helping those survivors in the organisation to deal with fear and uncertainty will have a direct impact on productivity, customer service and innovation. Businesses also need to focus on front- linemanagement training as these are the staffmemberswith the most influence on the critical people closest to the customer.
USE THE TALENT AND IDEAS OF YOUR PEOPLE
Training and development professionals need to design programmes that gather ideas fromthose in the business as part of the ongoing strategy.Companies that survive and do well are those that spot opportunities and have the flexibility to act quickly as they are identified. Athinking culture is one that every organisation needs to foster,
now more than ever,where ideas on cost savings, new products, better services, improved communication and better business efficiency become central to the way that every member of staff thinks and acts. Downturns are about psychology asmuch as business survival.
During previous recessions innovations such as theFrequentFlyer Programme, Fortune magazine and Federal Express were born. Courageous organisations are those that listen to their people, encourage innovation and take risks tomake things happen.
LEADERSNEED TO LEAD
Alack of visible leadership in an organisation that is dealingwith a recession adds to the sense of fear among employees.TheCEO is the person responsible for generating and maintaining energy and enthusiasmamong those in the business in a timewhen there is a huge amount of uncertainty and fear. People need to feel confident in their leader, which includes
their line manager; they need to believe he/she believes the company is going to survive and that they will keep their jobs. They need to be clear how they can help and what is expected of them as well as feeling that they are part of the same team working on the survival and success of the company. When you think of today’s business culture, the analogy of
passengers on a flight comes to mind.When the plane journey gets bumpy, every passenger wants to hear from the captain immediately, even it means fastening seat belts for turbulence ahead.Training and development is essential in order to ensure the leaders in the business lead their people in ways that reduce fear and ensure real buy-in and involvement.Leaders lead people out of the darkness, they don’t leave themsitting in it.
TOP TALENT RETENTION
If training budgets are cut during a time of recession, talented peoplewill see the corporatemessage that their development and growth canwait for awhile. In fact, it is this group of peoplewho, if invested in during tough times, will spot the growth opportunities for the firmand willmotivate those around them. Training and development interventions need to focus on the
needs of this group, specifically linking the support they needwith the new strategic direction of the organisation in a planned way. Targeted development opportunities for this sector of the workforce need to reflect the needs they are identifying in the current climate and offer practical, current solutions that will make a real difference to the individual and the organisation.
THENEED TO BE STRATEGIC
According to a report by Cranfield University called Nurturing Talent, employers who make strategic decisions in their training and development plans during a downturn are better placed to grow their businesses during this period as well as when the economy starts to recover. Many organisations react to external events by either cutting
spend or running a range of ad-hoc training events,whichmay be aimed at helping staff dealwith the newreality.However,because they are not linked to any real strategy, their impact is short term and minimal.Those companies that take a strategic view of the training and development needs of their business aremuch better placed to bring staffwith themduring hard times.Theywill have higher levels of overall engagement throughout this period, all of which has a positive impact on the bottomline in the business.
GROWYOUR OWNTALENT
The development and growth of potential from within the business gives organisations that invest in training in a seriousway a clear, competitive advantage during a recession.The Cranfield UniversityNurturingTalent report demonstrates the cost savings involved in developing people internally for roles in the organisation rather than selecting externally during recessionary times. This includes training and development programmes, employee coaching, staffmentoring and job enrichment as ways of stretching current staff to take up newroles as the organisation may need to downsize or expand the jobs they currently hold.
FLEXIBLEANDCREATIVEDELIVERYMETHODOLOGIES
Methods such as distance learning, coaching, mentoring, buddying, using internal trainers and venues and running ‘bite- sized’ learning events of 2–3 hours should all be considered as ways of delivering on business goals during a downturn. Training specialists also need to prioritise development needs,
using the pareto principle to identifywhat percentage of training interventions accounts for the largest pay-off in terms of business results.The results and successes in these areas also need to be publicised to ensure all staff are clear as to the value of spending time and resources in this way. Keeping talented people, generating a ‘thinking culture’,
developing leaders at all levels in the business, being flexible in howtraining is delivered and ensuring there is a strategy that links to the overall business goals are some of the key drivers of people development in today’smarket.
‘A REPORT BY THE INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP ORGANISATIONCOMMONPURPOSE FOUND THAT 97PC
PREVIOUS DOWNTURNHADNEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES’ VOL 3 ISSUE 4 2010 OWNER MANAGER 47
OF THE COMPANIES IT SURVEYED SAID THAT CUTTING THEIR SPENDING ONTRAINING DURING A
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