Formula for overcoming recession

Now that recession alarms are going off around the world, and everyone outside Fort Mc-Murray is revising budgets downward, it's again time to look to the future. This slump, too, shall pass. But how you respond to it will largely determine how your business will fare in the sunnier days that lie ahead.

"Recession tends to clear out the deadwood," says Norm Nopper of Varanor International, a Toronto management consulting firm. "Companies that haven't been looking after their employee relations, that haven't been paying attention to their bottom lines, were vulnerable going into the recession, and they may not come out of it."

So how do you make sure your business survives? Nopper offers one sweeping solution: Make growth a team effort. If you gain the trust and support of your employees, you have a better chance of coming through the storm with a stronger, more focused business. "Look after your people," Nopper says, "and they'll look after you."

Nopper learned his tactics in the recession of the late 1980s, as a training consultant with Honeywell Canada in Toronto. When the Minneapolis-based multinational decided it had seven plants too many, Nopper worked closely with the plant staff to ensure they had the skills, attitude and will to win that was needed to overcome growing international competition. In the end, Honeywell saved the operation, which made heating and air-conditioning controls, and actually reinvested in it, because of the investment the workforce had made in itself.

Normally, management-employee relationships are the first casualty in a recession. Worried managers looking to cut costs start eyeing the salaried workforce as surplus inventory that can be converted into cash. "Get into the habit of viewing people as if they truly were an asset," advises Nopper. Make them partners in your quest for value, efficiency and survival.

Here's Nopper's five-part formula for overcoming recession:

1. Get employees onside in your battle against costs and waste.
Nobody knows your operations like they do, he says, "and all we have to do is ask them." For example, Nopper does a lot of training in the spa business, and says big bucks are washed down the drain every day when hairdressers use gobs of shampoo instead of the little dab each client needs. Nopper, who consulted for Magna International for 11 years, says similar economies can be found at any manufacturer. Every employee knows ways to reduce use of raw materials or make products more efficiently -- but they have never been asked, and they don't think anyone cares.

2. Tap your employees' customer knowledge.
In tough times, companies talk about getting closer to their customers. But they are more likely to hire market-research companies to find out what their customers want, instead of asking their front-line employees. "This is a tremendous opportunity for market intelligence," Nopper says. But most companies have no idea how to capture employees' customer knowledge. Tell employees how important their knowledge is -- and give them specific questions to ask customers to find out why they buy from you, and what else they expect of you. Will your employees resent doing this work? No way, Nopper says. "Employees tend to say, 'Why have you waited so long to come to me?' "

3. Gain employees' trust by making sure this isn't just a one-time effort.
Institute formal processes and regular meetings (keep them short and to the point) to prove your people are valued members of the team. Be humble and consistent. By admitting management needs all the help it can get, you're not confessing weakness -- you're building trust.

4. Don't cut the housekeeping budget -- expand it.
A clean workplace is a more positive, more efficient one. "When you're organized, it's easier to see what's missing," Nopper says. Similarly, it's easier to spot an oil leak in a piece of production equipment when it's sparkling clean than when it's covered with grime. When you show pride in your workplace, your employees will be more motivated custodians, too.

5. Avoid the temptation to reduce employees' pay during a slowdown.
Nopper shares Magna's fair-trade philosophy: Pay employees market rate for their labour, plus something extra for performance, such as profit-sharing. That will give you the compensation flexibility you need in tough times. Plus, it will reinforce your employees' attention to productivity and the overall health of the business. "You have to be consistent," he says. "If you want people to focus on the bottom line, you have to give them a piece of the action."

Original Source: http://www.financialpost.com/small_business/story.html?id=394954
Rick Spence is a writer, consultant and speaker specializing in entrepreneurship. His column appears Mondays in the Financial Post.

About Leadership

Some tips from Robin Sharma, regarding leadership qualities.

The Eyes of Leadership

The sad fact is that most people see the worst in others - they see them through the eyes of their own anger, fear and limitation. If someone shows up late for a meeting, they impute a negative intent on that person, saying "they are so rude". If someone makes a mistake on an expense report, they grumble "that person is so dishonest". If someone miscommunicates a point, they silently say "she's a liar". Leaders are different. They look for the best in people.

I want to be clear. I'm not suggesting that leaders do not confront reality. Not at all. What I'm saying is that the best leaders see through the eyes of understanding. If someone is late, they try to get to the truth. Maybe there's a time management problem to coach around or a sick child to help. An error on an expense account could be the result of a poor process in place or the employee's disorganization. The miscommunication might be all about the person communicating having weak skills in this area. An opportunity for improvement.

