Confidence is Key to Economic Recovery

By On · 4 Comments

Research from Alium has indicated that over 50% of interims have “less or much less confidence” in the economy than 12 months ago – but what does this mean for UK businesses and economic recovery?

With economic indicators continuing to “bump along the bottom” and what seems to be a constant stream of negative statistics being produced, this lack of belief is the perfect environment for pessimism to persist. This dominant feeling of pessimism when it comes to economic recovery can also have a real knock on effect for UK businesses – but it can also provide a real opportunity for them - and for interim managers

A Chance for Change and Economic Recovery

Although the government seems to lack leadership and any real decision making prowess (what the IOD referred to recently as “a poverty of ambition” after the Queen’s Speech), interims and businesses do not need to have their mind fixed on the next election like Cameron & co. and must look at other factors for the future.

What all of us must remember in these challenging times is that in order to achieve the elusive economic growth that all parties require, change is essential. Interims must offer and use their transformation skills to provide fresh impetus to businesses in order to succeed. Change management is at the heart of the interim industry, so lets be bold and offer real change that makes a difference.

Innovate and Believe

It is important that we don’t let underachievement or economic mediocrity rule and become the norm. To allow this to continue to happen provides a blocker to growth and would be catastrophic for confidence. Wherever you are in the economy, the only way to gain growth is to try and remain confident. For their part, interims can do this by providing new and innovative solutions to organisations. Whether this is identifying new products and services in the private sector for a healthier bottom line, or creating efficiencies and re-organisational strategies in the public sector to save costs, growth and economic recovery is possible - but you must show belief and confidence first.

What are your thoughts on economic recovery? Do you feel confident about the future? Share your thoughts with us in the comments. 

photo credit:geralt cc

Tagged with → •  
If you like this, please share >>
TwitterStumbleUponLinkedInShare by Email
Author

John Bloor

John places senior interim executives in the UK and Europe across many industry sectors and management functions, principally at chief officer level. His background has led to a natural bias towards the financial services sector and, from a functional perspective, finance. However, the common thread that links the majority of placements he has made is clients who have a significant change agenda.

  • http://twitter.com/cordingley_mark Mark Cordingley

    In these difficult economic times, in my recent roles change management and business transformation has been focused on getting managers and leaders back to basics and far less about innovation and change. Whilst supporting day to day management is important to keep the ship afloat, in order to steam ahead the interim role should focus on future positioning to deliver the required growth or efficiencies. Until this trend is reversed then economic growth and confidence will remain low.

  • John Bloor

    Mark I agree. Focussing on operational efficiency and cost management is only part of the answer. Sustainable recovery only comes from revenue growth.

  • Keith Pringle

    Sustainable recovery does have to come from revenue growth, but this growth has to be genuinely incremental to profitability. I find a challenge is to find commercial/sales directors who are capable of growing profitable new sales without giving away the ‘family silver’, which is the benefits of an efficient cost-base, in the process. If your only competitive advantage is price without a corresponding sustainable cost advantage, this is no sustainability.

    • John Bloor

      Keith, I agree. Point well made. At the extreme, revenue can be
      generated without profit or incremental cash flow which is one of the risks
      that long tail businesses in particular can be exposed to.