Five tips for senior leaders looking to navigate uncertain times
Are you looking at the headlines and wondering how the current economic climate is going to affect your business, strategy and team? Regardless of whether we’re officially in a recession or not, and how long it might last, one thing is certain: our conversations with clients, across all the sectors we work in, reflect a high degree of uncertainty about where the markets and their organisations are headed.
Due to the cost of living and energy crisis, reduced consumer spending and confidence, as well as the lasting effects of Brexit, many of our clients are being asked to do more with what they have, and in some cases, do less.
As a Managing Director & Founder at CreateFuture, I have the opportunity to chat with senior leaders weekly and many of these discussions lately have highlighted similar challenges and concerns, as well as practical ideas on how to face them.
I thought it might be useful to share some of the things we’re hearing from other senior leaders and how we’re supporting our clients, as these tips might help you navigate uncertain times too.
Focus on effectiveness if you’re facing new spending constraints
Being asked to 'tighten your belt' rarely comes with a mandate to do less work. Spending constraints are placing pressure on teams to bring work in-house, wherever possible.
You need to up-skill your teams for lasting success, with a focus on ‘designing for effectiveness’ - through practical design systems and tighter workflows to help keep work moving. These are areas we can support with - we've always believed in building, not outsourcing, your capability.
Review your current roadmap and shift priorities if you need to
Due to many external and internal factors, agreed roadmaps are being revisited or ripped up, often with a focus on going ‘back to basics’. This is leaving some leaders and teams confused as to their role and priorities, with (in some cases) the new reality looking very different from the work they were prepared and excited to deliver.
We are working with clients to help them assess their slate of projects, build business cases for important projects that might be at risk, and also help them scope out and plan how to deliver against shifting priorities coming ‘from the top’.
Audit and bolster your in-house team’s capabilities
All of our clients, without exception, are struggling to hire into experienced delivery roles, leaving them short of people. This is compounded by inflated salary offers from competitors, making it hard to retain their top talent.
Capability mapping is helping some clients make informed decisions about which hires and what work to prioritise. We can also help by providing embedded small design teams and ‘fractional’ support for more senior strategic or creative roles to bridge the gap while positions are filled.
And, of course, we’re always happy to spread the word to our network if you are advertising for roles at the moment.
Assess the stress levels of your team members (and your own)
Speaking plainly, having come out of a pandemic and heading into a recession, a lot of our clients and their teams are feeling stretched, or close to burning out.
We are always here to talk, whether it’s to hopefully offer practical advice and help you find a way through all of the above, make introductions to support resources, or just to vent. As a qualified Coach, if I can use those skills to help you or your team, please let me know.
Look for ways to keep your team happy and healthy in uncertain times
Unfortunately, team development, training and wellbeing are seen as discretionary spend. We’ve done a lot of work in the past to help foster a positive creative culture, help employees build psychological safety and ensure teams feel recognised, challenged and rewarded. We’d be happy to share that experience with you.
We believe healthy, happy teams do better work. We provide a wide range of resources to our own team, as well as putting on interesting and inspiring events on a monthly basis. If you're interested in being part of this, we'd love you to benefit from it too.
I hope you’ve found these tips useful or at the very least, I hope you realise that you’re not alone. If you’d like to have a chat about any of the topics raised above, please give me a shout or feel free to book time in my diary, I’m always happy to help:
As a senior leader, chances are this won’t be your first rodeo. Recessions are never pleasant, but they’re never permanent, and by taking a pragmatic, optimistic, long-term approach, and reframing constraints as opportunities, they can also be valuable time for renewal and growth.
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