Jobs Ireland

Author: Pat Sheridan, Managing Director, 1 Stop HR Limited

No really, I am serious and I am not a politician trying to up-talk the national psyche! It is coming; the real skill is in knowing when and how.

No really, I am serious and I am not a politician trying to up-talk the national psyche! It is coming; the real skill is in knowing when and how.

I have already written here (several times) about managing in recession, the need for change management, critical business analysis, cost and risk reduction etc. Some companies may have tackled these things rapidly and professionally and know precisely where the business stands and how it will survive for better days. Other companies may be still wrestling with the difficult problems, carrying out very little strategic thinking and may be overly-worrying with the related and damaging stress. These latter companies need to bite the bullet and have a clear plan for, at least, survival for a minimum of another year.

Several years ago there was the possibility of a serious pandemic (bird flu) and those larger companies with the financial and human resources at their disposal began to examine where they might be exposed. They prepared contingency plans to manage the risks involved. The pandemic never happened and these plans are probably now out of date and may even fail if put to the test; circumstances change and so do our business and personal needs. For example, do those plans to address a bird flu outbreak adequately cover the current Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus we are currently experiencing? How has the current recession affected the way our company was structured and staffed and is it a different organisation to what it was back then?

In any case, it is always better to have a plan than to have no plan at all. Even a bad or outdated plan can be modified, corrected and applied incrementally in response to changing circumstances.

Gut instincts and hunches do not suit all and are not the professional manager’s way. In general these things are only of real value when viewed in the context of a professional plan; like a test for the logic of the plan. Relying solely upon gut instinct and snap decisions is a sure-fire way of increasing stress and the likelihood of failure.

So, for the purposes of this exercise let us say that you have met the recession head-on with detailed problem analysis and decision-making and are now operating within a strict budget which will see you through until those elusive ‘green shoots’ appear. These shoots are as elusive and just as mysterious as crop circles. We cannot yet be sure if they are genuine or just created by politicians to deceive us into thinking things are improving.

Of course there is risk; we do not have a crystal ball in which we can see the future. Therefore it must be a combination of experiential knowledge and good analytical reasoning which will allow us to foresee the potential fluctuations which indicate positive economic/commercial shifts – the real green shoots.

The gut instinct is actually an interesting phenomenon. Of course it is not the gut, although we do sometimes feel that tightness in this region when activating a decision which appears to be based exclusively on that logic-less hunch. That is probably the result of fear. In fact, it is a complicated and automatic process involved at several levels within the brain where, at a subconscious level, all the stored information about the subject matter is scanned and compared against the ancillary information which is, in turn, measured off against a desired result.

The brain or mind, reaches a conclusion and filters this to consciousness and we have our spontaneous decision which we call ‘gut instinct’. Perhaps it is in the last nanosecond, when the realisation of this decision is perceived at a conscious level that we start questioning and challenging this and the result might be somewhat different from that created at the subconscious level. For this reason the gut instinct is not always reliable and it takes practice and many successes before we can hone this internal human ability to a sufficient level of trust.

This brings me to leadership and management; the seat of all decision-making. As you know there are always good and bad managers and leaders. Unfortunately, the trust is sometimes vested in the position of authority rather than in the individual who inhabits the position. There is a difference.

So although the leader or manager carries the responsibility for analysis and decision-making, the clever ones, those who understand their own abilities, strengths and weaknesses and general limitations will seek third party assistance and advice before proceeding with an action which could have potentially damaging consequences. This is also a positive management and leadership ability and demonstrates intelligence. I would prefer to know that my managers are engaged in this cross-referencing of knowledge and experience rather than reckless under-informed decision making.

Bridging the invisible internal boundaries between people in business is a way of capitalising on the human capacity of the organisation. Sharing information and requesting information and participation in the search for beneficial initiatives is not an automatic process. Such a developmental culture needs to be established. This is a formal way of seeking a constructive and positive way forward. It is not consensus management, which can create a management abdication of responsibility and accountability. It is, however, a way of recognising and utilising human capacity in a practical and beneficial way.

For every business there are trends, indicators and evidence of change. This occurred on the way into recession and will be found on the way out. The clever ones who looked and found these trends on the way in and acted accordingly, are in all probability, not suffering as much as others and may even have created something very new, productive and profitable from the exercise. It will be these same ‘lateral thinkers’ who will find the evidence of positive change on the way out and benefit again.

There may be many factors to be considered and observed and many different people with different abilities to see these often delicate threads of change. Combining these information byways will lead to a more detailed map; a highway rather than a byway, where the way forward becomes more visible. With this clarity we will be able to identify the opportunities.

As management consultants we can assist leaders to develop these proactive and creative skill-sets; to establish a common effort, to identify and benefit from the structured sourcing and analysis of particular key business trends and take advantage of the positive threads of change.

Pat Sheridan, Managing Director, 1 Stop HR Limited

1 Stop HR provides comprehensive Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations support services. Pat Sheridan can be contacted at 021 4614020 or at pat@1stophr.ie and further details are available at www.1stophr.ie .