"Is Your Company Geared to Emerge from the Recession Ready to Grow?
Here's the Checklist: See for Yourself
By Terri Benincasa, Ed.M.

In a recent article in BizTimes.com, top executives of the 2009 Future 50 companies shared their best practices for surviving and thriving in & after The Great Recession.  They identified three main hallmarks of their current and anticipated future success:  

Employee engagement; Marketing; Change Management. 

 

Use these checklists (one in each category) to determine if you're doing all the right things to position your business for current and post recession success.

 

 Employee Engagement:

     You/Your Executive Team

• Mastery of Presentation & Communication skills
• Conduct yearly strategic planning with action-step implementation time-line
• Have & follow mission, vision, & values statements
• Have high-end Facilitator skills
• Reorganizing/rightsizing/downsizing expertise
• Know how to, and run, highly effective meetings
• Highly effective cross-generations management

     Your Front & Mid-line Personnel (to boost morale & reduce turnover)

• Regular teambuilding programs
• Programs to effectively transition new supervisors into their management role
• Leadership development at all levels of your organizational chart
• Effective Hiring/New employee orientation & development practices
• On-going front line customer service excellence training for increased customer loyalty

 Marketing:

• A fully developed marketing strategy/plan with implementation time-line
• A complete understanding of generational factors in marketing (and where you fit)
• A fully functional web presence that lands you on page 1 of Google searches
• A budget for advertising (even if it's small)
• Expertise in social marketing
• Consistently measure results & retool as needed

 Change Management:

• A functioning "change team" with full management support (planning/designing/idea-generating)
• No "territorial" issues (through excellent employee engagement)
• Clearly defined/communicated organizational objectives, revisited on a consistent basis
• A healthy company culture not only open to new ideas but inviting of them
• Regular cross-departmental team meetings to stay ahead of needed changes
• Support structures in place designed to respond quickly to changes made

If you've checked off most or all of the above key criteria for thriving as the economy recovers, then you will!

 

If not, get the help you need to get on track - or you will be left behind.

Terri Benincasa is CEO of Benincasa & Associates, Inc., a Business & Personal Coaching company.  Terri holds a double Masters in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University, has over 15 years of senior management and business ownership experience, and is a trained, professional actress.  She combines these sources with the combined 30 years’ experience of her Associates for very powerful, insightful, and dynamic results.