Basically, the economy is in the crapper, on the whole things are just not good. Business is down, and off, pretty much everywhere, across all categories and sectors.
Something has got to give and usually its jobs. Maybe even your job. But before you stress yourself into a paralytic, paranoia frenzy (which never helps job performance anyway) there are a few things you could, and should, understand about what is going on with the market, how you can (potentially) deal with the big issues here, and how creating and building strategic alliances can be the answer to all that ails you.
Make Sure You Leave the Stapler
Let’s start with the basics, but we’ll rapidly ramp up and get to the point. There are two ways companies remain profitable. They make money selling their goods and/or services, and secondly, they reduce expenses. The quickest and cleanest way to reduce expenses is to lay people off. Doesn’t matter how gently you use that phrase, you get laid off, you are FIRED – goodbye, ta ta, or as they say in the world of Instant messaging – c ya later. And, oh by the way, make sure you leave the stapler too.
By reducing expenses through staff reduction, a company feels the impact directly and immediately on the ‘bottom line.”
What to do to stop the Bleeding?
When a company tries to cut production expenses that takes or can take much longer; meaning the company is still bleeding losses while R & D tries to figure out how to make the “product” more cheaply while still retaining the quality, value and features on which it has built its name, brand and reputation. Do we replace the steel with plastic, do we replace the plastic with tin-foil, do we replace the tin-foil with Saran Wrap? These are all critical production questions that take time to investigate.
Hey, Where’s Blake and Tiffany?
So, let’s concentrate on the former method of reducing expenses – cutting personnel. People go first because it is a clear “line item” expense cut. Let Blake or Tiffany go on Monday, you see that cost/salary savings on Friday when accounting makes payroll. Bean counter 1 to bean counter 2 in payroll: “Hey, where’s Blake, I have his check?” Bean counter 2: “oh, they let him go.” Bean Counter 1: “Oh, okay, I guess the bleeding’s stopped.” Bean Counter 2; Yup, everyone’s safe now, at least for this week. Bean Counter 1: I hope he didn’t take the stapler. Bean Counter 2; Oh, you mean like Tiffany did, last week? Direction: Bean counters now snort the way bean counters snort.
As you can see, this is clean and simple, and it makes sense, so long as you are not Blake or Tiffany, and naturally life is back to normal in the Bean-Counter department.
Hey, Guess who’s Picking up the Slack?
When personnel are let go to save costs and reduce expenses it has a serious and deleterious dramatic psychological impact on people, and of course the company as a whole, as you were able to see by the histrionic exchange between Bean Counter 1 and Bean Counter 2. Despite their crazy bean-counter antics, whether you are management, or you’re down the line staff, the remaining personnel must pick up the slack and responsibilities left void from Blake and Tiffany clearing their desks and hitting the bricks.
This puts more pressure on managers and all other department personnel, if there are actually any other department personnel left, who might be fortunate enough to retain their jobs, which naturally everyone is grateful for. Let’s listen to the hushed buzz-banter around the water cooler among the few tremulous remaining employees.
Disgruntled Employee 1: “Gee, can you believe how much frickin’ work we’re doing? Disgruntled Employee 2: “Yeah, I know, like what the hell man, they’re working us like we’re in India making sneakers for Nike for 8 cents an hour.” Disgruntled Employee 1: “I wonder where Blake and Tiffany ended up?” Disgruntled Employee 2: “Yeah, me too, I’ll text him now.”
Where did Blake and Tiffany End Up?
If this situation has happened to you, where cut-backs, layoffs and rampant firings have run-amuck through the hallways of your company on a Bloody Friday, and you’re fortunate enough to have dodged another bullet, then you gotta know you’re working a whole lot harder than Blake or Tiffany, and they’re probably a whole lot happier than you are too serving lattes.
So, this is the cycle of human behavior. First relief, “man, am I glad I didn’t get canned,” to “wow, I can’t believe I am working my a#$ off for the same lousy pay and am doing Blake and Tiffany’s jobs too!”
Ta Da, Strategic Alliance to the Rescue
If you, or your company find yourself in this kind of situation, like laying off Blake and Tiffany, and a host of other people whose names you might not recall at this minute but that you know made your life easy, better and whose work was of true value to you, your department and the company at large, and if you find yourself totally stressing out about how you’re going to get this next major project done, then there is a solution so easy you will smack yourself in the forehead like Homer Simpson and go, “Doh.”
And that answer is, Building Strategic Alliances.
You, my friend, are a perfect candidate for a Strategic Alliance. Why? Well, a few reasons. First the concept of strategic alliance is simply to have on call, a vendor relationship with someone — a person, a company, to whom you can outsource the kinds of work, the kinds of services you need.
In our worlds of advertising, marketing, communications, media, public relations, copywriting, graphic design, web design, etc., there are a host of companies who can provide you these services. It might be one company, it might be many, but you can get them for sure.
Some can do all of these – the copywriting, the design, the film and video production, web design and development and so on, and others can do just some of these. But the big idea here is that you are very likely to be able to find someone to fill in this need. There’s a good chance you can get someone to actually work there, in your office, or they can work “off-site” to do this work. The good news is, you are covered, and that’s gotta be a big relief.
Fabulous For You, You Get Great Work, Without The Expense and Stress of an Employee
This is fabulous for you, and your company, because now you can bring in not just fresh talent and new creative eye-balls to give you an entirely new and unimpeded perspective, totally devoid of politics also, but think about it, you don’t have to pay any of the high costs of maintaining this employee.
They’re not a permanent employee, for that matter they’re not even a part-time employee, they are a 1099 outside contract vendor. Heck you don’t even have to worry where they’re gonna park if they come to your office, all you know is that they just show up and do good work. And just think, best of all, you can stick them where Blake or Tiffany used to work. Pretty convenient, huh.
And after all, isn’t that what you need right now, a little help. Or, maybe even a lot of help. And of course, you want it to be darn good work to, and chances are you’ll be able to get really really good talent to provide you with really good work and help you get all those projects done that are stressing you out, along with the rest of the few people that remain in your department.
So, forget about Blake and Tiffany, they’re history and have moved on, but if you’re looking for really good talent to do really good work and help you through some tough times, then consider a Strategic Alliance, and the buzz around the water cooler will be much healthier.
Call 954-801-8263 for more information on a Strategic Alliance with TheBambooAgency.com.
