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I recently read on the Business Strategies etc. website that a “Recession is a Terrible Thing to Waste!” (www.business-strategies-etc.com/2009/a-recession-is-a-terrible-thing-to-waste/). It seems they read an email bulletin from the NAPL (National Association of Printing Leadership) where this was described. They liked the phrase and decided to re-use it, well so did I.

When I read this, I thought that they had captured the essence of what every good company should do in difficult times. However, my belief is that if you want to develop a truly great company you should view that a recessionary trend is a natural way of correcting markets that have become unstable or artificially overextended. The one underlying message to this is that “This Too Shall Pass” and we better prepare ourselves so that we come out the other side as a stronger organization. There is the ability to do a quantum leap, gain market share or tackle new markets once the economy returns to normal (if there really is a normal). The proper preparation falls to our leaders, but how do we accomplish this when we are fighting the day-to-day battles?

Well I read the newspaper today) and there it was, another indicator on how our economy is in a tailspin and our unemployment rate is nationally 8.4%, and even greater in some areas across the country: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/unemployment-by-cities-provinces/article1170164/ Over the past months the headlines seem to claim that we haven’t seen anything like this since the Great Depression. On occasion, someone will mention that we in fact have suffered through a couple of more recent recessions and come out stronger when it has passed.

I think one of the reasons that this seems harsher today is that we hadn’t really recovered from the last series of issues and they do seem to be coming faster. Hard to believe it was 10 years ago when we were all preparing for the Year 2000 disaster that failed to materialize. Perhaps that is why we didn’t see the DOT com bust or Telecom downturn approaching. Then, when we add the fiscal mismanagement of some very significant corporations throughout North America, currency fluctuations and the global impact of the sub prime mortgage industry…well it seems like we have been battling for the past decade.

Typical Management Behaviour

As leaders, we tend to follow some very traditional patterns in surviving difficult times. We have learned these patterns over the years and we seldom challenge the track record of their success rate. Here are a few of the most common things that I have seen:

• Bring all of the big brains together and lock yourself in a room for a couple of days
• Recognize that sales are slipping which means that cost cutting is your only salvation. This means wage freezes, no promotions, travel freezes and of course “layoffs.”
• Management becomes invisible and always seem to be in closed door sessions.

For the sake of brevity I am going to stop at these three because these three points start to define a manager’s behaviour. What do you think these three points signify to the average employee? After all, your role as a leader is to lead isn’t it?

Tips to Improve Your Management Style

Now I am not suggesting that the preceding points aren’t necessary for corporations to survive difficult times, but there is a reason that during war times, generals try to make themselves visible to their troops. When you are asking someone to help fight a war for you, and make no mistake the similarities are strong, they need to know that they are not in this alone. Here are a few simple things to do that will make you stand out as a leader during tough times:

• Be visible – walk the halls, engage in conversation
• Provide clear leadership intent – this means that you tell them the objective but give them some leeway in determining how they get there
• Recognize individuals but praise the team
• Make decisions quickly and fairly – procrastination is a business and morale killer
• Connect with your customers – they are probably suffering just like you and probably would appreciate that you understand their position not to mention that your employees will like the fact that you are engaged

In my past life, I was the CEO of a mid-size software company that was named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies during our last economic challenge. It was during that time that I learned to be out among the staff. They needed to know that they weren’t alone and I was constantly amazed at the great ideas that people were willing to share. I guess it is true that necessity is the motherhood of invention, because we created three new products that were introduced just as the economy was recovering.

Make Your Communications Meaningful

This is the ideal time to improve your personal and corporate communications. Your messages need to clear and memorable for them to have the right impact. If you don’t know how to make a message memorable, you might find some helpful tips in a book called “Made to Stick” by Chip & Dan Heath: http://www.madetostick.com/. I found their book to be helpful in understanding why some messages stick with people and why most just bounce off of us.

Tough times really aren’t new, but we sure treat them like it is something we have never seen…every time it happens.

I never get why so many of us in business look for easy answers - a black or white declaration of where our business focus should be resting.

“It’s either productivity or excellence - which do you believe is the most important?”

Here’s what I think: it’s both.  And the tension of insisting on putting the emphasis on both forces us through the easy answer to find true insight.

Let’s set the parameters of this debate in the areas of:

• Managing results
• Activity management

Numbers or quality? The Two Sides

Managing results: No one is going to argue that results are essential and that it is critical that we set objectives and manage/measure to them.

The argument is that too often results are the only measure that gets focused on.  Basically, custodians of these businesses are driving while only looking in the rear view mirror.  It’s uncomfortable, you can’t go as fast, control of the car is harder to manage and you can only see where you have been.  Who knows what is in front?

Activity management: Business is quantitative, correct?  So let’s set numbers goals for activities.  The more activity, the more likely we are to get the desired results.  And as a general rule, that is the case. 

The risk, however, is two-fold:

• The team goes out with results-focused activity… every contact is a nail and they are the hammer. Ouch! Always being the “nail” in a conversation with a “hammer” leads to the risk of conversation-averse clients and potentials.
• Lots of activity…but is it the right activity?

Numbers or quality? The Pat Riley Approach

Pat Riley was a NCAA basketball player who was schooled at the University of Kentucky by Adolph Rupp.  Rupp was one of the most successful college coaches ever.  He was evangelical about excellence through fundamentals.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Rupp

Pat had a journey man career including playing with the Lakers, winning the NBA championship and finally playing with the Suns. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Riley His coaching career was much more successful.  He has coached five NBA champions and is currently president of Miami Heat, who won the championship in 2006.

Pat had several key beliefs that framed his coaching philosophy:

• Players want to play at their highest level
• A good coach can count on players’ pride and their own drive to excel
• Every player knows their results, the league and the sporting press has reams of results data and statistics focused dominantly on results
• An unswerving commitment to focus on the fewest things that make the most difference

So his strategy fell out like this:

• Coach to the playbook
• Measure and reward “on target” performance and attempts
• Let results follow - professionals will succeed more than fail when they make attempts or “effort” at the right activities

He built a philosophy around “effort statistics”.  Once a team had the playbook down, he knew that solid, quality attempts would make the difference in end of game results.  Results and Activity. Productivity and Excellence.

So to get the most drive out of activity, he measured and rewarded:

• Attempted assists
• Attempted rebounds
• Attempted shots
• Attempted steals

Pat knew that the drive, competitiveness and professionalism of the players would be channeled through quality effort and as a consequence would drive results. If he gave positive feedback on the attempt, quality would eventually win out and results would follow.

Results are essential, but they follow. Excellence is driven through quality effort.

The key is knowing what to measure and not getting hung up on staring backwards at the results.

Smart attempts to steal the ball or bring down the rebound will pay off!

Put good things in and get good results out

I just read a Fortune article based on Q&A with Jim Collins of “From Good To Great“.It reminded me of something I had forgotten.

Who remembers this?: Eighteen of the companies Collins’ research team studied were Depression companies. FIFTEEN of them are still independent operations.

Timely to quote another key piece of work by Collins: something he calls Level 5 Leadership. It highlights a key component of the leadership required to create sustainable greatness.

“Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won’t even know that the roots of that success trace back to their efforts. As one Level 5 leader said, “I want to look out from my porch at one of the great companies in the world someday and be able to say, ‘I used to work there.‘ ”

To explore this further, read more at Jim’s Website