STOP SPENDING MONEY! Yes, the economy in the tank! Yes, the banks are holding on to “their” money! Yes, businesses are going belly up! Yes, stocks are plunging into the tank! So – it’s time to stop spending money! or is it? Does the copier jam every once in a while? Are your computers still running old software that should be updated? Does your equipment need some adjustments? How about your fleet of trucks, do they need an oil change? It would be shortsighted not to fix these problems. Continually unjamming the copier - time waster and frustration. Computer software that isn't up to date - invalid data or erroneous reports sent to the IRS! Not fixing your equipment - major customer problems and financial disaster. Not servicing your trucks - breakdowns and delays. Maintenance is simply the cost of doing business following the idea of "you can pay me now or you can pay me later". It is inconceivable that you would run a business without maintaining the assets that make the operation run efficiently. Yet, when it comes to our people – “our greatest asset” – we treat them like liabilities. On the one hand, we stop “maintaining” our employees, let alone try to “enhance” our employees. On the other hand, we expect them to … "Do more with less!" "Be a team player!" "Adapt to change!" “Just work harder!” "Get out there and sell more!" Instinctively, we know that our employees have potential that isn’t being utilized. Somehow, we believe if we say the right words, create enough motivation (“you still have a job, don’t you?”) and assume that everyone will step it up, our problem is solved. This thinking is kind of like expecting the copy machine to fix itself by run more copies or software to correct the data on its own by blindly using the system. I call this the “hope-a, hope-a, hope-a” leadership style. Sorry but lectures, motivational speeches, and platitudes are not enough. People need to hone their current skills and develop new skills. The good news is, some organizations are on top of this incredible need. We've already seen a change in 2009. The right type of training builds trust, loyalty, and confidence—not to mention competence. It assuages fear and worry. The right training will do two things for a company. 1) Help facilitate change so they can survive and grow in this economy. 2) Position the organization to explode when the economy turns. Make no mistake; all recessions go away. All sour economies rebound. So the only question is, will you be prepared? You will if you believe … It's Time To Train! Michael D. Diercks, Regional President, LMI - Serving Columbus for 40 years! Partnering with Leaders to Increase Results and Enhance Value! (614)823-8150 - www.lmi-columbus.com - mdiercks@lmi-columbus.com - http://lmi-columbus.blogspot.com

Top Ten Things for Thriving During and After The Recession

TOP TEN THINGS FOR THRIVING DURING AND AFTER THE RECESSION

(Based on an article from www.forum.com)

I believe reading this will help you gain focus and make 2009 more than “just another recession year."

The Key to Success –
Doing More than “Just Surviving”
a Recession

The economy is in trouble and senior leaders face difficult choices in controlling expenses and working through the global downturn:

What to do? What to avoid? WHAT???

• Should we cut prices to maintain market share?
• How deeply can we cut costs?
• What about layoffs?
• How can I discourage defensive internal politics that protect others’ narrow interests?
• How can I lead my company to emerge from the end of the downturn on an upturn?

The Forum Corp. has done research which shows that business leaders who take the following 10 steps in three areas—financials, people, and organizational climate—are better positioned to emerge from the recession with their organizations poised for success.

FINANCIALS

1. Move quickly to reduce costs and control spending by narrowing focus. Winners in a downturn focus on a few critical priorities where they can develop a clear lead, and they walk away from bad business. Losers chase unprofitable sales in an attempt to hold their top line.

2. Refrain from across-the-board cutbacks. Preserve areas that customers value most. Businesses that uniformly cut costs often find that they end up damaging their ability to sell and deliver their products and services. How do you find out what customers value most? Ask them.

3. Consider alternatives to layoffs. Downsizing tends to bolster the bottom line and stock price in the short term but often creates long-term negative repercussions. Alternative strategies include cutting management bonuses, freezing salaries, and reducing compensation options. It’s critical to clearly communicate the rationale and impact to employees.

4. Invest in opportunity. A bad economy can present bargains, both in new assets and in new talent. Good areas to invest in are R&D, marketing, and customer-perceived quality. By contrast, investing in working capital, manufacturing and administration doesn’t pay off as well.

