It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving and as Washington begins its’ predictable slide into “let’s put that off until next year” it bears reminding that this is no ordinary year. And it’s no time to coast, just putting things off for later. Quite the opposite.
On the downside, how are you positioned for the downturn? Are you tracking performance? Do you know exactly who you will cut and when you will take action if things get worse? Do you have a layoff plan you can immediately put into action before things get really bad?
If everything stays the same, how are you staying close to your customers? Will you know right away when something significant is happening? Do you have key positions filled with the right people? Are you saying the right things and inspiring confidence in your key stakeholders?
On the upside, will you be positioned to take advantage of new opportunities, or will you be caught by surprise? The firms who thrive in this economy are the ones who best understand their environments and react quickly to opportunity. Same old, same old will not be enough.
It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving and it is easy to see who is driving and who is coasting. Some companies are eagerly making job offers for key hires. They plan to make the job offer, let the person give notice over the holidays and then step on the gas immediately starting the first of the year. These firms are also planning to take advantage of the best January recruiting season we have seen in more than 10 years. Just like every January, there will be lots of highly qualified job seekers and relatively few companies who are actively interviewing – but this year, even better job seekers will be looking, and even fewer companies will be organized to recruit. It’s just ideal for recruiting top performers.
So what becomes of the organizations who are coasting toward year end with key positions left vacant. Perhaps in early January they will begin to think about getting a plan in place. Perhaps in February they will start to interview and perhaps in March they will make hires, thereby losing 3 months of productivity . . .and any chance at making their goals for 2009. They also will be flying blind in one of the most daunting economies in the past 25 years without the right people making the right decisions.
In a competition between drivers and coasters who do you think will win?
See the related article on “Accelerate When Everyone Else is Slowing.”
12/05/2008 at 9:01 am
[...] identify the people you need most, because what it took to succeed last year is not necessarily what it takes to succeed right now. In these turbulent times, you might need more people in one department and less in another, or [...]