Layoffs, See-Saw Markets, and Distracted Employees Challenge Managers, but Past Recessions Offer Important Lessons on How to Lead

/PRNewswire/ -- Managers who take 10 steps in three areas -- financials, people and organizational climate -- stand a better chance of emerging from the recession with their organizations poised for success, according to research into past recessions by The Forum Corp. (www.forum.com), a consulting firm that helps organizations execute strategy through people.

As layoffs rise, markets see-saw, and employees worry about their futures, managers are increasingly challenged to meet their goals, focus their people and keep their organizations moving in the right direction. Uncertainty can paralyze many managers or cause them to over-react, but knowing specific, recession-tested actions can give them confidence and strategies that help them lead.

"By looking at past recessions we've identified 10 steps that can make the difference between success and failure in managing through our current downturn, and they all come back to leadership," said Ed Boswell, CEO of The Forum Corp. "Following these steps will be particularly valuable in organizations that are undergoing cost-cutting and layoffs, which challenge managers to do more with less."

Using its research, Forum, along with Paradigm Learning, has developed a managerial toolkit, available at www.leadinginatougheconomy.com, which managers can use to consider the actions they and their organizations must take. The toolkit, which is free and requires registration, can be used independently or with the assistance of Forum's experts, who can help guide and facilitate discussions.

The 10 steps in three areas are:

Financials:


1. Move quickly to reduce costs and control spending by narrowing focus. Winners in a downturn focus on a few critical priorities where they can develop a clear lead, and they walk away from bad business. Losers chase unprofitable sales in an attempt to hold their top line.

2. Refrain from across-the-board cutbacks, being sure to preserve areas that customers value most. Businesses that uniformly cut costs often find that they end up damaging their ability to sell and deliver their products and services. How do you find out what customers value most? Ask them.

3. Consider alternatives to layoffs. Downsizing tends to bolster the bottom line and stock price in the short term, but often creates long-term negative repercussions. Alternative strategies include cutting management bonuses, freezing salaries and reducing compensation options. It's critical to clearly communicate the rationale and impact to employees.

4. Invest in opportunity. A bad economy can present bargains, both in new assets and in new talent. Good areas to invest in are R&D, marketing and customer-perceived quality. By contrast, investing in working capital, manufacturing and administration doesn't pay off as well.

People

5. Retain and develop top talent. High-impact workers are often more susceptible to being poached by a competitor in a downturn. Organizations that provide development experiences and rotational assignments have better employee retention rates.

6. Make sure everyone's on the same page. When alignment on key goals is absent, performance suffers, according to studies on strategy execution. Top leaders frame an agenda and meet with key stakeholders to gain support and build commitment to overarching goals and values. Ineffective leaders let inter-office politics fester and hidden agendas dominate.

7. Encourage questions and new ideas by making it safe for employees to raise them. Leaders who admit they don't have all the answers and ask for input empower their people to contribute their best ideas.

Climate

8. Manage the heat. Leaders are often tempted in difficult times to relieve the organization's stress by making unilateral, tough decisions. That's often a mistake. Leadership by dictate often doesn't take because it lacks a broad base of support, and it often eliminates constructive conflicts that challenge the status quo and fuel good decision-making.

9. Communicate authentically. Strong leaders acknowledge the challenges they struggle with and, by doing so, build trust among followers. Rather than being a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength.

10. Create a positive vision and attitude that acknowledges reality. Businesses at the top of their markets often fall while "sleeper" companies sometimes jump to the top in a tough economy. When leaders exercise discipline and focus by mobilizing employees to respond to customers' interests and values, they increase the chance that, when the downturn ends, they'll come out on top.

Additional insights on this topic are available in Forum's point-of-view paper entitled "Leading in a Recession."

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Comupter love...

Reading the article I've posted below on being able to interact more with computers sparked this ramble...

Every day the future gets closer and closer, faster and faster. If you think back in history it is like time was just meandering along, things were being invented but at a slow pace. Things sped up with the advent of better communication. Things sped up as we became more civilized. You can't invent when you're hunkered down waiting for the next bomb or band of marauders.

