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Q: How do
you effectively maintain service levels when you’re headed
into a recession? Rob Chiuch,
Toronto,
Canada
A: Given
the fact that everyone from Ben Bernanke, the chairman of
the US Federal Reserve System, to the corner grocer is
predicting a slowdown of some level or another, we were
expecting some recession questions.
Thanks for
picking service as the focus of your query. You’re onto
something important. No matter how bad the economy gets,
your company’s response to it should show up last, if at
all, in its relations with its customers.
Instead,
its response should show up first, and for as long as
possible before the next upturn arrives, deep inside the
organization—in its gut, where all the fat is stored. We
know what most people are probably thinking right
now—their businesses don’t really have any fat, and cuts
will go right into muscle. They’re thinking, “With all the
competition we’ve been up against for the past few years,
we can’t get any leaner.”
But you
can, and you will. Because you do have fat.
Indeed,
virtually every company does, thanks to the past several
years of sustained growth. Call it Recovery Poundage
Syndrome.
Whatever:
It’s not new, and it’s unavoidable. The challenge, as a
leader, is to know where to start looking for it.
The
tell-tale signs are myriad. A headquarters parking lot
with a growing shortage of spaces. A company cafeteria
with longer lines.
Now,
everyone knows that headquarters doesn’t make or sell
anything. It’s just overhead.
But during
good times, staff functions in particular tend to “put on
weight,” with the addition of data gatherers, report
writers, program analysts and the like, most of them doing
not a lot more than adding up numbers around the latest
management fad.
Even R&D
is not immune from excess. During growth periods, managers
sprinkle money on all sorts of nonessential projects that
seem like good ideas at the moment.
With a
recession looming, it is time for rigorous prioritization.
Similarly,
businesses accumulate consultants when the going is good.
We’re not going to denigrate consultants: They can be
useful for clearly defined projects.
But a
fat-cutting mission calls for a close scrutiny of every
contract. If your outsiders are not paying richly for
themselves in added productivity and ingenuity, it may be
time to say goodbye to their monthly bills.
Boom times
also tend to give rise to an enhancement, shall we say, in
the quality of company gatherings. Normally, one simple
off-site retreat a year does it.
With a
long expansion, companies somehow find a way to go to two
or more, held in increasingly exotic locales.
Look, we
enjoy these excursions as much as you do. But before
people can complain that their company is slicing muscle,
such expense multipliers have to go.
To be
clear, we’re not saying that, down the road, there won’t
be cuts that cause pain. Every recession takes a real and
painful toll.
But given
the natural plumping that goes on in long growth cycles,
it will be a good while before companies get all the fat
out. In the meantime, leaders cannot fall back on the
all-too-common approach of across-the-board cuts that trim
where they shouldn’t.
Stay
focused on your customers. You may be on a diet, but they
don’t need to know it.
Q: I have
just been promoted to lead five people. What is the best
way to develop my own management style? Martin Munga,
Nairobi, Kenya
A: One
tried-and-true approach is to try a few management styles
on and see what works.
Surely,
you already have a sense of how you want to lead. Use that
style first, then tweak it relentlessly as you see its
effectiveness. Are your people motivated? Are your results
where they should be?
Second,
seek mentors everywhere. If you know someone inside or
outside your company who hires well, pick his brain every
chance you get. If you see someone give a great speech,
follow up to ask for advice.
Consider
magazines and book mentors, too, along with training
courses of every sort.
In short,
resist the standard advice to fix your eyes on one person
as your ultimate role model. Be open to learning from
everyone, everywhere.
Before you
know it, people will be learning from you.
*****
Jack and Suzy Welch are the authors of the international
bestseller ‘Winning’ (Collins). Their latest book is
‘Winning: The Answers: Confronting 74 of the Toughest
Questions in Business Today’ (Collins). They are eager to
hear about your career dilemmas and challenges at work and
look forward to answering your questions in future
columns. You can e-mail them questions at winning@nytimes.com.
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