Leading in a Down Economy: Crisis or Opportunity?

As a leader in your organization, do you have to deal strictly on your own with the crisis of a down economy? Many have described “leadership,” especially at the top, as a lonely profession. This statement more often holds true during tough economic times; but does it have to be? Yes, most often the buck does stop with you the leader when it comes down to the big or final decisions; however, using your best organizational talent can “turn your crisis into their opportunity.” What keeps you up at night can keep them up at night and this can be a good thing.

One of the important roles of a leader is to ensure you have in place the best talent available to carry out the mission and vision of the organization. Other attributes of a good leader is their ability to communicate and delegate effectively. This combination of solid talent, good communication and effective delegation can almost be a silver bullet to get your organization, division, department or team through a down economy and come out in even better shape when things turn around. Taking positive action during less than rosy economic times provides a foundation for coming out on top of competition when the economy rebounds.

Leading in a tough economy boils down to a formula that includes four basic areas: people - both yours and theirs, solid business acumen, an evolving business model - matching the business to the environment, and as always, execution - doing the right things, in the right way, at the right time. The key to realizing the positive effects of this formula is to cut the fat, hire and keep the best talent, and continually communicate and effectively delegate to that talent.

You can't communicate and delegate if you hunker down in your office with spreadsheets and try to figure out your next move on your own. Get out of your bunker and gather up your top talent (the deeper in the organization you can go the better off the results) an conduct several dialogue sessions. Today's dicey economy makes it even more essential for leaders to be visible and accessible, and to talk relentlessly about reality and the possibilities. People respond to an honest expression of hope and optimism, supported by a plan - especially if they help to create the plan.

Where possible, your talent pool needs to hear from you, directly, about what needs to be done and for you to directly hear their input and feedback. You need to build trust and that can best be accomplished in person, by making eye contact. Together, come up with a plan to first address all people issues. Remember, the real business is all about people - your talent…the competitions talent… and your customers! Additionally, during stressful economic conditions the “people issues” need to be quickly addressed before people are ready to effectively fix other issues.

You need to encourage your top performers to help look for the answers needed to survive and thrive. What better way to bind your talent pool than to facilitate their personal stake in improving their work and the work of their colleagues? This approach demonstrates your vote of confidence in the ability of your team to face the challenges successfully and be resilient. Don't state the obvious “we need to do more with less,” your top talent knows that. Your job as leader is to inspire them to look for creative solutions. Your collective challenge is to figure out what you need to stop doing, change how things are done and what the organization must continue to do. Bottom line… how does the team play to win. Caution: It takes emotional fortitude to hire and develop great talent and then allow that talent to be ultimately committed to ensuring the business strategy is carried out.

There is no telling how long or how painful this economic downturn will be. Large-scale shakeout is taking place in virtually every business and government sector. Don't look for the good old days to return, because it's never back to normal. Normal does not exist. And yes, leading a company during a slowing economy has plenty of challenges. But, with the help of your talent pool, you must keep looking for opportunities. Opportunities for success are still there; but, harder to see given the current economic climate. You and your talent pool simply need to become more rigorous in the pursuit of information and solutions, scanning the world even more carefully for more possibilities. Interestingly economic downturns most often provide leaders the opportunity to look harder at their organizations and reconnect with their employees and their market. Leaders at all levels are facing a “true classic test of their leadership capabilities.”

Final thoughts:

• If you are in a leadership role - Lead People - Excite them! If you can't, give the job to someone who can.

• Replace “transactional managers” with “Transformational Leaders!”

• If you see things that are not going right, get emotional and change the game.

• Escape perceived reality, make your reality real and informed.

• By all means, don't run a mundane shop, division or company, run something exciting! Exciting organizations attract great people.

• Even in a down economy growth is what it's all about!

• Your organization must be easy to do business with?

• Your organization must provide more added value than the competition?

• Your organization must develop its talent and play off their strengths?

• What 10 to 12 key items do you have on your PC that you can check on daily, in real time, to see how your business is doing? (Sales, service, quality, expenses, R&D, industry trends, people events, new project milestones, largest/best customers)

• It's too late to check results at the end of the month or end of the quarter!

Finally: Leaders must lead all the time! The present economic conditions simply magnify the importance of focusing on the above points, which good leaders follow in good times and bad. You must take seriously words such as: Leadership, Integrity, Talent, Core competence, Partners, Innovation, Cooperation, Win-win, Relationship, Network, Global, Trust, Culture, Ambiguity, Chaos, Digital, Integrated processes, Us, Customer, Reality.

WOODRIDGE

Business Management Articles

Leading in a Down Economy: Crisis or Opportunity?