Looking Ahead: Triple A Tactics for the Abnormal Future
Last year my godson broke his knee in a 'scrum' (rugby). It was devastating. A candidate for the Olympic Team, he was taken to the best orthopaedists, but the surgeons could only repair the damage by taking tissue from his unbroken leg. Today he can run, he can jump, he can swim, but he can not play rugby; not for fun and most certainly not for competition. As one might imagine, there was a fair amount of woe, pity and whine until our boy discovered rowing. And now? Well, just last week he was scouted by the Olympic Team!
Over the past year, many businesses have been ‘holding it together’ while ‘watching and waiting’. This past month, signs of economic growth have been met with jubilation, as many believe we are ‘on the road to recovery’. Does that mean we can soon reclaim our post as captain of the rugby team? I think not.
Recovery demands a return to the way things were; it focuses on the past. Better, I say, to focus on the future. Looking ahead, we seek renewal, or, quite literally, starting-over. The marketplace of tomorrow is not yesterday’s market. What are you doing to prepare for this brave new world? Are you readying your company for the abnormal?
Attitude- It’s no surprise that Early Boomers (1946-1955), who experienced the invention of ‘the pill’ and the Cuban Missile Crisis are known for their social conscience and experimentation, while Late Boomers/Generation Jones (1956-1964) are cynical and distrust government (having experienced the oil embargo, Vietnam and the Cold War). Gen X and Millenials have been shaped by a reaction to the privilege of the late-boomers (Gen Me) and the proclivity of new media (Gen Net). So as we look ahead, we must recognize that underemployment, which represents as great, if not greater, a threat to worker attitude than unemployment, is likely to shape the attitudes of tomorrow’s worker. Stress related health issues, lack of personal balance and loss of culture, tradition and values have all been attributed to the ‘work-centric’ culture of the recent boon economy. Workers have accepted reduced schedules and pay in the name of cost reduction, but these patterns offer sustainable benefits for both business and its workforce. Helping your workforce adapt and leverage these new constructs to live and work more flexibly.
Anger- The young, the underemployed, the newly focused; they may all feel cheated. As the lustre returns to your bottom line, many of these workers will anticipate their recompense, and, when that doesn’t come, they may well flee or, perhaps worse, stay and fight. Managing expectations, carefully guiding your workforce toward the future and preparing for new, uncharted business conditions is key to sustaining your business ‘recovery’.
Adrenaline- Watson Wyatt reports a 9-23% drop in employee engagement, and says that 40% of ‘top performers’ attribute some or all of quality and service loss to cuts in pay, hours, workforce and benefits. Yet McKinsey shows (much like CLC did in 2007), that 3 non-monetary motivational levers have more impact than the top 3 compensation levers combined. Add data detail.....While investment in ‘soft skill’ training and leadership development has been curtailed at many companies, the data overwhelmingly supports that management and leadership skills, whether developed through formal classroom, distributed CBT or viral injection, are perhaps the highest impact /highest return investment that companies can make. What would a 9% increase in productivity and quality do for your bottom line? What percent of that return would you commit to delivering? How much would your leadership be willing to invest to reap that ROI?
