- A Note From Anne
- Innovate and Grow When Surrounded by Fear
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Hello!
A few years ago, 2002, I was the Director of Procurement for Encoda Systems, an international communications and information technology company. Great job and even better boss, David Johnson. A few months ago, Dave approached me to join him as a partner in his consulting firm, Catapult Growth Partners. I'm thrilled as it's a great venue to be part of a leading interim and advisory firm specializing in providing turnaround and business revitalization services. How timely in today's market!
Don't worry though, I will still service and develop my existing client base of small business, government and individual executives, I still have Strategize & Organize with innovative productivity services and processes. However, know I have my partners at Catapult to help any Strategize & Organize client's who want to move to the next level. Let me know if you are interested in getting to know some of my new partners. This week, I'm highlighting an article written by Dave on what's going on here in today's market.
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Innovate and Grow When Surrounded By Fear
by David R. Johnson
You're kidding, right?
 This is the response from many business owners and senior executives these days but it is not the response of winning companies. Smart leaders deal with fear and defuse it with facts, use those facts to motivate people and provide a plan for all to keep the faith.
Our current climate is rife with employee layoffs, businesses ceasing existence and government bailouts for the very large failures. Fear permeates through organizations and stifles action, productivity and brain power at all levels. Indecision becomes common with all thoughts of innovation and sales growth forgotten as survival overrides strategic plans. This is the behavior that you want to see in your competitors, not in your own house.
Leaders combat fear and focus thought into positive actions when they confront the brutal facts and never lose faith! Employees are counting on management leadership and communication to show them the path through the dark forest of recession and will feel more secure when they are confident that leadership can steer the course. Active leadership and open communications on the exact status of the company are necessary to mitigate the fear that supports inaction, eventually compounding the complexity of problem solving.
Forthrightly examining your markets and the actions taken by competitors is crucial to determining any mismatch between your strategies and the new market realities. It is critical that the management team develop a common view of the situation and there is consensus on the key facts. To quote Winston Churchill, "facts are better than dreams" and it is the facts that are needed to build viable business plans. Facts dispel rumors and this alone greatly reduces fear by employees having confidence that management knows what to do.
Open communications and active involvement in determining solutions leads staff to take proactive steps. Leadership must ensure that managers take an active role in identifying problems and their root causes. It is important that management ask a lot of questions about all areas of the business. Why are products not selling? Why are costs increasing? Why are customers going to competitors' products? Why are key people leaving the company and who is in charge? If your team does not have the skills to ask the right questions or formulate answers, go rent it from the consulting community.
Get your organization involved in work process improvement efforts to cut costs, increase productivity and maximize customer and employee satisfaction. Their findings will allow you to eliminate activities that don't add value to the bottom line and support determining the necessary staff and information technology requirements.
 The best and brightest employees are more successfully retained when they are actively involved in making needed changes. Management must be rigorous in its analysis of staffing and the cutting of personnel expenses. In economic downturns there is an opportunity to increase the quality of employees and jettison underperformers. Surprisingly, when this happens, employees know who the underperformers are and morale rises.
Asking the brutally honest questions about which functions are absolutely needed at this time is fundamental to determining your required cash flows. Several scenarios should be modeled: survival only, survival plus growth, growth plus acquisitions and if growth is not possible, cash flow to prepare the company for sale. Knowing what funding needs are is crucial to your timing in execution and scope of changes that can be made. Knowledge of cash generation in the business plus possible bank line covenant restrictions is key to protecting resources in this economic environment. In summary: confront the brutal facts facing your company, focus your team on developing consensus to act on the facts, communicate with employees on the status of the company, plan decisive leadership actions with employee input, and execute improvement strategies. Innovation and growth are possible with the thorough situation analysis and fear is minimized through this process. |
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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Productivty Trainer and Organizing Consultant, Anne McGurty, publishes the "Organizing Strategy" weekly ezine with 1,200+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your productivity, save time, and enjoy the quality of your life at work and at home, get your FREE tips now at www.StrategizeAndOrganize.
WANT MORE INTERACTIVE CONVERSATIONS AND TIPS: See Anne's blog. |
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About Anne:
 Anne McGurty is CEO of Strategize & Organize, a company devoted to training individual's to be more effective with the tools and resources to be productive in their work environment.
If you liked today's issue, you'll love Anne's transforming productivity training and organizing products to help you organize your business -- and yourself -- ranging from productivity consulting for individuals and executives to small business coaching programs to keynote speaking and corporate training programs to improve efficiencies in the workplace and improve productivity. While Anne's best known for her expertise in productivity and expert office organizing, her clients share that her biggest impact comes from her philosophy of "personalizing her programs to fit the needs of her clients so they can streamline more efficiently with existing processes" - ensuring to create a sustainable work environment. This, Anne says, is the most important key to bringing an individual to personal freedom with time and organization. You can learn more about Anne and her services, programs, and products for small businesses at www.StrategizeAndOrganize.com. She is also a partner with Catapult Growth Partners. Catapult Growth Partners is a leading interim executive and advisory firm that specializes in providing turnaround and business revitalization services. For referrals to professionals to work with you in the residential/home enviornment, visit www.OrganizingDoctors.com. | |
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