In turbulent times, be the predator not the prey

Dr Tony Cockerill, founder of CHPD and an expert on leadership development, recently presented his thoughts on how businesses can use the current tough economic climate to their advantage.  He outlined six key strategies for businesses to adopt in order for them to become the predator rather than the prey.

Dr Cockerill: “When you look at businesses that have done well in tough economic times, they have a number of core strategies in common.  I’m going to focus on just one of those strategies in this piece and that is the ability to be the predatory and not the prey.

“The first thing to recognise in any kind of period of major change is the importance of leaders.  On average, around 25 per cent of an organisation’s success can be attributed to its leaders.  In some firms that figure can rise to 40 per cent. Having the right leaders in place is never more crucial than in times of turbulence.  In fact, it can make or break a firm. 

“During a period of dramatic change, your competitive environment changes; competitors, both large and small, go out of business.  They key to success in that situation is to ensure you are the predator rather than the prey and there are a number of things that enable you to do that:

• Focus on your core business areas.  Understand exactly what you do that is better than what anyone else does and focus on it
• Keep on building the core and talent.  Even in most turbulent times when there might be a number of changes in your business, the most successful businesses retain a growth strategy.  They don’t cut everything back to the bone. It’s worth noting that there is strong data about firms that do cut back and see performance dropping off within five years
• Regularly prune back to the core.  While I’m advocating a maintenance of focus on growth, that must be combined with a strict ‘pruning’ policy.  To continue my gardening analogy, new shoots flying off in all directions waste resources and, as my first point outlined, we need to keep a tight focus on the core business
• Conserve resources to prepare for attack.  If you want to be able to take advantage of the poor performance of others, you need to plan to be able to move quickly when opportunities arise. 
• Acquire the choice pickings at a good price.  As we have seen in the financial services industry (Lehman and Barclays), tough times and periods of dramatic change present opportunities for you to acquire other businesses at a good price.  And we’re not only talking about acquiring businesses here, firms in trouble will be laying off staff and you might be able to secure the services of some really talented professionals that might not otherwise have been on the job market.
• Integrate fast and retain the best talent.  Finally, if you do manage to secure some bargain businesses and some top talent, then make sure you integrate them into the business fast and ensure that your talent management strategies are top notch to ensure that you can retain and develop your talent in the future.

Dr Tony Cockerill was speaking at CHPD’s leadership seminar, ‘Leadership through turbulent times’ last month (September 2008). For further information on CHPD’s recommendations for success in turbulent times, please call 0207 940 5139 and speak to Gordon Milne.