by Jason Klees

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

A strange thing is happening during this recession….. We are not taking advantage of the opportunity that lies in front of us.  Donald Trump and Warren Buffett, both considered to be successful in their businesses, are known to buy low and sell high.  Here at home, my wife is known to take advantage of a “sale.”  A conversation overheard at our house goes something like this: “Honey, do you like my new shoes?  I got them ON SALE.”  Donald Trump is taking advantage of declining prices in real estate to develop more properties that he can put his name on (preferably in big gold letters).  Warren Buffett is taking advantage of the decrease in the cost of materials and services and the increased availability of skilled laborers and capacity for production to invest in companies that are poised for growth and profit.  Buffett’s method is to research not only a company’s P&L statement but to also look at their management structure and culture.

Yet, in stark contrast of these successful people who are known for their ability to produce substantial ROI (my wife included!), look at today’s large company organizational behavior which demands to produce more using less while providing a less than fertile environment for the fruits of their labor to flourish, grow, and ultimately harvest.  Their observed behavior is to slash training and development budgets to the bare minimum required to maintain regulatory compliance; increase the stress on the employees to the breaking point, and let go expensive, higher paid top performers while retaining cheaper moderate to mediocre performers.  Performance bonuses have been decreased or eliminated altogether - further reducing the incentive to put up with the increased environmental stress and produce top results.  In other words, not only are they failing to plant and nurture seedlings during this time – they are also spraying Round Up on the fruit they still have left in their organization.  And I haven’t even mentioned the threat of federal regulation dictating “acceptable” levels of compensation!

Instead, what we should be doing is using George Costanza Theory.  In the popular TV show Seinfeld, was an episode where George, the unemployed, no girlfriend, still-living-in-his-parent’s-home-adult-child decides to use “opposite theory”.  He figures if he does the opposite of what he would normally be inclined to do, he will yield different results.  We learn by the end of the episode that George lands a good job, has a hot girlfriend, and is looking for his own place to live!

Using this theory in our organizational behavior would look like:  increasing opportunities for employee development – after all if you want to do more with less, then the “less people” need to know how to do “more” and do it well (not just well enough) - to allow growth of the company and a successful harvest (increased profit, growth, stock price etc).  This increase in development would foster a higher level of loyalty, trust, and maybe even morale in this tough economic climate.  The ROI would not only be high quality products and services created/demonstrated by the employees but also in the decreased costs of stress that show up in our workplace compensation claims, Employee Assistance Programs, and sabotage/espionage incidents.

Your companies and clients should be increasing technical skills training, increasing business acumen training, and increasing employee recognition programs during this time of decreased spending and recession.  These can be done in a fiscally responsible manner without breaking the bank. In others words, take advantage of the things “On Sale”.  In order to successfully implement, managers need to know “how” and therefore there should be an increase in leadership development.  And with the increased performance of the company should come awards in the total compensation package (not just salary) providing further incentive to perform and rewarding “sticking it out” during the tough times.

Ask yourself, is my company / client doing any of the following:
• Slashing training budgets, delaying training programs, or viewing development as a luxury?
• Simply freezing acquisitions and open positions instead of identifying the needed talent and strengths of positions / employees?
• Placing an emphasis on likeability rather than performance value of employees?  You know this when you hear the statement someone “is well liked in the organization” before the statements of performance or value add to the organization…
• Reducing or eliminating employee recognition (or decreasing the importance of it) – which results in little to no sense of recognition of the employees?

Then they are spraying Round Up during a time when they should be nurturing/fertilizing the fruit to harvest!  It’s time to implement George Costanza Theory!

Jason Klees is just a simple guy from the mountains of North Carolina.  Though not an experienced farmer, he knows enough that spraying Round Up on your fruits will kill them.  Jason is a training and development specialist with the bulk of his career being in Operations as well as Human Resource departments for Fortune 100 companies. An avid follower of Stephen Covey, Jason really believes that if we live in Quadrant II, we can prevent more of the problems that we would otherwise have to solve later.  You can read more about Jason and follow his postings on LinkedIn.