It does not take a brilliant mind to discover that the growing gap between French eçecutives representing <<l'Enterprise> and its workers and managers is a time bomb in the face of worldwide competition, French unemployment and the very fabric of society.

 

Every survey conducted over the last six months shows without a doubt that employees and managers (induding a significant portion of executives) simply do not trust their business leaders anymore to manage their organizations out of this crisis and to build a viable future. <ils démissionnent>.

 

The biggest problem however, is that French corporate leaders seem totally oblivious to this dangerous trend. They seem to forget that their best hope lies in their ability to muster all the resources - especially people resources - of their company and tightly focus on dealing with critical issues and planning the future. They do not acknowledge that the ranks of their followers are thinning. Nearly half of their employees at all levels show up fearing for their next paycheck and are not committed anymore.

 

Those individuals are far from stupid and are aware that you can't work your way out of a crisis, you can only THINK your way out of a crisis. And you can't do this alone. It takes the best of teamwork because the issues are excessively complex. It requires the most finely tuned teams working in synergy to muster the courage to implement creative solutions and make tough decisions.The good news is that those thinking skills are available. The bad news is that as long as the leaders do not acknowledge the perceptions of their managers that. they have been let down, they will not be able to tap those skills. Managers and employees will go on investing themselves more and more outside the workplace. Despite the fact that a number of observers accurately identify the causes of such phenomenon, none of them come up with ways to deal with these issues. However, efficient and cost-effective solutions exist.

 

Human Side research shows that time and again, the biggest obstacle to a company successfully coping with changes in the environment is a behavioral issue of teams not

working in tune. High responsibility people not being able - or not knowing how - to bridge the gap with their managers.The only hope for today's leaders is to reexamine their strategy and to:

 

Proven solutions for understanding and dealing successfully with these soft management issues are available. Hard data can show how soft issues affect the bottom line. In fact, cost-cutting, restructuring and short-sighted financial management can probably do nothing for corporate leaders as long as they do not become more proficient in handling the human side of management.

 

They must first change their ways if they expect managers and employees to change and ever become commit-ted again. For many companies, that will be a matter of survival.