PEOPLE

5. Retain and develop top talent. High-impact workers are often more susceptible to being poached by a competitor in a downturn. Organizations that provide development experiences and rotational assignments have better employee retention rates.

6. Make sure everyone’s on the same page. When alignment on key goals is absent, performance suffers, according to studies on strategy execution. Top leaders frame an agenda and meet with key stakeholders to gain support and build commitment to overarching goals and values. Ineffective leaders let interoffice politics fester and hidden agendas dominate.

7. Encourage questions and new ideas by making it safe for employees to raise them. Leaders who admit they don’t have all the answers and ask for input empower their people to contribute their best ideas.

CLIMATE

8. Manage the heat. Leaders are often tempted in difficult times to relieve the organization’s stress by making unilateral, tough decisions. That’s often a mistake. Leadership by dictate often doesn’t take because it lacks a broad base of support, and it often eliminates constructive conflicts that challenge the status quo and fuel good decision making.

9. Communicate authentically. Strong leaders acknowledge the challenges they struggle with and, by doing so, build trust among followers. Rather than being a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength.

10. Create a positive vision and attitude that acknowledges reality. Businesses at the top of their markets often fall while “sleeper” companies sometimes jump to the top in a tough economy. When leaders exercise discipline and focus by mobilizing employees to respond to customers’ interests and values, they increase the chance that, when the downturn ends, they’ll come out on top.

Applying these lessons promises a tremendous upside: new competitive opportunities that result in a stronger business uncovering when the economy improves.

If you would like to discover how the unique LMI process can help you apply these key points so you are position to grow and thrive in today's market, call us today for a complimentary consultation.

Partnering with Leaders to Increase Results and Enhance Value!

Michael D. Diercks, Regional President, Leadership Management Institute

Serving Columbus for 40 years!

(614)823-8150 - www.lmi-columbus.com - mdiercks@lmi-columbus.com

Change is in the air!

David Byrd, in his book The Tripping Point in Leadership, defines apathy as “A natural, human instinct, common to us all, that consistently encourages us to seek a comfort zone in which nothing ever changes.”

The current economic climate requires us to address this problem every day.

This crisis is causing businesses to make significant changes and we must all go through the various stages of change. Right now you might be experiencing the Panic/Anger stage. This is where everyone thinks the world is coming to an end and all businesses will go bankrupt. When we go through this stage, we become paralyzed, not knowing what to do or how to respond to the change. This stage is very intense and can be very frightening. The good news is that it is usually over relatively quickly. I believe we are only a few short days away from moving on to the next stage.

The next stage is Acceptance/Understanding. This is where we accept the change and begin to understand the implications. We become more comfortable with the change and everything it means. Fear and panic subsides. Things are certainly not a bed of roses, but neither is the world coming to an end. We get back to work and stop focusing on the problem and start looking for solutions.

This stage (according to the book Strategic Selling) creates 4 different responses – Overconfidence, Even Keel, Growth, and Trouble – in the marketplace.

The current economic crisis moves us from Overconfidence and Even Keel responses to the Growth and Trouble responses quickly. Now is the time to start focusing on the Growth response. In the past, you might have been too busy or not ready or, possibly, not seen a need to do things differently. Now, more than ever, you need to find some answers to help you improve the performance of your people, change effectively and improve the results of your organization.

You have a choice to make -

• Do you believe you have all the answers (Overconfident)?
• Do you think things will return "back to the way they used to be" (Even Keel)?
• Do you recognize the need to change because change is happening in the market (Growth)?
• Do you feel like you are serious trouble because you don't see a way to recover (Trouble)?

If you have selected the first two options, best of success to you. If you are feeling more like the third or fourth option, I would love to hear from you.

The difference between good and great organizations is their willingness to face the brutal facts and make the necessary changes to succeed. Are you a good or great organization?

“The greatest enemy to ‘excellence’ and ‘greatness’ is ‘fine’ and ‘good’!”