Quick Checklist-Is Your Firm Ready For Success In The Coming Economic Rebound?

—No doubt your management structure is lean and knowledgeable in playing “defense”, that is, cutting costs, not paying close attention to employee dissatisfaction, cutting corners on safety, “telling” rather than “telling and listening", giving special "minimal margin deals" to customer rather than beginning to sprinkle these “deals” with a few "margin raising deals"; But is your company ready to start listening to employee ideas, complaints, and requests? It should be because once the economy starts to gain steam, some of these critical human resources could be off to other companies, especially in light of the fact that the new health reform legislation will allow portability of health insurance coverage.

—Did your top executives barricade themselves in their offices during the economic downturn and stop their management-by-walking-around (MBWA) routine? It will soon be time to resume full force MBWA.

—Training at all levels went by the board in the recession. It is time that training at all levels is resumed. Rusty planning, motivation, people, innovation, and evaluation skills need to be brushed up and made ready for the upcoming expansion phase of the economy.

—Start thinking about beginning to bring some mavericks and risk-takers into the organization. These are the people who know how to contribute to company growth by playing “offense” through new ideas, new products, new organizational structure, new innovations, and new markets.

—Take another look at the customer, but this time see if a relationship can be built based on assured reliability, personal contact, extra service, and long term commitments rather than just price. Find out what the customer is thinking about in terms of future products, markets, and operational configurations so as to be ready to meet the customer’s needs that will be generated by these new things. Visits to the top management of customers by your top management is a most effective way to secure this information and build the above mentioned personal relationship.

—Start thinking again about pushing profit and loss accountability down the organization. Consider loosening the recession induced tight control at the top of the organization regarding financial, purchasing, wage payment, and other operational decisions. This approach will change employee attitudes from fear and anxiety to security and trust and get their full commitment and “brains back in the game.”

—Think about creating a new company mission and organizational philosophy statement. In the bad recessionary times, everyone in the organization knew what was important: cost cutting, “CYA”, and keeping your head down. This kept the ship afloat, but it did little for innovation, ingenuity, and out-of-the-box thinking. Now that a new phase of economic growth is around the corner a new view of the company’s mission and corporate culture are needed. A refocusing from pulling back to pressing forward through new ideas, new people, and new markets is the order of the day.

—As soon as the economy picks up and the surplus of executive and management resources disappears, there will be a drastic shortage of executive and management talent. Your company will need a new source for recruiting at all levels of the organization. Internal resources will likely not be adequate to fill the bill in a timely manner as the expansion unfolds. Using full fee executive search firms is passé. Consider employing an hourly fee search consultant to identify, screen, and present candidates for top executive and management openings that develop as the economy strengthens. Savings of time and tens of thousands of dollars can be enjoyed using this approach to executive recruitment.