SUCCESSFACTORS / WHITEPAPER WInnIng THROUgH TAlEnT In UnCERTAIn TImES Question to Ask Does your top talent know how critical they are for your business in the bad times as well as the good times? If you are pursuing a defensive strategy to minimize your risk, do you know the talent that can help you: • know and manage financials, cash • Re-negotiate with vendors, landlords, customers • forecast and manage key external business drivers • Acquire and retain the most profitable customers If you are pursuing an offensive strategy to capitalize on your competitors’ weaknesses, do you know the talent that can help you: • Expand into geographies/segments where competition has weakened? • Provide solutions that exploit competitors’ vulnerabilities? • Adapt your selling proposition for the new customer environment? • Acquire competitors at bargain prices? For either strategy: • can you launch the right rewards mix (development, compensation, etc.) to retain these individuals critical to your business? • Do you have visibility into bench strength and successor readiness for all key positions? 4. Be transparent. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Executing these strategies isn’t enough. You must also make sure that people understand what you’re doing and why. Avoid the rumor mills. During uncertain times, transparency drives trust and employee engagement. When your key players feel secure, they are much more motivated and engaged as a result. It’s no wonder that companies with high trust financially outperform those with low trust. Market your message internally: Tell your employees your firm’s recession-ready strategy — a strategy based on the realities of the marketplace. Especially target your top-performer and opinion-setters. If you are shifting your business strategy, show the role that everybody will play, show how you will realign incentive structures and reporting systems. This will help maintain loyalty and morale, and increases the acceptance of cuts and new strategic initiatives. Fortunately, good morale does not require people to be happy or the market to be booming. In teams with good morale people’s emotions contribute to, rather than subtract from, the unit achieving its goals. Many of the best examples of high morale come from situations of great unhappiness and stress — such as heroic actions in war. Thus, while it may be impossible to make people feel happy while their friends are being let go, that is not your job. Your job is to build your team’s focus and dedication. You cannot do so without building trust. And trust, it turns out, pays dividends during and after the turbulence. Companies with High Trust Outperform 20% High Trust Three year total return Companies with 7% to shareholders Low Trust by 168% Low Trust 020406080 100 Source: Watson Wyatt: WorkUSA® 2002 – Weathering the Storm: A Study of Employee Attitudes and Opinions. http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/printable.asp?id=w-557 8