"Featured Article for the Week" 

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March 24, 2009
Free "Featured Article for the Week"  from AgentsofAmerica.Org
March 24,  2009
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Featured Article from The Mullin Group
Building Value in Your Firm During an Economic Downturn
 
by... William R Mullin

The drum beat of less than favorable news continues to inundate us at every turn. Whether it's the severe economic downturn or the malaise within the insurance industry day in and day out there seems to be very little good news. With this as a backdrop you are faced with the challenges of maintaining your business. The risk assessment skills which you so aptly display for your clients have been turned inward as you try to assess the risks to your firm as the economy gets worse. What are the implications for you and your employees? How does one maintain revenue as premiums continue to soften and your client base shrinks? If that isn't possible then surely cutting expenses is the next alternative to maintain current margins. The pressure is on. As directives from management go out, the troops gather at the water cooler to discuss the fear of failing to meet the latest set of goals. The pressure has moved down the line. Some employees worry about layoffs and others consider a pre-emptive move to possibly jump ship. Those are most likely to be your best employees.  Given the current situation, the tools we usually resort to, cutting expense, while hanging in there on the revenue side, and hoping for things to get better are the way many of us approached these problems in the past. 

 
I would like to suggest that there may be a different way to take advantage of this opportunity. Yes I've declared the deepest recession since the Great Depression an opportunity. As that old but true quotation goes...' when life gives you lemons you make lemonade'. It can be done. You can build value within your firm which will equate to a better bottom line and without lying off any employees.

 
This problem like all others should be approached in a methodical manner in order to formulate a solution. First understand the Situation. I think that was laid that out rather well in the first paragraph. Second examine the Situation for an Opportunity. The opportunity in this situation is to solve your margin problem through increased productivity with your current work force. Third develop a Strategy in order to achieve the opportunity. The strategy is to increase the personal responsibility of each employee to find ways to increase productivity within their current job description. Last but not least is Strategic Communications that allows for all members of your firm from top management to the employee at the bottom of the totem pole to be on the same page, understand the objective, and have clear understanding on how to achieve it.
 
 
Strategic Communication specifically deals with the new vision management is laying out for the firm. It allows the employees to have a level of confidence that the vision can be achieved by elaborating on how the firm will be managed going forward. This level of communication is not just issuing directives. It is meant to give a sense of encouragement, to be condoling, calming, negotiating, and to share information in a clear and transparent manner on how the strategy is progressing. Employees must understand that Strategic Communication is an every day event that gives them a say in how to reach increased productivity. No job is too great or too small to be left out of the vision.

 
As stated the going forward vision is a heightened sense of personal responsibility that all the employees (including management) have to increase the productivity of the company. I'm sure that most people reading this will suggest that personal responsibility is already a part of the make up their employees' job description. That may be so but we are using this situation, of economic crisis, to take that personal responsibility, in a very structured way, for the well being of the firm and individual employee, to a new level.

 
Remember the level of personal responsibility we all took after 9/11 for our well being and that of our fellow citizens especially in airports, on planes and public transportation. How you looked into the faces of other travelers or alerted authorities to unattended bags. This is the type of increase you are going to ask your employees to exhibit in their every day job. Their continued employment and the success of the firm are dependent on it.

 
The adjunct to the personal responsibility initiative must be a reinforcement of self motivation and a fostering of a culture of accountability. Accountability is the final piece in the modification of the overall behavior of the firm. Your vision to increase productivity is not a suggestion, but the direction of the company. All employees will be asked to account for how they intend to go about assisting the company reach that goal. It is important for all employees to understand that should downsizing become necessary how employees can account for their efforts to add value will be a major determinate as to where the cuts will be made. Good companies do not let value building employees leave.

 
It should be noted at this point that the common held belief in what makes work satisfying are autonomy, complexity and a direct connection between effort and reward. All of these components can be highlighted and reinforced within the new vision. Autonomy; you are asking employees to be more self motivated to expand their productivity within their current job description. This activity should add a level of complexity to a job they may previously viewed as boring. When you are constantly looking for ways to be more effective in your work it is rarely boring. The effort will be rewarded in that the firm will find it important to maintain you as an employee.

 
How long this recession is going to last is anyone's guess but it goes without saying that things are going to get worse before they get better. This can be a great time to enhance the culture of your company. With this adjustment your firm is guaranteed to come out the other side with a work force that has increased their expertise. They will have more effective and innovative ways to solve problems. They will be much more entrepreneurial. They will have suggested ways to minimize waste in day to day operations and your firm will emerge a stronger company ready to take on the challenges of the next cycle. By pursuing this course of action you will have more energetic employees following a strategy that will increase current and future bottom line growth.

 
For this strategy to work requires proper implementation of the process. It is recommended that you hire an outside agency to coordinate this for your company. In order to maximize results the message and the support needed to understand the changes are better suited coming from advisors who are not management.

 
Take the opportunity of our current situation to re-tool your company's physic to be stronger when we emerge from this current downturn. You will have raised the performance expectations bar to a new level for the entire firm. There will be no going back to the way it was when the economy improves. This can only mean better rewards for you and your employees.
 
 
(William R Mullin is the President of The Mullin Group a consulting firm specializing in help for businesses and associations in the professional liability insurance sector. Mr. Mullin has over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has served as President and a Trustee of The Professional Liability Society (PLUS). He founded the PLUS Foundation the charitable arm of PLUS and served as its President for 6 years) 
 
 
This featured article is produced in conjunction with Agents of America, www.agentsofamerica.org.  The contents of this article may not be reproduced without the express written permission of AOA.
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