|
Managing in an Era of Uncertainty - Part II
|
In this highly interdependent, rapidly changing world, there are so many variables beyond our direct control:
- geopolitics, national politics, local politics;
- nature;
- market shifts around the globe;
- changes in our particular industries ranging from new competitors to new inventions;
- changes in our particular organizations ranging from downsizing to restructuring, to new leadership, to new people on the team.
Of course, the list goes on.
All of this uncertainty has been with us since long before September 11. What has changed, truly, is that now uncertainty has become widely recognized as the new default presumption. What does this mean for the future of business?
(#1) Organizations must become super flexible. The first step is deciding what will not change under any circumstances: What are the essential components of your organization’s values, mission, and identity? Step two is evaluating everything else for its change-readiness. Step three is being vigilant about building change-capability throughout your organization: Make the necessary adjustments and reversals in policies; create new systems, practices, and competencies; discard the dinosaurs and their prehistoric ways. Step four is transforming your organization around high-performance project teams.
(#2) Individuals must become super self-reliant. Learn. Grow. Fend for yourself aggressively. Be fiercely loyal to individuals who are loyal to you. Stay healthy. Sell, sell, sell. Deliver, deliver, deliver. Cash out and renegotiate. Keep your options open. Make no apologies.
(#3) Stuck in the middle, managers must negotiate the competing interests of employers and employees. It is the manager on the front lines who must roll up her sleeves and do the hard work of driving productivity and quality: Keep the talent pipeline full and then recruit and select the best talent for every position at every level. Get new people on board and up to speed very quickly. Identify and develop the best people and draw them into the organization’s core group. Coach, cajole, bargain, inspire, motivate, and reward. Engage in personal retention planning in order to keep the best people—one person at a time, one day at a time.
(#4) Abandon hierarchical logic. Expose the transactional nature of employment relationships, and begin managing those relationships using market logic. Every term of employment should be on the table all the time. That means every person gets a custom deal—exactly what he or she can negotiate. High-value performers get the best deals, but there are no elites. Every deal is short-term, every pay-off is contingent on concrete deliverables, and every person has a chance to work harder, longer, smarter, faster, and better—in exchange for a better deal.
Managing in an
Era of Uncertainty |
One of Bruce Tulgan's latest presentations,
Managing in an Era of Uncertainty,
offers management solutions based on seven years of research inside dozens
of world-class organizations. For more information, please contact
Mark Kurber via phone (203.772.2002 x110) or
email.
|
