The Situation:Angie McConnell is the President and CEO of an agency specializing in the placement of executive assistants in mid to large size companies. McConnell and Associates (M&A) has been in business for fifteen years and the majority of their work comes from satisfied clients who do repeat business and recommend M&A to others. As a result the company hasn’t felt a need to be aggressive in marketing its services. The recent economic recession has adversely impacted the agency. Although their clients love the quality of services many have had to cut their budgets, reduce staff, and cut or delay services. This trend is likely to continue for another 12-16 months according to future economic projections. M&A’s has focused business development on six surrounding states. Angie is preparing to meet with the program and marketing staff to share the challenges the company is facing.
What would you recommend?
Ki ThoughtBridge Counsel:
We believe that the first action Angie needs to take is to meet with her business manager and accountant and make sure she has a complete and accurate grasp of McConnell and Associates financial state – real and projected. This is the “reading of reality” that all leaders must do. Once she has this data in a form that clearly communicates the state of the company she should schedule a meeting with her direct reports and share this information with them, beginning with an historical overview of the company’s strengths and capacity to deal with adverse situations. Once the challenges are clear she can then engage the staff in generating possible options for responding, and together develop several scenarios from which the group can choose.
Next she will need to meet with all of the agency staff, repeat the process described so that when they are asked to help develop options for responding they can do so with a shared sense of pride in past accomplishments accompanied by a sense of urgency to resolve the current problem. It has been our experience that when employees are treated as owners they generally rise to that level of responsibility and accountability.
The current situation will necessitate sacrifice in the immediate context and what this will look like must be specific and communicated in a timely manner. Angie will need to articulate a vision for future direction so that those who remain in the agency can see that there is a commitment and a reasonable plan to return M&A to financial health long term. Like many businesses at this time, the agency has an opportunity to reevaluate itself and adapt appropriately. This is a time to question old habits and practices; in particular the agency’s strong reliance on satisfied clients and its restricted marketing to just a few states.
Angie can also keep her bank informed and discuss options for riding out the financial storm. With the agency’s strong history of performance she will likely have support but this can’t be taken for granted. She and her staff should remain in contact with clients and keep the lines of communication open so that as their situation improves M&A will be ready to provide new services needed by these clients. Clients appreciate knowing that those serving them are interested in their own development over time and are more than just a source of income. Staying connected to clients after service delivery will also provide important data about the new and emerging needs of clients and will give M&A an opportunity to see if and how they might meet them. In turn this provides M&A with the nimbleness and creativity business needs in such volatile and fast changing times.
If your company wants help with managing the impact of the current economic climate, Ki ThoughtBridge can help!