Being a leader is tough these days.
You can’t turn on the television,
open a paper or sign onto the Internet without being pummeled by a
dose of economic bad news. No matter how strongly you believe in your
company — and your ability to guide it
through the rocky shoals lurking up
ahead — you can’t help worrying a little. Good news: There is something
you can do to fortify your company for
the future. Quite simply, you must create and nurture an organizational culture that develops great leaders today
and instills the mindset that will foster
great leadership tomorrow. That does-n’t happen overnight, but there are steps you can take right now that will yield quick wins and
get your organization on the right path. In this excerpt from Quint Studer’s recent article,
“Thrive in Tough Times: 11 Simple Steps You Can Take to Fortify Your Company for the Long
Road Ahead,” you can find five fast tips to get started.
Create a get-through-the-recession plan.
Go through your business plan with a fine-tooth comb. Does it still make sense? Figure
out which objectives you are meeting,
which ones need more emphasis and which
ones you should rethink.
Communicate your plan to all employees.
If your front-line employees don’t know you
have a get-through-the-recession plan, you
don’t have a get-through-the-recession plan.
Get your whole company started on a
candy-coat diet.
In other words, quit candy-coating the truth, no matter how scary it
seems. Address the tough issues with
straight talk and transparency and make
sure your leaders do the same. Chronic
secretive behavior and lots of behind-closed-door meetings harm morale in any economy.
Put words in your supervisors’ mouths.
Let’s say Worker Walt approaches Manager
Mike to ask if the rumor he heard — that
the Duluth division is on the verge of closing
down — is true. Mike responds with a deer-in-the-headlights stare and a vague stammered comment that the company is doing
its best to avoid any closings. (He knows the
Duluth shutdown is off the table but isn’t
sure how much he can say.) Walt draws his
own (grim) conclusions and starts spreading
the bad news.
You can prevent these kinds of misunderstandings by telling managers exactly
what to say by writing a script of sorts so
that everyone is speaking in the same
voice.
Make your company a place top performers want to be. (Raises not required!)
You can offer your people perks that
don’t cost the company a lot of money.
Think about ways you can make their
lives easier — flextime, partial work-from-home schedules (much appreciated
in these times of exorbitant gas prices),
access to a chore runner — and implement them. You might give them access
to the company’s CPA or financial planner, so even if you can’t provide bigger
paychecks, you can help them manage
their expenses a little better.
Shine a 1,000-watt spotlight on customer
service.
The operating environment
changes so rapidly that all organizations
become obsolete if they are not continually renewing themselves. That process of
continual renewal requires participation
by everyone in the organization. …
Participation means that everyone has a
‘voice,’ — that is, the right to be heard in
an unimpeded process. That process is at
the heart of a ‘culture of candor.’
SPECIAL AUDIO CONFERENCE OFFER: Soundview Executive Book Summaries will host a 90-minute interactive audio conference
with Quint Studer as part of the Beyond the Books series at 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, Sept. 24. To sign your company up for a live
connection to this conference so your managers can hear Studer’s advice firsthand, call (800) 775-7654; mention Smart Business to earn
a special discount or go to www.sbnonline.com/studer.