Hard pressed managers – on the walls of the Alamo!

Elizabeth has been away on an arduous nationwide seminar tour. Last night, she flew in from her final seminar in San Antonio, Texas. As her flight was late, I had arranged to collect her from the airport.

Whilst driving Elizabeth home, I thought she seemed distracted and unusually quiet. I knew it had been a long journey, not helped by the lousy airline food and the uncomfortable seats – no foot rests in coach! But those of you who’ve met Elizabeth know that it’s extraordinary for her to be so quiet.

“What happened?” I quipped, “Has the Alamo fallen?”

For those who don’t know, The Alamo – that shrine to American heroism and perseverance – is in San Antonio.

“Not yet,” Elizabeth smiled “but I don’t know how long they can hold out”

You’ll know that Elizabeth always starts with the positive. So she began with three sterling examples of how managers she had met at her seminars had dealt with the current recession.

The Production Manager in Tucson who, in 30 days (30 days straight, mind), had completely redesigned his corporation’s production process. Allowing them to implement a 4 day work week and avoiding having to let any employees go.

In L.A., the IT manager, who had encouraged his team in volunteering to run free training courses at local schools – improving their own skill sets and boosting morale out of sight.

And finally, the Sales Manager of a Service Center in Bangalore, India who Elizabeth met at the L.A. seminar. This manager had paid for her flight and accommodation (and Elizabeth’s seminar) from her own funds. She’d declared “I am not going home without twelve new orders!”

All heroes of this Economic Downturn.

However, these were the bright spots of Elizabeth’s tour. For the most part, what she learned from all the other managers she had met reflected my own impressions of the current situation.

Times are hard – really hard. Order books are at “Low” and future prospects uncertain. Budgets have been pared to the bone – and then cut again. Teams that were carefully crafted over time have had to be disbanded. Projects that managers had firmly committed to now lay abandoned or permanently shelved. Good staff, including colleagues have been let go. Uncertainty and a lack of clear vision inevitably lead to a sharp fall in motivation and inhibit purposeful planning.

Phrases like “Invest for the future”; “Management development” and “Training courses” have been removed from every manager’s dictionary.

And the word from the Top is…

“Get more done with less… much, much less”

“We have to do something to help” Elizabeth concluded. “The guys out there are giving it 500%. We can’t give away the farm but Team Effective owes it to them to help and to, at least, match their efforts.”

During the rest of the drive we threw around some ideas. How can we provide our resources to managers more effectively and more affordably? In these uncertain times, is it wrong to ask managers to commit to a monthly subscription? Would they prefer a “one off” fee that covers everything they need? And so on…

By the time we arrived at Elizabeth’s home, we had decided that we must finalize our plans and have taken steps to “Relieve the Alamo” by midnight, Monday (goodbye Labor  Day weekend!).

We are convinced that, by working together, we can all help each other. So I’m calling on your assistance.

If you have any ideas or suggestions as to how we can better support you in these hard times, please send them to me via our Suggestions Page

…Or drop me a quick e-mail.

jack@managersneedtoknow.com

By Sunday PM, please!

In the film “The Alamo”, Davy Crockett (played by my hero, John Wayne) draws a line in the sand and asks that those men who are prepared to stay in the Alamo and fight  “cross the line”. They all crossed.

I’m asking you to “cross the line” too. Take the time to send me your ideas and suggestions and do it today.  Relief is on the way!