Given the crisis we are experiencing, and above all in the face of the constant rumors that are being installed in the market, it is curious that the companies, apparently, are not reinforcing their strategic network, made up of employees and leaders, clients and suppliers, convening it to talk about the current crisis.
Opening the topic would offer the possibility of giving opinions, listening to others and dramatizing the situation. This is a very effective way of telling people that the Company is there, along with its strategic resources. An excellent opportunity to exercise corporate social responsibility.
I do not suggest organizing meetings to discuss the reasons that caused the crisis, but to share what everyone feels, either as a threat or as an opportunity. Among other things, it would be possible to organize work teams during a day and that each of the teams present visions, ideas, threats and opportunities. The meeting could even be ended with a joint emergency plan. Can you imagine how powerful this would be?
Falling into phrases about the opportunities that crises hold, which I do not doubt, without providing the content I think is harmful. This is something similar to what we feel when things are not going well for us and when we discuss it with someone, this one, very serious and with the face of knowing everything, tells us "… you have to let yourself flow". I don't know what happens to you, but I really want to send it to & •% & $. I feel like he doesn't give a damn what happens to me.
It is very different when someone can contribute their optimistic vision by presenting an opportunity for everyone. What is the opportunity? How could we take advantage of it? Here solidarity and the common good appear. The whole network is in the game, not just some.
The other days, a bank official was "concerned" that his officers were punctured and could not close deals in the SME segment. I asked him if they had already taken any action to build customer loyalty. He looked at me strangely and excused himself saying that they were a thousand tackling penalties. The priority for them was to close the numbers day by day.
I would not hesitate, if I had an armed distribution network, to convene each of those responsible for my points of sale (agents, distributors, representatives, wholesalers) to learn how they see the crisis and if they see opportunities to increase sales and take advantage of competitors. I bet double against single that a few opportunities would appear and that each one would return to her job with the feeling of belonging to a "true commercial network".
I would not hesitate, either, to invite my employees and managers to form work teams to improve quality, lower costs and increase sales. Surely more forceful measures would appear than saving on photocopies and preparing odious rankings for future layoffs.
To do nothing is to allow the rumor to grow, the discomfort to settle and fear to start to paralyze people. There is a lot of information that we receive and if we do not digest it intelligently, indigestion is guaranteed. This ends in what we all lose. Bad of many consolation of @ •? @ * @. Yes or no?
Calling a meeting not to report that we are phenomena, but to share what you feel is not common. We have become accustomed to bombastic events of product presentations or business plans. We all need to be heard, and despite this, silence is often maintained. There is talk of concerns about the world situation and not about our own. This is, no more and no less, the path to self-marginalization.
Hopefully, companies will cheer up and summon their strategic resources and together, they will start the path of intelligent competitiveness, the same that the management fad has called business intelligence.
