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OPUS Productivity Solutions
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Leadership during difficult times
Everyone has had their cheese moved. (If you haven't read Spencer Johnson's "Who Moved my Cheese", now would be a good time to do so.) It's likely that your life has been turned upside down. Real estate investments are down, your 401K has likely been cut in half, and new business is tough to come by. Perhaps cash flow is tight, new budgets need to be created to take into account current revenue projections, and every decision needs to be reconsidered in light of the financial challenges all of us are facing today.
It's so easy to get self-focused in times like this that we forget that our responsibility as leaders is to lead our people, and they too are having very difficult times. Your older employees have seen their retirement plans blow up in front of them. Younger employees have seen their friends and parents lose jobs, and they are concerned about their own future as well. No one has been spared in this latest cycle of economic downturn.
As the leader of your team or organization, you must provide to your staff what they need in order for them to be productive for you. There is a direct link between morale and productivity, and you can impact morale, either in a positive or negative way, depending on the specific actions you take.
What do your people want and expect of you? Well, that depends on their personality traits. The high dominance members of your team want to know what you are doing to help the company win - whatever winning means - achieving your quota goals, meeting your cash requirements, profitability.Your high dominance people want to see you taking the actions that will lead to success.
The high extroverts will be more self-focused. They want to know - how will all of this affect me? What happens if I lose my job - what will people think of me? Remember, your high extroverts are so used to looking at life in such an optimistic way that they want and need assurance that somehow or other "everything will be great".
Your high patience people are feeling overwhelmed - how could all of this have happened so fast! They are still at a point where they are wishing that the life could return to the way it was just a few months ago, and they haven't quite figured out what to do next. You need to take the time to listen to their concerns. They'll feel much better talking through their concenrs. They will come around.
How about the high conformity people? They are looking for the plan. What's the plan? Where is the "Yellow Brick Road" - for they know if you can just come up with a plan, then everything will fall into place. In their world, if you take care of the little things, then the big things take care of themselves.
Interesting challenge - isn't it? So who is the easiest person for you to lead? It's likely to be the people on your team that are closest to your own personality style. After all, they think like you. Terrific, but how about the other three quarters of your team? What are you doing to be sure that you are providing them the leadership they need?
First, start by being cognizant that everyone on your team doesn't need what you need - they need something very different. Recognize that in general, but then - be sure that you know your team well enough so that you can provide the assurances they personally need so that they can approach each day with a positive attitude.
These are critical times. You need everyone driving at maximum capacity, and you need the team pulling together. Perhaps you can take advantage of these times to get the team to recognize the importance of business success, and how it affects everyone's lives. And you can plug in to their motivations and goals.
There's always a silver lining, sometimes it's a bit harder to find.
Staffing needs now?
Yup - some of you are hiring, believe it or not. Two relevant points:
One - don't be spending your recruiting dollars on "candidate pipeline building". There are a zillion candidates available, and it's very, very easy to build a pipeline of bodies.
Second - do spend your time and dollars evaluating and selecting the best possible person for your organization. Think it's painful to fire someone during the good times, when you know they can go out and find another job in a week? Think about it now, when you know you're sending someone out into a very difficult job market.
Take advantage of these market conditions to hire people that will dramatically strengthen your team. They are out there.
FYI - OPUS does have a very inexpensive alternative to "candidate pipeline building" versus traditional search firms. Originally developed to meet the needs of our smallest clients, the service definitely yields better results in difficult times. You may want to discuss with us how we can help you in this area. Believe it or not, you're not the only one hiring, but you are in the minority. Take advantage of it.
Happy Holidays to All
Cheers to you, your family, and your friends
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2008 Results 
OPUS provided services to 162 different clients in 2008. Our largest clients do more than $1B in sales, and our smallest client has a total of 2 employees. Although we are heavily weighted towards technology companies, we also have medical device manufacturers, industrial glove manufacturers, insurance agencies, and other non- technical clients. Thanks to all of you for your patronage. Keep up the good work!
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Recommended Reading
April, 1865, The Month That Saved America,
By Jay Winik
(Paperback)
List Price: $15.95
Barnes & Noble: $14.35 Buy Now
If you think Barack Obama is looking at challenges, read about what Lincoln was dealing with at this time. There are many good lessons about business, politics, and life in this non fiction work.
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