The dedicated, consistent, tenacious pursuit of winning through people and culture.
The changes you are making today to your workforce need to be strategic, not reactionary, with an eye to the future. Times are tough, but there are opportunities to reevaluate your organizational structure, make changes that align to both your short- and long-term goals, and position for the recovery that is on its way. For the next two weeks, I am offering a blog series based on 25 years of extensive HR, talent management and staffing experience all grounded in the foundation as an ex-athlete to give you a roadmap to position you to win.
DEFEAT THE DOWNTURN AND WIN THE RECOVERY
- Part 10: Looking Confidently to the Future
About the only “good” thing about a downturn is that it forces some clarity. It makes you narrow your focus until you only have the most important things in sight. I think this is when a solid HR strategy shines the most because it creates a thread that runs through all of your valuable components and ties them all together.
With the challenges of the current pandemic, human resources has taken center stage because everything has become about how we protect people, quite literally. But my hope is that the focus stays on the power of people as we begin the recovery. When people and culture are made a priority, there are opportunities for competitive advantages that often remain unexploited. My belief is that companies should always be relentlessly pursuing an HR strategy that supports operations and drives culture. When that happens, companies thrive.
For most of this series, I have focused on what needs to be put in place to deliver on the promise of developing good talent and leading through tough times while preparing for the future. Hopefully, you have made changes and adjustments to survive these tough times and are ready for the recovery.
As you consider your talent strategy moving forward, ask yourself the following questions, rating each one on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the highest:
- How confident are you in the talent you have in place for the current situation?
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- - Do you have winners on your team?
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- - Are they secure in their roles and understand their importance?
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- - Are they connected in some way that will keep them engaged?
- Are you happy with your plan to take your company to the next level once the recovery begins?
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- - Have you communicated your vision and goals to your employees?
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- - Are you prepared to hire any needed talent once the recovery begins?
- Are your employees, especially your leaders, aligned with your culture?
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- - Do all of your employees have a good attitude?
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- - Are your leaders genuine and someone that people want to follow?
This is an assessment where I believe ALL of your answers should be a three. These are actionable points and you should relentlessly work to improve anything below that number. People and culture should always be the best because those are foundational components to company success. Continue to assess each of these areas and make changes if any area drops below a three.
The final piece to being relentless is to not back down. Throughout this series I repeated a number of behaviors that I see in strong leaders: courageous, deliberate, authentic, focused, confident and consistent. They are qualities that are important not because they create a wonderful person, but because they make it easy for others to follow. Especially in times of uncertainty, employees need leaders who move fearlessly in the chosen direction.
As a leader, know that you have done the legwork to determine the right priorities and move forward confidently with your approach. Eliminate distractions and keep a laser focus on your clearly defined action-oriented plan. Part of being relentless is a dogged approach to moving towards your goals while remaining agile enough to make adjustments when needed. But stay true to your vision and don’t flinch because while it is easy to panic and lose sight of your goals, you have done the groundwork and understand that you must move forward with purpose to succeed. When this pandemic ends – and it will! – you will be positioned to win.
The Xtra Point*
"Coach Alvarez’s favorite saying (of the hundreds) was “Don’t flinch!” He used it all the time. He said it on the sidelines, during presentations, and for many, many half-time speeches. It was a saying that he got from Coach Lou Holtz during Coach Alvarez’s time as the Defensive Coordinator at Notre Dame before coming to the University of Wisconsin. It came to symbolize not only Coach Alvarez, but his approach to everything. It was part of his ethos and method for developing you as a player. To flinch is to be cautious, fearful, timid. To flinch is to lack confidence and lose focus. It also demonstrates a disbelief in your ability to beat the other person in the moment where you must be certain you will win. The phrase was a directive on what he wanted from every member of his team. As a player, the concept was easy to understand. But it wasn’t until years later that I fully comprehended that the only way to not flinch was to have prepared so well and to believe so strongly in the leadership that there was no reason to flinch. There was no reason to question or slow down or vary off course because you had done all the right things so that you were in the best position to succeed. In the toughest moments, when others would be the most frightened, you didn’t flinch because you had the right plan and believed that you would win. Don’t flinch. You’ve got this."
*Author Rich Thompson is a former professional placekicker and successful human resources executive. He offers the Xtra Point at the end of each Relentless HR blog with a sports example from his own personal experience with the University of Wisconsin and Green Bay Packers that parallels his business teachings.