The financial pendulum has swung away from its highest, happiest mark and can spell trouble for your company's well being, especially if you fail to recognize the effects stress, uncertainty and fear can have on your employees.

Now is the time to take a proactive role when interfacing with staff. There are steps you can take in order to reassuringly lead your nail-biting work force and keep their productivity, morale and stamina as high as possible:

Communicate
Be honest about what's happening to the company's bottom line. Seek input from staff members on what steps might be taken to avoid layoffs. Assure everyone that while you have a plan in place, the strategies are not carved in stone and can be amended to suit needs.

Measure the Corporate Mood
Know how to read your employee's individual personalities and convey your messages to them in words they can understand. Open, outgoing individuals will likely line up outside your office door and want to hold discussions. Be as encouraging and empathetic as possible, but do not make promises you can't keep.

A more reserved personality may not come to you readily. Prompt discussions, provide facts, and always appeal to his or her sense of logic. Avoid hype but be as reassuring as possible, offering frequent updates regarding potentially volatile situations that could impact that employee. When kept in the dark, employees' imaginations take over, and it isn't pretty.

An attitude of "When times get tough, the tough get going" often brings out the best in people. Downsizing (or "rightsizing" your staff) in response to a weak economic outlook can provide unique opportunities for your staff to develop unknown teamwork opportunities and cross-train. Try scheduling team building activities or break larger departments into smaller groups, then track and reward that entire group's productivity. Even if an employee is upset with the company as a whole, he or she may feel obligated to work hard for an individual team or fellow "survivors."

When the grass turns greener, it's likely you'll have many more valuable employees able to contribute in ways they would not otherwise have been able. Helping your staff work through uncertain times is nothing short of a process. Don't be lavish, but celebrate even small successes. Stay attentive and attuned. Display dignity and respect. The way you treat and respond to workers in difficult times may be what keeps them with you through thick and thin.

And if history is any guide, it shouldn't be too long before you're leading people through much better days.

- Sean Neumayer, Omnia

Omnia is an NAB-endorsed program offering members employment assessment and training. For more information, visit www.omniagroup.com or contact Sean Neumayer at (800) 525-7117 ext 1242 or sneumayer@omniagroup.com.