Cost Cutting at the Risk of Losing Innovation

Posted by admin on July 9, 2009 under Leadership, Process Improvement |

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…