"What are you doing to contain or cut costs to get through 2009?"
I was a blind-copy recipient of this question in an email from a colleague the other day. It came with the promise that answers would be shared anonymously among those of us willing to throw our ideas into the conversation.
I'm tossing out a couple of thoughts. They're based on the experience I've had the last decade working with leaders to create and implement strategies for change, improvement and innovation -- which often has been shaped by the need to hang on for dear life.
I'm also passing along the question --
with hopes I'll hear from you -- to keep the conversation going.
Ideas...
* Involve the people who will be effected by the change -- the cost cutting -- in the meaningful work of figuring out how to do it. Engage people in talking about the circumstances and the options for making things better. Let them influence the decision making. The outcome: they are likely to come up with the same ideas a leader or leadership team may be tempted to invoke unilaterally -- maybe even better ideas -- but they will own them. When they own them they are more likely to help make the ideas work.
* Pay attention to the potential long-term damage being done by short-term solutions. Cost cutting is scary, distracting business. Productivity will suffer in the short term. That can ripple out. And you can be sure people will be worrying about their futures... and planning to finish them elsewhere. can you afford for your "most value resource" to be fantasizing about life without you?
* Think "health reform" not "band aids." No organization can cost cut its way to greatness. Every organization wastes some resources. It always makes sense to be looking for ways to minimize those costs, not just when the economy is bad. Sometimes -- like now -- the only way for some businesses to survive in is to cut to the bare bones and find ways to stretch dollars and people as thin as possible without snapping. But that's not a formula for a vibrant future. The organizations I've seen do this most successfully cut surgically, thinking simultaneously about what it will take to refocus on growth strategies as soon as possible.
The Invitation...
What are you doing to contain or cut costs to get through 2009 --
strategically vs. reflexively? Post a comment or send me an email and maybe we can take this discussion to a new level.
Make a Difference,
Brian
Blog:
Brian@GrowthWorks -- Life, Learning & Leadership
