Today, just like the last few days, I’ve been around a number of teams that are “right” sizing their team. The problem is beyond Wall Street. This is NOT news to most reading this rant. Sooooo what’s the point with this body of paragraphs?
Here it is. Do NOT miss this. This is HUGE.
Be brutally honest about your current state. Stop “dancing” around the hard calls that are staring you in the face. Get your “team” together and spell it out simply. Get their thoughts. Get all of them. Do NOT only hear from the most vocal. If “right” sizing is your inevitable future, make sure this is your AND. Make sure that the first cut is the deepest. Period.
Make the DECISION.
Do NOT kill your team and their spirit with “death by a thousand cuts.” This results in slow death AND a team that feels like the “unlucky survivors.” This is not a decision. This looks like it’s a decision but it’s really putting off the DECISION. Not good.
Instead, cut deeply and cleanly. Gather the team together and make sure they understand why they survived, how we will retreat, what we want to do NOW, and how we are going to rebuild this thing even stronger. Take their hard questions and, in fact, invite them. Sew up the open wound and let it heal. It will take a LONG time. Make sure they know how much this hurt YOU.
Make sure it did.
AND…Make more decisions NOT less in the days and months to come. You and your team can rebuild, can regain ground, can re-energize but NOT if you keep cutting, slowly, slowly, slowly.
Are you preparing to make your first cut the deepest?
Are you rebuilding a team that shares your passion?
Are you creating a team of “unlucky survivors?”
Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 
Chet, this is LARGE. You are right on the MONEY. This is live and in person all over the country right now. We need to talk…………..
Here’s a CRAZY first cut that one magic team did. . .you can read about it on pp.54-55 of One Foot Out the Door by Judith Bardwick in talking about the practices of Fortune’s 2007 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For, who achieved an average annual return of 18.9% over the past 10 years, more than double the 8.4% return of the S&P 500:
“Even Best Companies are not completely immune to the realities of layoffs. Almost half of them had layoffs in 2002. Bur rather than alienating their people, they handled the situation in such a way that employees still felt positively toward the company and people understood why layoffs had become necessary.
“Take the case of Xilinx, a semiconductor company that was number four in The Best Companies list in 2002. When it first became clear that it needed to lower costs, Xilinx cut salaries rather than people. The very first people affected were top management, who elected to cut their salaries by 20%. After that, employees were asked to accept cuts that averaged 6%.
“Even though some layoffs did ultimately become necessary, Xilinx really delivered on a message of respect and consideration for employees, and employees responded by giving everything they had. With this kind of engagement, it’s no accident that in the four-year period from ’02 to ’06, Xilinx’s number improved dramatically:
– Revenues climbed from $1.02 billion to 1.73 billion
– Gross margins rose from 45% to 62%
– Profit margins soared from 5% to 21%
– Diluted earnings per share went from $.15 to $1.00
– Stockholders’s equity increased from $1,903m to $2,728m
“Best Companies to Work For are characterized by a real concern for people throughout the organization.”
At BUILT TO LEAD we talk about the importance of 4 types of trust in the 8 Essentials of Leading Teams.
1. Personal Trust — “Would you Follow You?”
2. Ethical Trust — “Do your actions line up with your words?”
3. Strategic Trust — “Can you lead us out of this current state and keep us in the game toward reaching our dream state?”
4. Situational Trust — “Can you empathize with what’s like to be in my shoes?”
At no time is this put to the test more than in times of adversity. Chet, I see why this could be such a HUGE opportunity not to miss.