Danger or Opportunity

Sages and crisis managers know that the word “crisis” means more “new features” than “frustration”. In Chinese “crisis” is. Denoted by two characters literally mean “danger” and “opportunity”. It all depends on how someone will “handle” this situation.

What is happening in the business? The first wave of the crisis has forced managers to pay attention to the staff within the company and literally under a magnifying glass to examine each employee and its value to the business. The situation is reminiscent of the tiger before a jump – to regroup, hunker down, focus only on the goal to make a crucial jump and not lose production.

When viewed in the context of the whole organization, the new conditions have helped companies to “throw ballast” in the form of unproductive employees, thus to optimize personnel structure. In a comfortable environment stability often, there was no time for “cleaning personnel”. Now, in terms of tests for survival companies need to keep only the most persistent and the most efficient. Functional responsibilities are not. Diminished (on the contrary), and they were distributed among those who remained. Load increased, now everyone has to work for a few – has increased the value of the universal soldiers (or key employees).

The issue of effective distribution of funds has led to reductions in all expense items in the budgets. The same pattern was reduced entire areas, projects, departments, which was costly and not profitable, but on the contrary, demanded investments. For example, closed branches, back-offices, sales offices, leaving only the most successful and effective professionals. If we talk about staff training, the situation is hard to save money has led to the use of internal capacity. Abandoned mass education “all and everything”, has reduced the cost of external training. By training companies. In many companies, the learning function staff gave management. Leaders to be internal coaches for staff as they are the bearers of corporate knowledge, culture, values and traditions, and professional competencies.

Each Manager is seen today not only as the best specialist in their field, but as someone who can teach others. Start more productive to develop a mentoring system. Instead of external training, many companies conduct in-house trainers or, if you have not, take them to the staff.

All those employees who remained on Board their ships during the crisis storm passed a different kind of rating or certification, which began to form the strategic personnel reserve. Human resources are now. Considered only from the perspective of potential opportunities to contribute to the development of the business. During the trials of the crisis “the strongest survive”, and for companies that can create and mobilizer your inner power opens the opportunity to capture that market segment, those customers who remained “neutral” after the shipwreck of small companies or companies who failed to timely and properly respond to the new conditions.

The second wave of the crisis started the mechanism of the formation of strategic thinking of the management and especially HR-s. Early internal personnel reserve was. Formed only in large companies, companies with foreign investments. In many companies, the personnel reserve formed in the enhancement and career growth were situational, or was. Formed “for show” — to show top managers that HR is doing something. With the advent of the second wave of the crisis, the formation of internal personnel reserve becomes a source of growth.

If in the good old days of stability for the company’s development was made of the infusion of “fresh blood” in the form of new employees with fresh ideas (although so “bloated state”), it was cheaper to take a new employee from outside than to grow the talent pool. Today rely on the search and selection of prospective employees is not necessary. On the one hand, the next time and monetary costs of search, adaptation in the team, adopting the company culture, its traditions, entering the post. On the other hand is the unpredictability of the result. New employee’s “cat’s in the bag” — take root or not root, only time will tell, and time for uncertainty and expectations now, no. But if a new employee does not take root and leaves, we are back to the circle cost…

Now after a wave of reductions and optimization of personnel structure of the old scheme are not suitable. HR needs to be, optimized and the most economically justified. The first task is to maintain the morale of those who remained — the load has increased, wages barely rose, and the second problem — despite all the stress of the situation, it is important to help open a second wind to the staff for further growth and development of the company. It is the development of employees included in the talent pool, helps to solve these problems.