Surviving the economic downturn – managers tell us their priorities
The last six months is testament to the fact that our economic landscape is changing at a rate of knots. What implications does this have for talent management? What do organisations think is important in seeing them though the current downturn, enabling them to emerge stronger and fitter at the other end?
What’s important to managers?
Let’s first of all consider what might be important to managers. Our psychologists identified 29 factors. Below are a few examples:
Employees in my organisation need to be comfortable taking risks
Employees in my organisation need to be able to spot how to cut costs
Employees in my organisation need to show that they have initiative
Employees in my organisation need to collaborate
We took the full list of 29 factors to a representative sample of managers across both public and private sector organisations across the UK, asking them ‘how important is the characteristic for you as a manager in your organisation at the moment?’
Topping the list of what is considered important by both private sector and public sector organisations are the following:
Employees in my organisation need to show that they are focussed on their work
Employees in my organisation must be comfortable adapting to changing job demands
People in my organisation need to be effective communicators
Employees in my organisation need to be conscientious
Although there is a broad similarity between public sector and private sector in the above, there were areas that clearly set the two sectors apart. These are detailed below:
We therefore see that there are some clear similarities across sectors in terms of what organisations value and would therefore be looking to nurture at present. Managers are looking for individuals who are focused, conscientious, flexible and good communicators.
Despite the recent drive in this area, what appears to matter less in the public sector is financial awareness and a need to cut costs. Also valued less is the need to take the initiative and demonstrate creativity.
An area valued more in the public sector, is ‘the need to attend to different perspectives’, at least one indication that the government’s focus on creating diverse workforces is being heeded by managers.
What’s changed since the economic downturn?
We then asked these same managers, what they felt had changed since the economic downturn. Specifically, of the 29 factors identified, which had become more important, and which had become less important.
Topping the list by a considerable margin was leadership.
Adapting to change and cost-cutting were also high on the list of what has become more important.
The importance of leadership is clear. Indeed, managers from both the private and public sector are speaking with one voice in this respect. Now more than ever, the importance of leaders providing a clear way forward during these turbulent times is identified as key.
Whilst the need for creativity, comfort taking risks, and experience of previous economic downturns are all rated as taking on more importance since the economic downturn, the following are identified as higher priority.
• Employees in my organisation must be comfortable adapting to changing job demands • Employees in my organisation need to have financial awareness • Employees in my organisation need to be able to spot how to cut costs • People need to be comfortable dealing with uncertainties
The only area considered to be of high priority by public sector departments relative to the private sector is the need for employees to provide emotional support for their colleagues.
In summary, although it is clear that a number of factors have come into sharper focus since the economic downturn, with limited resources to hand, managers see the need to focus on clear leadership, cost cutting and working with employees to adapt to the uncertainties that are inevitably wrought by recessionary times.
Research conducted by Dr Simon Draycott and Justin Spray, Mendas Ltd
