To quote Dr. Jörg Puma, Director of the Krones Academy: In times of crisis, particularly, managerial competence is a vita tool enabling you to take appropriate countermeasures. I was confirmed in this view by a presentation on this subject I heard last month. Dr. Maucher, the long-serving President of Nestlé AG’s Administrative Board, gave a stirring lecture on

Ways out of the crisis: the 12 success-driving factors behind good management

Looking constructively for ways out of the crisis instead of indulging in lamentations is nowadays the general mindset in most companies. For this purpose, we have to put our company on the right tracks now. As we know, it is never a good idea to look into the future with fear. But what can then be our compass in these turbulent times?

Useful crash barriers are provided by the secondary virtues of management. so often ignored in phases of overheating on the financial markets: when the weather turns stormy, a strong lead is essential. “We’re talking about survival and simultaneously about peak performance. For this you need high performance and ethical stringency – uncompromisingly across the board”, to quote Georg Bachler, one of the world’s best mountain-climbers and management coaches. What does this mean specifically?

Courage and nerve
Anyone who has been confronted with a watchdog on a farm knows the recipe: if you show fear and run away, you’ll get bitten. If you stand still and look danger in the face, you may be able soothe the growling beast’s savage breast. Look the crisis in the face: in danger, your organism delivers improved performance, and that goes for your organisation as well Your staff will now tackle things that 3 years ago they might have balked at, provided you take a bold lead.

Nerve makesthe difference between courage and rashness. When is it courage to stay the course and when is the brave decision necessary to make a U-turn? Given the present-day intensity of pressures like the media spotlight, financial exigencies and the tempo of innovation, nerves of steel will help you last the course, but you should cultivate them deliberately. Good mountain-climbers have scaled many peaks. Only the brave lose their lives, with courage and nerve they come back safe again.

Calmness
People who tackle problems calmly tend to be the quickest in solving them In our production facilities, we operate lines from the same manufacturers with the same equipment and quality at high and low levels of efficiency. An analysis has shown that the high efficiency levels are mostly attributable to a systematic and concomitantly calm trouble-shooting procedure conducted by a competent team. Calmness can be achieved in 2 ways: experience gained over years, or good training. The best time to train your managerial abilities is right now: just as mountain-bikers seek out mountains to train on, the current situation is an ideal training-ground for the managers of tomorrow. Combine élan with calmness.

An ability to learn
This is one constant in business life: it’s certain that everything will continually change. Though in this article it’s success-driving factors we’re looking for – one of the dangers for managerial staff is to be so intoxicated by their success that they neglect the ability to learn. Nixdorf was a successful market leader for mainframes. Otto was the epitome of a successful mail order firm. The personal computer and the internet did not materialise overnight, but the ability to learn was inadequate. Beyond the age of 35, in particular, successful managers have to ask themselves: what else can I learn in order to stay successful? What recipes for success must I now discard?

Future-focused thinking
What an ability to learn signifies for managerial staff is the strategy for companies and departments. In the long term, a shortage of milk and drinkable water is foreseeable. We’re hearing already that dairy farmers are thinking of giving up. Anyone looking to the future will nowadays find good entry-level prices for market segments prophesied for future profitability. It is here that we find the most exciting managerial dilemma, the core of every managerial function: how can I simultaneously make radical savings and also invest money in the future?

Create a climate of innovation
Successful entrepreneurs not only institutionalise an R&D department, they make it clear in every function that staff may and indeed are expected to think continuously about improvements. This will not work, however, if they merely print in their corporate brochures that this needs to be taken on board. There are advantages to be had here for companies like Krones, whose founding father was a living example of the continual search for innovation, and at the same time perpetuated this in the company’s corporate DNA.

Creating trust
One vital ability for a manager is creating trust. This is the result of free, frank communication and transparency in decision-making. Trust pays off particularly in times of turbulence like the present. Since trust is the foundation for team spirit and solidarity. Communicating poor results will also create trust, e.g. when you proactively involve your staff and your business associates in solving the ongoing problems.

Credibility
Sermonising on Sundays and not following up with corresponding deeds on Mondays is not conducive to credibility. This means that precisely in situations like the ongoing financial crisis, managers can earn credibility. Consistency in decision-making over a period of years is a vital factor here. Stress-test your strategy now, and if possible stay faithful to your long-term strategy.

Readiness to accept continual change
Though trust and credibility are based on consistency and dependability, this most emphatically does not mean petrifaction. When the situational environment changes, the players in the market alter the rules or technologies open up new opportunities, consideration must be given to modifying the company, the value creation chain or even the business model involved.

Modesty
This article began with the financial crisis. The root cause of this crisis is known to all of us by now: exaggeratedly short-term thinking coupled with greed and intransparency. Anyone failing to display the expected arrogance and boastfulness was treated almost with contempt. The present-day situation reminds us that modesty is an important virtue. This does not mean parsimony, but doing the right thing with soundly based prudence and a long-term focus. This is modesty with style, an attribute every manager would do well to adopt.

In everything you do, never forget the basis of our managerial remit:
be close to your people, be close to your product, be close to your customers!
Dr. Puma, Director of the Krones Academy, authorised by Dr. Maucher

 

07.09.2009