Page 177 - Accelerating out of the Great Recession
P. 177

ACCELERATING OUT OF THE GREAT RECESSION


           5. Drive results. Running day-to-day business operations in a
              slow-growth environment will be a significant challenge.
              Motivating the organization when tough decisions have to
              be made will require a well-balanced approach. Initiatives
              need clearly established milestones and metrics—and
              unambiguous ownership. Leaders need to track progress
              rigorously against those metrics and milestones, intervene
              when necessary, and communicate any changes of direction.
              At the same time, leaders need to celebrate success and rec-
              ognize the contributions of individual team members who
              have achieved results.  Testimonials from customers and
              employees that demonstrate a company’s values and
              strengths can be amazingly powerful and effective. Some
              executives think that video clips and small rewards (and
              awards) can be gimmicky. Perhaps—but they work.
           6. Invest in affiliation and retention. Retaining the best tal-
              ent will become an even bigger challenge in the context
              of slow growth and fewer available opportunities to cre-
              ate a satisfying career path. It is important to actively
              manage the attrition of lower-performing employees in
              order to ensure that there are career opportunities for the
              most talented people. Additional measures will be neces-
              sary, especially in light of demographic challenges. While
              leaders in the 1930s focused on securing jobs for the
              most skilled workers (by lowering the number of work-
              ing hours per head and, when necessary, shifting high-
              skilled labor to lower-skilled jobs to keep them on the
              payroll) and also added social benefits that in part com-
              pensated for lower wages, today’s leaders will have to
              come up with innovative approaches in the field of work-
              life balance and compensation.



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