Now hardly a second goes by where someone isn't coming up with an innovation that completely changes our world and future. I know there are some who fight it tooth and nail, and there are some who embrace it whole heartedly.

Me? There's good and there's bad in almost everything. Bad people will twist anything to serve themselves at the expense of others. Good people do their darnedest to keep on the right track but sometimes make mistakes. I believe in the basic goodness of most people and I remain optimistic about our future. I love these innovations and discoveries. I get a kick out of reading what's on the horizon.

On the flip side, I am concerned about a future where everyone is interacting with computers instead of each other. Computers are replacing televisions as the working parent's babysitter. Neither is good, although at least with computers there is some interaction with others, unlike TV.

I dislike television. But I'll save that for another ramble.

Wave to the PC! It's paying attention
LAS VEGAS - Nintendo Corp.'s Wii game console is a breakout hit in large part because users control the play by waving around a motion-sensing wireless controller. Many new gadgets are taking the idea of such an intuitive interface several steps further. Soon, you may be able to control computers, television sets, even cell phones with hand gestures alone.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080110/ap_on_hi_te/gadget_show_touch_and_wave

Live

Live, as in live your life to its fullest every day. You never know what kind of curve ball life is going to throw. I remember years and years ago hearing my parents talking about some older friends of theirs. This couple had everything planned out. They scrimped and saved so they could live their dream when they retired. They saved every spare penny in order to buy one of those big motor homes. They planned the trips they would take and managed their money so they could live their perfect life. Nothing wrong with having a dream, but “today” didn’t exist for this couple. It was all about the day they retired.

I know you’re expecting to read that one of them died, or one came down with a debilitating illness. Nope, nothing that tragic. But the gas shortage did hit. They couldn’t afford, or find, enough gas to fuel their dream. I don’t know if they ever did get to go tooling around the country as they’d planned. I know they were pretty miserable for at least that period of time.

That conversation I overheard stuck with me. It sparked many thoughts about the balance that’s needed in life to live today fully yet plan for a future. Yes, it’s important to plan for the future ‘cause hopefully you’ll have one. But life doesn’t always let you live out your plans.

I could tell tale after tale of people who were hit with the unexpected. Some were living their life to the fullest and while they may have had some regrets when life dumped on them, they generally accepted the rock thrown through the window of their plans. Others had focused completely on their future leaving behind a long line of “if only’s”.

I remember the young woman I met at a concert whose goal throughout her 30 year life was to be married. She finally found Mr. Right after years and years of searching only to find out within weeks of being married that she had an inoperable brain tumor and had less than six months to live. How much life slipped by her as she focused on a future that had to include a husband? Who knows, we didn’t get that far into her life.

I know way too many people who lived their life for retirement only to die within a few months or come down with some catastrophic illness that sapped their savings or otherwise prevented the attainment of their dream.

It’s important to find the right balance and oft times it’s impossible to find the right balance.

I’ve learned that it’s more important to spend a day with the kids than to update a website. Sure I want to accomplish things. However, when everyone is standing around my coffin someday I seriously doubt they’ll be remembering the times I completed a video or finished a work product… unless it kept me from doing something with them. I don’t want to be remembered for the things I missed.

Likewise, when I’m on my deathbed (yes, the blog has taken on a rather morbid tone hasn’t it?) I doubt I’ll be regretting an unfinished load of clothes that didn’t get washed or a yard that wasn’t mowed or a garage that wasn’t swept or the television program unwatched. Nope, if I’m regretting anything it’ll be the times I didn’t spend with my family and friends.

Again, balance. You have to pay the bills, you have to keep a clean house and neat yard… but not at the expense of a life with real meaning. Life is short and it gets shorter as you’re getting older and looking back on the life you’ve lived.

The older I get the more I realize how fleeting life truly is. Planning ahead is still important to me, but more and more I see just how important it is to build good memories, too. Memories are built on todays, not on tomorrows.