'Coach Kriengsak, I want to inspire my people more during this tough time," Tada tells me.
"Khun Tada, tell me more."
"Coach, this year has not been a good one for us. Across the board, we'll miss our revenue targets in most of our business units. But I don't want my people to lose their motivation because of the business results. I want to inspire them to try their best regardless of the outcome."
"Khun Tada, what do you want to achieve from our coaching session today?"
"I want to come up with some actions to inspire my people during adversity."
"What are your criteria for these actions?"
"Easy to implement, low-cost and high-impact."
"Okay, based on those criteria, let's brainstorm about potential actions first."
"Coach, I can think of several kinds of media that we have: our intranet newsletter, e-mail, SMS, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Line, and short video clips. We can use all of them. But what's really important is the message."
"All right, what will be the message look like?"
"I want to come up with a short and high-impact theme."
"What will be the theme of the message?"
"I think 'gaining from adversity' should be the theme."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Coach, usually people perceive adversity as a difficult situation, a time of discomfort or suffering. Mostly there is a negative perception toward adversity. I want my people to have a new mindset toward it — a positive one."
"What would be the positive gain from adversity?"
"Coach, here are the benefits that I have learned from my experience:
Adversity makes us stronger.
Adversity reveals our true character.
Adversity leads to innovation.
Adversity unleashes people's potential.
Adversity forces us to cooperate more internally."
"That's great. Now you have the idea for the media and the message. What could go wrong?"
"Coach, these media that I mentioned seem to reach only the new generation who are used to the technology. But for the people who are older, I need to have other means to communicate."
"What would be the best way to reach them?"
"Based on my experience, informal meetings with them in small groups of 10 people would be appropriate. I'm thinking about lunch. I have 10 departments, so I will plan to have an informal lunch inside the office with each one. I think this way I will be able to reach them."
"Sounds like a good plan to me. What else do you want to discuss today?"
"Coach, I just have a question for myself. What if someone asks me about the bonus for this year?"
"What do you mean?"
"Coach, our bonus is tied in to the business results. If the company doesn't reach the target the amount of the bonus will be reduced proportionally. As a result, some people might worry about their reduction of their income."
"What will your answer be?"
"I will tell them that it will depend on the business. And it's highly likely we will all get less if we don't achieve target."
"What worries you about telling them this?"
"I don't want to demotivate them."
"How can you turn this setback into a positive message?"
He's silent for a moment and then he exclaims. "Coach, I'll tell them that we might get less of a bonus but we will still get some of it. In addition, we also gain an experience. We will use this experience to minimise the chances of this situation happening in the future.
"Apart from that, we'll learn how to work well together. Business is the same as life: there are good days and bad days. The question we should ask ourselves is: what lessons do we learn from a bad day? And how will we prevent adversity in the future?"
"That's good."
"Coach, what else should I add?"
"Khun Tada, this is not the first time you've faced adversity. What did you learn from it in the past?"
"In the past, I was in middle management. There was a peer of mine who was a smart middle manager. He started searching for a new job when he knew that the target would not be reached. He felt responsible for the poor result even if it wasn't his fault. I think this kind of scenario could happen to some of my key talents."
"What will you do about it?"
"I will need to talk with them one by one. They work very hard. They might feel guilty and decide to jump ship. I want to make sure they know that I understand them. I don't blame them at all. We will prevail and win in the long term if we stick together."
"That's great. All right, let's stop here for today."
Kriengsak Niratpattanasai provides executive coaching in leadership and diversity management under the brand TheCoach. He can be reached at coachkriengsak@yahoo.com. Daily inspirational quotations can be found on his Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/TheCoachinth. Previous articles are archived at http://thecoach.in.th