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Together, we’ll make a hothouse of talent
An uncertain economic climate can still create business opportunities. But it’s essential to field star performers, and to get your team tactics right, says Mills & Reeve partner Greg Gibson (right), Norwich-based head of commercial services.
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There’s a popular saying that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It’s often applied to football and other sports – but it is currently every bit as relevant to the region’s leading businesses.
Factors including the credit crunch, global competitive pressures and the impending US elections have created uncertainty. Trading conditions are getting tougher – but many of our Top 75 companies will feel that uncertainties create opportunities, as well as risks.
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| Make the most of talented staff, says Greg Gibson, of Mills & Reeve. |
To take advantage, it is vital to have high quality players – star performers who are motivated, on top of their game, and who want to play for you. It’s always important to recruit and retain the best people – but when economic conditions are challenging, it becomes absolutely imperative.
An uncertain economic climate creates opportunities for the paradoxical reason that it makes everyone’s job harder – including your own.
If your competitors are struggling, you can gain the edge by finding a way to do things better, more efficiently, more quickly, or more economically.
When markets contract, customers become choosier. A flight to quality will benefit established and successful businesses; and by keeping ahead of the game, such businesses may pick up new customers as their rivals fall by the wayside. In some instances, they may even acquire their competitors.
Meanwhile, the real entrepreneurs will be keeping an eye out for new requirements that may emerge from the economic soup. For example, financial services firms will always find new products to suit an economic landscape – although cynics may argue that this is one reason the economy is wobbling in the first place!
It takes guts for a business to go on the front foot when conditions are tough. It’s only natural to feel nervous – but sometimes you need to take a risk.
Absolute clarity of thought is essential. Whether a business opts to stick with its niche, or to explore new markets, it needs to be clear about what it is trying to do.
Otherwise the danger is that it may head for several years down a road it does not deliberately wish to take; a kind of business mission-creep which wastes time and money.
That’s why all businesses need to attract and retain star performers – the visionaries capable and happy to take responsibility for delivering an element of clarity and direction in testing times.
And, at the risk of hammering the footballing analogy, once you have star players, it is crucial to manage them properly and to play them in their best positions.
All companies enjoy having star performers, and reaping the benefits of their work, but they don’t always play a full role in actively mentoring those people, or in nurturing talent to get the best out of it.
For example, a star salesman doesn’t necessarily want to become a sales director. There’s an automatic tendency to promote the best people, but promotion almost invariably means more managing and less “doing”. There are often better ways of rewarding someone – the driving force for many high flyers is peer recognition, that they are the main man or woman in their field.
Neither, incidentally, should any business neglect its “B players” – the hard-working, grafting midfielders, whose unsung skills are essential in complementing those of the stars.
I have suggested that businesses can use challenging economic conditions to gain an advantage over competitors in the same sector. However, I also believe our Top 75 can benefit one another by working together to create a regional hothouse of talent.
One cannot expect rival motor dealerships to collaborate directly with one another, but motor retailers can benefit from seeing other types of retailer succeed. After all, talented marketing or finance professionals may move from one business to another, and their skills may be as relevant to selling cars as selling electrical goods.
In fact, the presence of rival businesses can help lure high-calibre performers to the region. A top performer is more likely to uproot his or her family and relocate to Norfolk if it is clear that the area offers alternative job opportunities should things not work out. In this sense, the successes of Norwich Union, Marsh, Virgin Money, Moneyfacts or Central Trust can prove mutually beneficial.
Similarly, many of our financial services firms are actively working together by supporting Norwich’s new financial services academy, which will supply new talent to the sector.
It’s a no-lose situation when business leaders take an interest in other businesses, and in the people leading and driving them. Businesses can learn from one another – not by handing over their state secrets, but simply by being more aware of what other people are doing.
It is important that our best companies (and the stars leading them) show the way for others. Every successful business down the road contributes to a strong business community as a whole.
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