. For example, don't announce
to employees that a new piece of equipment that does the work
of three people will make you more efficient. Rather, explain
the competitive pressures that force greater efficiency, and the
consequences of failing to meet those pressures.
Don't assume everyone shares your knowledge. Few stakeholders
understand the broader picture, and even if they could, the pressure
of day-to-day events may keep them focused on just one piece of
it. It's essential to start with as few assumptions as possible.
Communicate frequently: in advance, during, and afterward. Explain
the problem, outline the options, list the decision criteria,
announce the solution, and report on how well the solution has
worked. Or not worked, which becomes the new problem.
You won't convince everyone your decision is the right one, but
you might convince enough people to make further progress possible.
In summary, when a few people suffer big losses and many others
make small gains, you can expect the losers to complain very loudly,
and the winners to say little or nothing. To deal with these situations,
communicate frequently and carefully.
Robert F. Abbott writes and publishes Abbott's Communication
Letter. If you subscribe, you will receive, at no charge, communication
tips that help you lead or manage more effectively. You can get
more information here: http://www.Communication-Newsletter.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
|
