Celebrate good times
Along the way, one priority that can’t get lost is honoring the good your people are doing.
“Don’t forget to celebrate success,” Jenkins says. “Our business has been having some great success on the sales and growth side, and it’s easy, with all the noise in the marketplace and people’s stress, to forget about that. We always make time to celebrate success wherever possible.”
Here’s a case in point from HPB: The company took advantage of some opportunities in the first quarter of this year and had some successes where business was up more than 25 percent. Jenkins used an already scheduled quarterly town-hall meeting for three primary agenda items.
“One is having one of our offices come up and talk about the success they had in the first quarter because they literally blew the doors off of their goals,” he says. “So the managing director is going to come up and talk about it, then one of their colleagues is going to come up and do some presentations for some exceptional achievement. Then, we have some tenure awards, some 10-year anniversaries for the group.”
First, traditional tenure things that are always done can’t be cut at the risk of hurting morale. Second, you have to take the opportunity to shine a spotlight on great behaviors — like if people are showing the alignment you want.
“So it’s just kind of sending the message subtly and not so subtly that we’re having some great success in this environment,” Jenkins says. “We’re doing some good things and I want to hear from the people who are doing it and what it is they are doing to be so successful.”
Even if you think temporarily suspending celebration awards can save you some money, Jenkins warns against it.
“Your professionals are in front of clients every day,” he says. “Think of the conversations they need to be having with clients now and the depth of the planning because of the marketplace. What you need to do as a leader is you need to remember your professionals, in many cases, are struggling with exactly the same things.”
If you can keep your company filled with top talent that is aligned to your plan and believes in the organization, downturns could very potentially become an opportune time.
“This is also a time to build a business and a time to be, I don’t know if assertive is the right word, but certainly not to be timid,” Jenkins says. “Good organizations with good leadership and good professionals can do some good things with clients now, and the clients are frustrated and worried, and an organization that focuses on the right things can make some gains — call it being opportunistic or however you look at it.”
How to reach: Harris Private Bank, (312) 461-7335 or www.theharris.com
