Leaders' Faulty Responses to Turbulent Times

by Ray B Williams

What do we know about turbulent times? One thing sure--the longer uncertainty about our future exists, the more turbulence persists. As a result, people become every more cautious in business and personal decisions. That can produce not only unstable business cultures but also faulty leader decisions.

This tends to be the typical cycle for many business leaders: during good times, business leaders are overconfident, overspend and overexpand, not thinking that lean times may come. Then, when the economic downturn occurs, they make drastic expenditure cuts, led by layoffs, and following by curtailed spending in R&D, marketing and training. Then when the recovery is in full bloom they return to the spending spree.

The problem with this approach to leadership for the long term is that we will always experience turbulence, downturns. It goes in cycles. Yet, during the downturn, the panic spreads and leaders retreat. They fire talent, shy away from risk, cut back on needed new technology and probably the worst of all, they let their fears of doom and gloom dictate their decisions. As a footnote to this problem, it's clear that CEOs, whose average longevity in North America is three years, can hardly expected to develop the long term view. And, as Peter Senge suggests in his latest book, "The Necessary Revolution," when problems appear, we spend far more time developing short term solutions to the problem symptoms, rather than the long-term solutions to the problem.

The harsh reality is that companies need to cut costs somewhere when the economy is down.

The most important thing is to avoid committing the biggest mistakes that companies often make, according to Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione, writing in the American Management Association publication, Moving Ahead:

*Stretching to attract new customers before you've secured the core.

*Cutting marketing budgets.

*Not keeping your customers informed about your business.

*Quick fixes to preserve cash flow.

* Cutting back on training.

Turbulence produces difficult times, no doubt. Yet they can also be instructive and help leaders develop a long term view to sustained success, instead of the constant cycles of peaks and valleys.

About Ray B Williams
Ray B Williams is Co-Founder of Success IQ University a company based in Phoenix, Arizona providing the most innovative products and services to help professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners be more successful in life and work.
Ray is also President of Ray B Williams Associates, a company based in Vancouver B.C., providing executive coaching services.
Ray has been an executive, management consultant and coach for over thirty years, working with leaders throughout the world. He is also a Certified Hypnotherapist and Master NLP Coach. Ray has written a number of books on leadership and writes a regular column for the National Post, Canada's leading newspaper.
Ray is in demand as a speaker, coach, consultant and author throughout North America.
www.successiqu.comwww.raybwilliamsassociates.com;
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