This negativity occurs thanks to emotional contagion – which is the tendency for an emotion to spread. Of course, emotional contagion can be good during profitable times, but it is especially dangerous when there is cynicism throughout the organization. Imagine the impact on not only satisfaction and company culture but also on performance and collaboration!

To deal with the issue, the negative emotions that are being experienced must be addressed:

• There is guilt. “How do I deserve to keep my job when hard-working Joe who has a family and has been here for fifteen years is gone?”
• There is fear about the future. “That could have been me. And what will happen if we go through this situation next year as well? Is my job at stake too?”
• There is burnout. The increase in workload demand on top of these other emotions just feeds the stress hormones even more.

That sounds pretty bad. But social support can help — there are things we can do for each other that will lessen the impact:

• Moving quickly. The easiest way to cope with a transition is, quite frankly, to just make the change already. Take action swiftly, and don’t stay in the state of contemplation for a delayed period.
• Perception of fairness. Explain the decision-making process that went on in determining who was let go. If it follows a logical path, it can be easier to deal with as it helps retains a sense of control and fairness.
• Communication about career. A contributing stressor during downsizing is perceived job insecurity. Address this fear with an honest talk about career progression and positive things to come.

The options for coping with a difficult time include both negative and positive strategies. Things like positive thinking, direct action, and soliciting support are positive ways to cope with change. But it is also common to become disengaged, angry, and want to turn to a new job or to a new company to avoid the situation.

Clearly, positive coping strategies are better for everyone involved – the hurting individual as well as the hurting organization. What can you do to increase the likelihood that your team will cope well? What have you done that has helped someone cope with a difficult transition?

This post originally appeared on the Intuit QuickBase Team Leadership Blog.

At its most basic, loyalty is a feeling, resulting from an established bond, that intertwines one person with someone or something else.

A False Sense of Loyalty

In years past, both companies and individuals welcomed blind loyalty. Even today, many people display a false sense of loyalty. According to the dictionary, loyal means unswerving in allegiance. And this just doesn’t translate well into relationships, which are often built on trust and fair give-and-take. Unwavering loyalty doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t help a mediocre company, and it doesn’t help the individual making a commitment at the expense of their own well-being. Taking a relationship for granted and labeling it as loyalty… is not loyalty.

Loyalty can come into question only when there is a quid pro quo contract – explicit or implicit – in place. For example, if someone makes an investment on your behalf, you are expected to return the gesture or risk being labeled as disloyal. But loyalty also means that you are willing to initiate such consideration, and make a personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship. That give-and-take thing. If no such contract exists, however, and your sacrifices are not reciprocated time and time again, and you continue with that kind of relationship for any other reason than benevolence, you have a false sense of loyalty.

The New Loyalty is Practical

On the other extreme side of the spectrum of false loyalty, you may have entitlement: expecting more in return than you are willing to give. So if both extremes are destructive, where is the middle ground? Where does loyalty in the workplace fit in?

I see the balance where both parties look out for each others’ best interests. But when push comes to shove, I think it is natural that the leaders of the company put the company’s best interests in front of any single employee’s best interest. Just as it is natural that our own well-being is placed above our companies’ well-being.

“It is unwise to think that talented individuals would be willing to forgo the rewards of owning their own firm simply to be “loyal” to someone who has no enforceable obligation to return that loyalty.  A talented and controlled professional will first look out for their self-interests, and the firm second (within the bounds of law.)  This is the right and proper way of things!  If you want more attachment from your hired help, you must make them more than at-will employees.” –William Ward in response to Mark Suster

The loyalty argument comes in when our self-interest is prioritized at the expense of another.

The way things are changing these days, loyalty to a company may very well be getting more and more outdated. Especially since “company” is sometimes a very abstract term. Perhaps you can consider loyalty to your co-workers and clients as the new loyalty… a practical loyalty that is based on our relationships. Looking at the bigger picture, you can consider loyalty to your team, your department, or a cause.

If company loyalty is truly desired, then “employers can promote company loyalty by helping people grow out of their jobs—ideally, into new ones within the company,” as Lauren Keller Johnson writes in Rethinking Company Loyalty.

This post originally appeared on the Intuit QuickBase Team Leadership Blog.

What if the impact of the decision affects the entire team?

Go Solo

When the nature of the problem is highly unstructured and unlikely to recur, the team leader may want to make the decision. For a one-time-only complex decision, going solo is more convenient and time efficient – especially if the information and resources needed to make a decision already reside in memory. In the case that the issue may pop up again, however, it will be more beneficial for your team in the long-term to delegate – it can act as a learning opportunity for someone else.

Get Help

What if the problem is unstructured, unlikely to recur, needs to be made by the team leader, yet the team leader does not have the sufficient resources (knowledge, time, ability, etc.) to make the decision quickly and easily? You can always delegate part of the decision-making process. Task a team member with finding the necessary information relevant to making the decision, ask them to make recommendations, and then make the decision solo.

When proper implementation of the solution depends on the acceptance of the decision by all team members, it would not be a wise move to make the decision without input. The next three options are group decision making styles that do not require getting consensus.

Seek Advice

Meet with each team member separately, explain the issue, and ask for input individually. Then make the decision alone. This is a good option when you want to tap the unique opinions of team members and you suspect they might be unwilling to dissent in front of others.

Consult the Team

Meet with all of the team members as a group. Explain the issue to everyone simultaneously, and ask for input during the meeting. Then make the decision alone. This is a great option when team members are likely to build ideas off each other – creating a synergistic/brainstorming environment.

Group Decision via Vote

Meet with the team members as a group. Explain the issue, ask for input, debate both sides of the issue, and then do a majority vote. This is ideal when there are only two options to choose from.

Have you used any of these techniques? What has worked well for you? Are there other alternatives to consensus decision-making?

This post originally appeared on the Intuit QuickBase Team Leadership Blog.

A good starter process is to Simplify, Filter, Analyze, and Decide. Let’s go through the process with the example of Customer Service data. Assume you have a database full of customer information, queries, response times, and resolutions as well as information from satisfaction surveys.

1. Simplify – Forget the data and consider the big picture.

What is the business issue that matters? What is the question that you want answered? Example:

• Are we providing good customer service?
• In which areas do we excel?
• Where can we do better?

2. Filter – Go from meaningless to meaningful.

Look at each issue separately, and decide what information you need to answer each question. Example:

• Are we providing good customer service? Consider satisfaction ratings over time.
• In which areas do we excel? Look at your high satisfaction ratings and your quickest response times.
• Where can we do better? Check out low satisfaction ratings, repeated queries, and longest response times.

3. Analyze – Extract meaning from your data.

Next, you want to take your data and put it into context. Example:

• Are we providing good customer service? Satisfaction ratings average a 4 out of a possible 5 points. So what? Our users are satisfied. Compared to what? Last year our rating was a 3.5. Our users are more satisfied than they were a year ago.
• In which areas do we excel? The highest satisfaction rating was for Product B. What’s so special about Product B? The quickest response time was from Customer Service Rep Melinda. What is Melinda doing right and how can we replicate that?
• Where can we do better? Product D received the most queries. Where is the confusion and how can we proactively address that?

4. Decide – Take Action.

Ultimately, you want to use your data to help you make a decision. After considering your findings, you can rely on your intuition and your team to take the next steps.

This post originally appeared on the Intuit QuickBase Team Leadership blog.