Paralysis is Not a Component of Operational Strategy

Posted by admin on July 16, 2009 under Leadership | 3 Comments to Read

Economic challenges impact everything we do these days – personally and professionally. Are gasoline prices going to rise? Will I have a job next month? On and on it goes – the questions and uncertainty.

 

In our personal lives, however, we recognize that we need to be more cautious – maybe we eat out less often, or carpool more. What we don’t do, though, is let the fear paralyze us into inaction – we still live our lives and work toward our goals, albeit a little more slowly.

 

So why is it then, that companies facing the same types of challenges (read fear), react differently? I have recently spoken with a number of people in different organizations and industries that are just paralyzed with fear – of doing anything right now. They voice it out loud and I can hear it in their voices. Sometimes it makes me wonder if they are even still breathing….

 

A company’s operational strategy, though, is based on the defined business strategy and developed with environmental considerations factored in. While there are times that assumptions made during the development of the plan are more conservative than actually occur, there should be risk mitigation strategies in place to address the issue(s). A bad assumption shouldn’t mean the company completely ceases executing the operational strategy!

 

Stop letting fear distract you from the tasks at hand – profitable operations and growth for your organization. Focus on what you can do given the current constraints, and take “fear” out of your corporate vocabulary.

Tags: ,

Cost Cutting at the Risk of Losing Innovation

Posted by admin on July 9, 2009 under Leadership, Process Improvement | Be the First to Comment

Since last fall, most organizations have been in a cost cutting mode as the economy started faltering. Initially, cuts were in the areas of travel, expense accounts and the like. Early in 2009, the cost cutting became more drastic, impacting the livelihoods of our organizations’ valuable employees.

Today, organizations have trimmed their budgets to such a barebones level that there is not much anything left to cut. At some point, the cutting has to stop before it does irreparable damage to the long term viability of the organization.

Many organizations (be they corporations, non-profits, or governmental agencies) are sacrificing long-term benefits for near-term gains. While “trimming the fat” is necessary, we cannot afford to lose sight of the factors and resources necessary to innovate and grow our organizations post-economic downturn. At some point, we need to consider how our own organization should look in the future, and start taking steps to (re)build the infrastructure, processes, staffing and other resources necessary to position ourselves for the inevitable recovery.

In what ways are you starting to plan for recovery? In what ways will your organization look different in the future?

I’d love to hear what you are planning…

Tags: ,

home top