Talent Management in a Recession

Best-selling business author Jim Collins once wrote that “[Good to Great Companies] are rigorous, not ruthless … To be rigorous, not ruthless, means that the best people need not worry about their positions and can concentrate fully on their work.”

Experience suggests that the following recommendations are essential for C-level executives during turbulent times:

• Get ready ahead of time - you need to be ready to start the engine and open up the throttle at any time.
• Make good use of bad times to prepare for recovery by investing ahead of the cycle in leadership that creates a good business and productive working atmosphere.
• Make sure you have the right leaders on board to drive the organization and multiply their impact through their leadership team.
• Focus on the right leadership competencies for your business and develop the skills of your individuals and leadership teams to keep your talent from walking.
• Ensure alignment of business and people strategy, and make people issues a priority – leaders should be communicating consistently and frequently.

By studying the profiles of leaders who have succeeded under difficult and uncertain circumstances, the following five competencies appear to be the most critical for success:

• Strategic orientation: demonstrating complex thinking to refocus and develop insightful new strategies, reshape core business units and align work cultures.
• Change leadership: driving for improvement through people, transforming and aligning an organization in a new and challenging direction, possibly reinventing the company, keeping people onboard through tough times and difficult decisions.
• Team leadership: building effective groups and leading successfully under difficult circumstances, providing guidance and support in times of insecurity.
• Results-focus: boosting business results and focusing on the right (re)sourcing instead of downsizing, ensuring execution and follow-through.
• Building capability: strengthening the organisation by acquiring top talent and developing teams and potential successors with special projects and behavioural feedback.

The current economic environment and its unparalleled recession are certainly placing unusual stresses on today’s senior managers. However, focusing on a clear business strategy to beat the competition and ensuring that you have the right talent in place to deliver that strategy in these difficult times will certainly create a more positive can-do environment and a more powerful team performance with which to tackle the situation and steer through the storm.

Talent Management in a Recession