Combat Uncertainty -- Focus on the Future You Want

There is no disputing we are all dealing with uncertainty these days. Things are happening in the work world that many of us haven't experienced to this degree before. And it is forcing the need to make changes on nearly every front.

But — from change comes progress. That has always been the case. It's just that for most change comes hard — regardless whether it is something that is forced on us, or whether we went looking for it.

What is important is what we do when change happens. To make it through and not emerge diminished, we have to take charge, be responsible for how we think about it, plan appropriately for what we anticipate to be coming next and move beyond being a victim. Remember whatever assumptions you start with will influence your outcome. Take advantage of change and make it work for you. Not enough of us see the future coming. It is too easy to get mired in the present and not see the possibilities for improvements down the road.

Could more businesses have spent more time improving efficiencies, streamlining processes and ensuring they had the right people in the right jobs as an approach to reducing costs before layoffs? Possibly — but one thing is for certain now. If they aren't currently addressing these very same issues along with any number of others as the economy picks back up, their probability of sustainability going forward won't have improved a bit.

So where does HR fit into all of this? By planning now to ensure that your company is prepared to effectively and efficiently take advantage of economic conditions once they improve. Focus on that future now. Here are a few ideas to consider:

• First evaluate your HR processes for efficiencies and examine how effectively you are staffed in key roles — in both HR and across your company.
• If specific, critical talent is missing, now is the time to quantify what that is and begin the process of determining where and how you are going to attract those skills or experience with the talent market as it is today — or will be soon.
• Innovation to meet a fiercely competitive environment and to capture every new client and dollar possible needs to reign supreme during times like these. Are your leaders prepared to "lead" this innovation? Think … leadership development.
• In filling your most senior and critical roles, is your process laser focused, competent and certain to quickly, efficiently deliver the ideal talent you need to ensure the business moves ahead? Now is the time to examine that.
• Determine what if anything has or will change as a result of what the company is going through in this downturn. (Has your product or market changed? Will your delivery models, sales channels and efforts in customer service remain the same?)
• Jobs may have changed with additional responsibilities and broader spans of control. Depending on what you elect to do going forward these jobs may now need to be redefined or renegotiated with incumbents. It also is critical to train those who have stepped up so that you and they are ensured of succeeding in their new roles.
• Redefined jobs may mean revisiting market pay to ensure you can retain this talent going forward and effectively attract new talent with future increased business levels.
• Also, if more force reductions are planned be certain you have focused sufficiently on skills transfers to ensure critical contributions still will be made to the organization as important members of the team leave.
• To offset the uncertainty of when to hire, examine the use of "flexible staffing" to shift fixed costs to a variable cost approach by appropriately employing contingent talent as work increases.
• Various approaches might include: Company-hired temporaries; contract professionals through agencies; temp-to-hire candidates; payroll-service-supported former employees for project work.
• Don't be lulled into a false sense of security with current employees who are doing a great job. Recent studies indicate that as many as 25 percent of current top performers will leave their posts in the next 12 months — as soon as that next great opportunity comes along.
• Check in on employees with feedback loops or pulse surveys as well as face-to-face discussions to find out what they are thinking and what you can do to improve your employment relationship with them. Now is the time to work on retention, which includes re-recruiting your seasoned professionals. Re-engagement also will help offset productivity loss during these times.
• Communicate with employees clearly about where the company stands with its plans and the prognosis regarding financial viability. Be specific about anything employees personally can do in their work to better position the business.

These are sound practices but seldom are they proactively pursued. The quicker you move to this way of thinking and planning however the better the future will be.

Merit Resource Group has been supporting the HR community and companies throughout Northern California in these areas of HR management for 20 years. We have lived through a few recessions during that time and based on that reality and drawing from the experiences of others we are here to help you with whatever transitions you need to make. Let us put our expertise to work for you to ensure you are competitively positioned to take advantage of the improved business levels when they happen.

As always we welcome hearing from you and encourage you to look around on our Web site while you are here. Please contact me if you have any questions.

If you are interested in additional food for thought, read on about "Design Thinking":

"Design Thinking" — Sounds Radical

There is a fascinating (and very human) article in the February 2009 issue of Fast Company magazine about David Kelley (founder of design consultancy IDEO) and his concept of design thinking. A shift from thinking as designers of objects to developing the creative confidence so that, when faced with difficult problems, a methodology can be used that enables previously undiscovered solutions to be created.

Kelley's approach is to go into places where there are a lot of experts and, with his methodology, still extract innovative ideas by looking for needs that haven't been expressed in some way. His premise is that some ideas need to be restated before new, breakthrough approaches come to light.

After reading the article my reaction was … this applies to strategic HR management in business, or definitely should be thought of in that way.

Design thinking is one of the driving forces behind Stanford's new design school (d.school), which Kelley heads. D.school helps analytical Stanford types become creative thinkers, and is a place that welcomes students from business, law, education, medicine, engineering, The more diversity of thought and discipline the better.

Cross-disciplinary collaboration apparently is the rage at universities across the country and the source of truly creative ideas. It suggests to me this is an area HR professionals should check out — specifically the concept of "design thinking."

The Fast Company article is worth a read for those of you trying to more frequently tap into ideas for how HR can become more strategic. If you do read it, let me know what you think!