Industry News
Growing through Adversity
Posted: 11/07/10Growing through Adversity
Resultus: Strategic Resultants
Sanjay Viswanathan
John Joint
Anamika Viswanathan
Resultus aim to differentiate themselves from other players in the market by focusing on tangible results. They achieve this by entering into a long term relationship with clients, which have a need for more than just consultancy: they require special assistance to deal with a special situation, which might be a problem as diverse as accelerating growth, or developing a new organisational structure to cope with new market dynamics.
Root causes of current problems can be traced back to a Lack of Trust. As recently as 2007 there was trust in markets: no one really concerned themselves with doing large due diligence: deals were done in time frames and assimilation was aimed to be accomplished in short time periods. The problem is that, aside from mortgage related assets, there is still some $2-4 trillion worth of collateral unsecured and still to unravel, and the problem was made worse by Governments and Regulators not appreciating the magnitude of the problems faced and the seriousness of the situation. We are therefore in for the long haul, and it is likely that 2012 will be the date when recovery will be way.
As with most difficulties faced by clients, an organisation can rise above its problems and still provide sustainable growth provided associates and employees are appropriately energised. The most urgent and effective solution can often boil down to resolving values conflicts. At GE, for example, satisfactory company growth would be 1 ½% above the rate of GDP growth: in the current climate, real organisational growth needs to considerably higher than this to make an impact: it can still be achieved but people need to be energised to make it happen.
The building blocks of growth can be summarised as follows:
Leadership Development
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Culture Transformation
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Quality / Lean Sigma
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Operating Initiatives (Low cost production/supply chain / IT sourcing/Cash Flow
The blocks when joined together give the organisational effectiveness or “branding”. Getting everyone to pool their energy and resources is a tough objective, but the prize is an eco-system of innovation and creativity which is lacking in dysfunctional organisations, which need to focus on delivering “value”.
How can a value be placed on below par performance? The key to this approach is to focus on an attrition premium: in other words, base estimates of improved performance on attrition reduction .
A useful model for personal growth was developed by an ancient Mexican Philosopher Ruiz (c 2000 BC) who suggested that
* be impeccable with your word
* don’t take a difficult situation personally
* don’t make assumptions
* always do your best, focusing on continuous improvement rather than a sudden change in behaviour
and, most crucially, change from a blame culture to a support culture
As already indicated, total transformation can result in an improvement in the brand value. Get all stakeholders to buy into change: AIDA (Attention Interest Decision and finally Action). Deploy an Appeal “Spectrum”,which will be a complex mixture of the rational, emotional and sensorial. The key point about the appeal spectrum is to find the appropriate position in the spectrum which needs to be highly focused.
In order to achieve results, detailed implementation is required. Brand transformation can be achieved by:
* ensuring a feedback mechanism with constant communication
* appreciating that there can be value in differences, which, when used constructively, can unleash creative energies which can have a transforming influence
* reduce noise in internal communication. Focus on what is important to people
* create brand ambassadors: conviction in the mission is key
Examples of successful implantation abound: for example at 3M, creativity and innovation was improved by allocating up to 15% of management time to pursuing activities not related to the main job. At GE, an objective was to obtain at least 25% or revenues from products which were less than 4 years old, thus ensuring a constant flow of new products and ideas.
Small teams are the most responsive and effective, leaders need to be fresh, and appropriate milestaones and reward mechanisms need to be in place.