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Showing posts with the label Downturn

Managing People When Times Are Bad

As a person that has gone through many formal (e.g. MBA) and informal training, I realize that very few teach us how to manage the business in a downturn. Turn open the newspaper and you'll find talks advocating "how to build a brand that lasts", "how to increase sales easily" etc. Most of them are talking about how to do things in a normal economy. But we know that currently the economy, especially Singapore, is in decline. There is no growth in the July to September 2013 Quarter. In short, hang cheng pai or 行情坏! In bad times, here are the 5 things you must do to manage your team: Need not use money as a motivator - because everyone is cutting bonuses, if you just maintain last year's bonus, you're already paying higher than market!  Leadership is most critical . In good times, even if you have a lousy or absent leader, the business will still grow. But now if your managers are a little ineffective, you can see all the ill effects in the business. ...