Title: Recession Proofing Your Organization. What can you do?

Summary: Many organizations are going through changes they have not experienced for years or maybe never. While a downturn in the economy is always a challenge, it does force us to refocus and prepare for future growth and take advantage of new and exciting opportunities. There is no magic bullet for fixing the many negative impacts that a downturned economy can have on small and large businesses alike; however there is some fundamental initiatives that the leadership and employees can undertake to stabilize, change and prepare their organizations to be successful in the future. I propose a high level review of some fundamental business skills and practices can begin the process of recession proofing an organization. A high level examination in five domains will generate discussion for large and small organizations alike. The Five Ways to Survive a Recession discussion will include: • Fine Tune Financial Resources • Superior Customer Service • Challenge Processes • Find Efficiencies • Take Action My experience is that people within the organization, when provided a structured methodology of business discipline, can root out opportunities for improvement. This improvement may be finding wasteful practices and processes, reassigning and realigning human resources, and providing strategic training in some fundamental leadership and business skills. I have developed a model called the “Diamond Solution” for the purposes of providing the business discipline necessary to make value added, meaningful and sustainable improvements. The diamond solution is about business process, the fundamental communication a between two people for the sake of taking action. The diamond solution provides an opportunity to examine current processes and realities, look at new opportunities, breakdowns, and offers and then take action through living in a culture of accountability.

R. Neil Thiessen, President, Able Business Consulting, Consultant, Calgary, AB, Canada

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