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cost cutting and team performance

Despite the publicity around the return of bonuses to the banking world, the last year has seen the environment dominated by cost cutting.  This is now one of the dominant themes in the UK economy as a whole, as the new government seeks to make its mark on the budget deficit.  Cost cutting, inevitably in a large part involving head count cuts, impacts the performance of those left in ways that are often not appreciated.

Cost cutting:

• Leads to reduced levels of ownership and accountability

• Hence greater levels of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD)

• The response of management in trying to control costs in an attempt to exert greater control on staff - "many managers withhold responsibility and kill awareness"

• Hence lower levels of ownership of deliverables and culture becomes one of doing things right, rather than doing the right things.

This becomes a vicious cycle.  Consistently, communication and stakeholder management suffer - people fear the reaction to communicating news which may not be welcome, as things cannot possibly be going as well as hoped.

What got firms into this state cannot possibly be how they are going to get out of it, yet many people continue to follow the processes they are familiar with.  Major culture change is needed, coaching can and should be a part of this.  There is a need for a "paradigm shift from the common culture of fear to one of trust".

Fear of responsibility is common in cost cutting environment, people being unprepared to stick their heads above the parapet.  Coaching helps build responsibility into the player by enriching their capability to make choices and decisions of their own.  Personal responsibility can seem threatening because it means there's someone to blame.  But without responsibility you can't make decisions.

The environment needs leaders more than managers and leaders are those that do the right things and develop responsibility and ownership in thers.

on court performance specialises in working with teams and individuals in the context of change to continualy enhance performance