Reasons to Zig when others zag
Reasons to zig when others zag
Whether or not to invest in our teams its an old cliche but still rings true…
CFO asks CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave us?”
CEO replies: “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”
But the money is never really wasted –
The first thing that happens in tough or uncertain times is that you stop investing in your people – it is easy money and an easy target – “Just hold onto the budget, don’t spend it – we can spend it later in the year…!”
But hold on that doesn’t make any sense,
Imagine the same thing happening at Manchester United – “Guys… times are tough, we are not winning enough games… don’t bother training “
…this would just not happen, would it [link] when times get tough then that is when we all need to invest more – but in the right things
What are the right things?
- What jobs need to be done?
- How would they look if they were perfect?
- How do your customer facing teams do now?
- Do they know what they should be doing and how they are doing?
- How do they measure themselves?
- How do you see the extra effort and give them the praise?
How much of your time is devoted to
- Spotting the needs?
- Bridging the gap?
How much time do you invest in the people who make the difference
- How confident are your middle and senior managers in helping your customer facing staff do the job better?
- How much do you invest in them?
It doesn’t have to cost a lot or take much time – using the Blueprint Huddle technique
An old boss of mine once said to his team of senior managers
“Wake up guys, this is NOT cyclical or temporary. THIS IS the new reality – there will be winners and losers – those who invest NOW in their people and their business will be the WINNERS”
Brexit and the uncertainty it has brought will be with us for the foreseeable future – particularly during the potentially protracted Negotiations.
You can’t afford to wait!
You need to understand what you need to do in this new reality and then get on and do it !
You need to equip your middle managers to coach and facilitate better performance from your customer facing teams or the energy sapping media will slow their world to a stop.
You need to tap into the discretionary effort that everyone has, to ensure you look for new ways to WIN
You need to Zig when others are Zagging
You need to make time and resources available to ‘buck the trend’
When your people are being asked to work harder, longer, being given less resources and essentially required to do more for less, it’s a recipe for stress, poor motivation and high staff churn.
If you invest time and development now when the time is tough then as the new tomorrow arrives you will be in pole position to deliver some fantastic growth, keep your people engaged, happy and delivering outstanding results.
… which are YOU going to be?
If you need help or would simply like to understand how to achieve these things more quickly then please give me a call… what do you have to lose?