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Recovery or Double Dip Recession

Guest post by: Dr. Rick Johnson

Article Overview: Recovery or double dip recession; That issue is sharply dividing many economists, because no one is sure what impact the current nonsense we keep hearing over the airwaves will have on the overall market and the broad economy. What impact will the November elections have on our economy? What about the Bush Tax cuts, Cap and Trade and the impact of "Health Care Change"? These four questions alone represent a lot of uncertainty. Terms like "Jobless Recovery" -- "The Summer of Recovery" and "Jobs Saved" almost make me want to puke.

Recovery or Double Dip Recession

Recovery or double dip recession; That issue is sharply dividing many economists, because no one is sure what impact the current nonsense we keep hearing over the airwaves will have on the overall market and the broad economy. What impact will the November elections have on our economy? What about the Bush Tax cuts, Cap and Trade and the impact of "Health Care Change"? These four questions alone represent a lot of uncertainty. Terms like "Jobless Recovery" -- "The Summer of Recovery" and "Jobs Saved" almost make me want to puke.

The difference of opinion of many economists is adding to that uncertainty heading into 2011. Some economists are predicting a double dip recession and others forecasting a recovery. That reminds of the statement former President Roosevelt once made.

He said: "I'd prefer dealing with a one-armed economist so they can't say --- "On the other hand!"

So, how do we position our company to gain market share during tough economic times and be ready for anything in 2011? Will it be a bang or a bust? Will we continue to ride a low tide in our industry? Have you positioned your company, instigated change and managed that change structuring your company to deal with whatever comes along? If you have --- you will meet the challenges in 2011.

You've met the Challenge of Economic Turbulence

You completed your contingency plans, weeded the garden, repositioned your company and strengthened your core team to take advantage of the window of opportunity. You now have the right foundation to leverage the repositioning of your company. What we are all facing (economic turbulence) is not at all unprecedented. Simply put, there are good times when things are going well and it's easy to make money, and there are bad times, when it's much more difficult to make money.



You Survived --- Now it's Time to Thrive

Your gut should be telling you if your team, your company and you personally, can now walk the walk. Confidence in execution means you are on the winning side of turmoil and confusion. You have faced tough challenges, made tough decisions, now is the time to execute and leverage your competitive advantage. You survived because you did things right, instigated change, managed that change, restructured your business and your process and more importantly, you have become a true leader with a team in place to take you where you want to go. Now is the Time

You now have the confidence, the process, the initiative and the team to execute. Your leadership has provided the following:

• A clear plan with clarity of purpose and participation of the employees

• A raised bar with relevant accountability

• A definitive marketing and sales strategy

• Best practices and determination to reside in the upper quartile for performance once recovery is secure

• A measurement of success through activity management and accountability

• A focus on gaining market share wherever the market settles

The Power is Often Found in the Question

You are now in a position to execute your initiatives. You attacked your sales process first. The sale process is at the heart of your success. You have asked and answered the following questions and many others in creating a platform for success in tough economic times. You must take action based on those answers.

• What determines a profitable customer?

• What are your competitive advantages?

• What are your competitor's competitive advantages?

• What initiatives do you have to improve highest delivered value?

• How do your sales representatives spend their time?

• How often do you plan formal business reviews to compare expectations to results?

• How do you measure costs?

• Who reviews and is responsible for customer profitability?

• How do you track lost business and lost customers?

• What single thing has the biggest impact on your profitability?

• What is your current market share?

• How do you measure growth?

• How do you maximize account penetration?

• What is the role of your inside sales staff?

• Does your inside sales staff proactively solicit business?

• How do you analyze your warehouse operations?

• Is your plan working?

Your answers allowed you to develop a sales effectiveness-sales management process with built in accountability and a strategic plan that provides a roadmap to success. You are now in a position to take advantage of any opportunities that may present themselves?

Leadership is About Taking Action

Leadership is often measured by your ability to take action. Yes, sometimes that means shooting from the hip by taking "calculated" risk. It becomes a function of how fast you can analyze a situation, take action and make things happen. The more proactive you are, the more productive you will become. This earns trust and respect. There is no greater reward than accomplishing a difficult task. However, you can't complete a project if it never gets started. Effective leadership means employing the following tactics by you and your management team.

• Create self-imposed deadlines to stay focused. Don't create undo pressure but do make timeline commitments. Create milestone markers to judge progress on all initiatives. These can be termed mini goals leading to your ultimate goal. Assign KPI's (Key Performance Indicators)

• Don't be a perfectionist. Unless you are a brain surgeon don't let perfection or analysis paralyze you or your team into inaction. Sometimes good is good enough. The slogan "Good is the enemy of Great" does not always apply. Remember, once you decide on your initial actions you can always go back and adjust or react to circumstance. Remain flexible.

• Don't prioritize based on how difficult a problem is and leave it for last. Prioritize based on the impact on your goals, importance and success. We face both easy and hard issues every day. Generally, it is better to get the tough ones out of the way first. Taking on the easy tasks first allows us the opportunity to "lolly gag" in our actions to avoid the more difficult tasks. Also, as a leader you must learn the art of empowerment and delegation.

Build up your defenses by striving to be proactive in everything you do. Taking action is always the best way to conquer challenges and master change. Doing nothing should never be an option.



Change is a Fact of Life

Without change, your company becomes stagnant, uncompetitive and boring. A leader's major responsibility is to create change, instigate change and then manage change effectively. In spite of the fact that creating change is a key competency required to be an effective leader, most people resist change. This includes leaders themselves. However, effective leaders accept change as a positive force and they are able to convince those that follow them that change is nothing more than a roadmap to a new and better destination. Creating induced change during tough economic times is not an option it is a necessity.

Creating change, managing during turbulent times, or fostering growth in a recession depends on your skills as a leader and your ability to empower your team. No one person can make a company successful. It takes a lot of people, but one person with a command of leadership can transfer enough influence, creating enough leadership amongst the management group to guarantee success.

One thing you must continuously consider when evaluating the organization you structured to meet and beat economic challenge is............................

"In Tough Economic Times ---- Average Performance Just Isn't Good Enough!"

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Article Tags: double dip recession, economy, jobless recovery, leadership, uncertainty



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