Corporate Survival 101

We may be pulling out of the recession, but the army of workers that you are doing it with in your organization may have decreased dramatically. The “Less is More” strategy or “Do More with Less” mantra may have you feeling like you are on a treadmill of activity that is hard if not impossible to complete. I like to call my business strategy during these turbulent times “Selective Neglect”. It is okay to give in to the chaos, and learn to prioritize very well so that you are doing the right things right, not just succumbing to endless activity. But what happens when the months of endless piling on doesn’t seem to have an end in sight? Many workers have been tackling large workloads for months. How do you keep from loosing your swagger? How do you keep from loosing your get up and go? If routine assignments begin to take on mammoth proportions, long work hours, and relentless deadlines, take some defensive measures to prevent burn out. How do you keep on the strong track to prevent low morale and eventual reduced productivity? First pay attention to the warning signs and be honest with yourself and your coworkers. Do you:

Have trouble getting out of bed and getting out the door
Arrive late frequently
Feel withdrawn and bad about your performance
Watch the clock
Allow work stress to spill over into other areas of your life
Get into frequent disagreements with your manager or co-workers
Feel that you are making little progress in spite of great effort·
If these symptoms sound familiar, it may be time to make some changes. Here are some strategies to help you renew your enthusiasm and get your career back on track:

1. Own the Outcome, not all the workMeet with your supervisor and get a workable strategy with in a reasonable time frame. Try not to be a hero or a martyr here. Delegate and share work with others that own the outcome. Work is always easier and more fun when you share it with your team. Set some timelines and celebrate your victories together too!
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2. Assess your time management Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day so be smart with your work hours to stay on target. The way you manage your time also can affect your ability to rebound from job exhaustion. Not sure how to do this? Try keeping a diary of where you spend your time at work for a few days and break it into categories. You will probably uncover some real time wasters that you can dismiss and allow refocus for better investment.

3. Don’t Bring me DownThe OZ principles talk about keeping things positive. Do you have an issue or challenge? Certainly bring it up, but make certain that you do it with a solution in mind. The psychology of this is powerful, and it will help insure that you feel in charge and not a victim.

4. Find Your Tonto A common symptom of burnout are feelings of isolation so don’t be the Lone Ranger. I know how much we all like to think that we are indispensable, but if there is one thing that this economy and downsizing has shown us it is that everyone can do more and everyone can be replaced. This is a harsh reality, but good to know. In fact, now may be the perfect time to train someone on the skills needed to work at a higher level and then set some expectations of group performance. Asking for help does not make you a complainer when it is done in the right way.

5. Check out mentally when you need to for some down timeI guarantee the work will still be there when you get back, and yes you will be missed. Use your vacation to recharge. Take a lunch away from your work or desk, get out of the office and walk around. Time away will give a fresh perspective and separate you from some of the distracting minutia that may be causing your stress.

6. Find the FunThis is really the most vital part. Life is too short to work all the time, so put some fun into it for sure! My Team recently submitted their favorite songs that get them motivated and we had everything from AeroSmith to Big and Rich to the Beastie Boys. A Team member downloaded the music, copied it to a Team CD, and now we have music to inspire us when the chips are down. A great team theme may just give you the “Skills to pay the Bills!”

Change is the Only Certainty in Business

“May you live in interesting times,” reads the quote. How true it is to know that we are living in both interesting and changing times that have us emerging from another tumultuous year with the future for many still uncertain. Previously we have written here on the need to not just change, but to seek it out and embrace it to remain competitive. Change is both necessary and possible, and now is the time to go after it in a strategic manner. It is not just the concept of change, but a metamorphosis on such a large scale that your predecessors may not believe their eyes. In my primary industry which is the pharmaceutical sector, there is a fundamental rethinking of market research, the entire industry, and what it now means to be in healthcare. Perhaps the same may be said of your sector be it banking, retail, information or any number of business types and descriptions. In the pharmaceutical world, there is discussion of the role of evidence based medicine and the creation of niche busters, not block busters. For a highly regulated industry such as banking or pharmaceuticals, the need for clear product positioning in the marketplace has never been more important.

According to Jim Kirk of Quintiles, companies need to apply VIGOR to their marketing strategy. VIGOR is valuable, innovative, global, outstanding and responsive. Value means being the keeper of product history and data, as well as bringing value and insight to the market. Innovation means breaking with the status and running after new ways of thinking. Global doesn’t mean just emerging markets and geography, but considers the different potential audiences that may play into your market such as regulators, governments and restrictions to business. Outstanding does mean standing out. What makes you truly unique? Lastly, make the strategy responsive to include faster, smarter, resilient, cheaper, or just plain better.

The challenge remains the quest for understanding your customer at a very high level without emotion and in a service mindset. Looking at the pharmaceutical industry for example, the days of the customer just being the physician are long gone. Now industry marketers must address a plethora of customers in the mix to include insurance coverage, step edits, unemployment coverage, patient access in general to medicine, price and ability to pay, and of course clinical outcomes to name a few. If you work in a regulated industry, the list is most likely the same with just the names changed a bit.

The name of the game has always been and continues to be about efficiencies, and a fine balance between what we want and what we can afford. Are you still running the same studies in your industry that yield the same old results with little insight? Here comes that word CHANGE again. Change the way you ask the question, collect the data, or assess the outcomes. The bottom line goal is the same: Bring the voice of the customer to life. The ability to understand what the customer is doing, thinking and feeling are the only way to drive him or her to a decision and action.