Today, rather than looking for the worst in people, I invite you to look for what's best within them. Sure some people really are inconsiderate or dishonest or uncaring. But in my experience - and I've worked with a lot of people over the years - most people are good. Few human beings wake up in the morning and ask themselves: "What can I do today to mess up someone else's day or undermine my credibility?" Most of the mistakes people make are the result of a lack of awareness. And here's the payoff for you: as you seek out the good in people, not only will they want to show up more fully for you, but you will see more good in your world.

Do Your Part

Big question for you: "what are you doing to help build a new and better world?" Don't blame the politicians. Don't blame those around you. Don't blame your parents or your background. Doing so is playing the victim and this world has far too many people playing the victim when they could be shining and making a profound difference. Mother Teresa said it so much better than I ever could: "if each of us would only sweep their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean." Nice.

Blaming others is excusing yourself. Telling yourself that you – as an army of one – cannot have an impact is giving away your power. A couple of college kids got their hands on empty school buses and drove them into New Orleans when everybody else said the city was unapproachable. A little man in a loincloth named Mohandas Gandhi freed an entire nation. A college student named Richard Branson took some initiative to start a record label on a shoestring that has since morphed into the Virgin empire. You are no different from them. We are all flesh and bones – cut from the same cloth.

In a recent issue of Vanity Fair, Jennifer Aniston said that she gives herself one day to play victim after a challenging event. After that day of feeling sorry for herself and powerless, she wakes up and takes ownership over the way her life looks. And if she doesn't like a piece of it she sets about to change it. That's personal leadership.

What don't you like about your life or the organization you work for or the country you live in? Make a list. Write it down. Shout it out. And then do something to improve things. Anything. Start small or go big. Just do something. Today. Now. The world will be better for it.

Leadership is About Clarity

Just read a line by famed designer Karim Rashid: "I think we should always be looking 15 minutes ahead." I suggest we should always be thinking 15 years ahead. Clarity precedes mastery and it's impossible to create an outcome/goal/result that you can't even see.

The best businesses I've worked with are so beautifully clear on where they're going and what their brand stands for and the type of people they want to populate their place. The most successful people know exactly what success means to them and what their mountains look like. And each day, step by step, they steadily near that once-far destination. You can too.

To Act is to Lead

"The smallest of actions is always better than the noblest of intentions." Leadership is a lot more than just dreaming up big idea. It's about acting on them.

What separates the ordinary ones from The Great Ones is a simple fact: the best of the best execute brilliantly around their most vital priorities. In a leadership presentation I just gave to BP, I called the concept BRBO: Best Resources on Biggest Opportunities.

Leadership is, in so many ways, about getting good stuff done. Not started. Not in process. Done. 

So today, make a decision that will revolutionize your career/life/self: never leave the site of an opportunity without doing something to seize it. And be less about talk - and more about DO.

Take Charge Fast

Leading Without Title is about assuming personal responsibility. It's about creating rich results. It's about taking charge to get things done - no matter if you are on the front line or in the C-Suite.

Was buying groceries yesterday. Standing in line. Nothing moved. I looked ahead and saw a flustered woman - seemed her debit card didn't work. The cashier looked strikingly similar to a deer caught in the headlights. Just froze. Didn't explain what was going on (I later learned the system went down). Didn't apologize to his customers for the delay. Didn't do anything to try and move things along. Just gave us a little fear grin and started to whistle a nervous whistle.

Sounds so obvious but leadership occurs in moments of challenge - not during moments of ease. Leadership shows up when things at work - and in life - test us. We, as Leaders Without Title - must rise to the challenge. We need to shine when things don't go as planned. And we have to take charge.

Eventually, the system got back up, the debit card was put through and I moved through the line. But next time I'm at that grocery store and I have a choice, I'll find a cashier who gets it. Who thinks fast. Who gets things done when others just freeze.

Leaders Wear Shiny Shoes

Okay, your shoes don't need to shine to be a superb leader (and remember - leadership isn't about your position, it's about the way you show up each day...so lead without title). My point is simply this: the way you do the little things displays a lot about how you will do the big things.

If your yard or home is well-organized, I'll bet your life is well-organized.

If you are attentive to details like the birthdays of your friends and sending thank you notes after every meeting, my guess is that you are attentive to the details around your big projects and best opportunities.

And if your place of business is spotless, there's a great chance the work you do for your customers has the same level of excellence attached to it (I can tell a lot about a business by the cleanliness of their bathrooms; an immaculate bathroom screams "we care" - and that caring translates into great service).

So pay attention to the details. Sweat the small stuff (like crazy). Commit to OAD: Obsessive Attention to Detail (the best people and organizations do; think Apple, Ritz Carlton, Amazon and The Mercer Hotel in NYC). Because the little things are the big things.

Original Source: http://www.robinsharmaarticles.com