The 6 things you need to do to take advantage of an economic recovery

History tells us that the biggest shift in market share happens in a recovery cycle. Unfortunately history also tells us we are terrible at learning from history.

Consider your industry you work in right now and ask yourself if there will be some companies that do better out of the recovery than some of their competitors. The answer I hear almost unamiously is yes. If you agree then ask yourself this – do you think they will have planned it?

Having a great strategic plan is just a start, if you don't have one you lose. Armed with a great plan and all your knowledge you're still only a small way to succeeding. Jim Collins says it is 1% of success and Tom Peters says it is 2%. Bottom line doesn't matter how good your strategy looks on paper, it means nothing if it doesn't get applied.

Keeping everyone focussed on getting the right things done is everything. One thing the past economic climate has shown the business community is how high the price is of not doing it. Actually it's the key to success in all times, the price of not doing is just higher now.

Here are the 6 biggest lessons I have learned over the past 18 months in my business;

1. Start with "why?" – if you want people to go above and beyond in their role them a bigger purpose. Your company's purpose and vision need to be something alive that everyone knows how they are contributing to. If your team aren't capable of achieving the goals get a new goal or a new team
   
2. Hire for fit to values – if you want to build a team that pulls together and delivers for the company – and for each other – then make sure you have articulated your companies values, and that you hire people who align with them and demonstrate them. Start with yourself always.
   
3. Transparency – Make sure that people know the numbers, the targets and who is expected to do what, the more "real time" the data the better
   
4. Make many mistakes fast and learn from them – Encourage people to have a go and learn from what works and what doesn't. Don't give them all the answers (your team will come up with better ones only if you don't give them one first) and don't persecute those who try things that don't work, it is those that don't try things that stop you moving forward.
   
5. The enemy of Execution is Business as usual - Get everyone to commit to a weekly task that is not business as usual but is moving the company towards it's longer terms goals. Make sure that they understand that they are helping the company achieve it's vision by contributing. Do this as part of your weekly meetings and review the following week.
   
6. Hold people accountable – The hardest thing to do gets easier when you've done all of the above. If there is transparency on numbers and also completion of tasks and goals, when your team understand why you are all working towards your vision, when people share a common set of values with each other and the company, then you have permission to hold people accountable for their results. The funny thing is, if you do all the other bits, you won't need to. They will get it done for the company, and for each other – and not because they had to. Make sure that as the leader, you front up every week with your task completed and your numbers met.
   

As you can see, there is a mix of the soft and the hard to get a culture working that is about performance and delivering RESULTS. You need to be prepared to do the work on both having the big picture vision – and measuring and managing activity and effort. The two area's can't work in isolation and the sum of both is far greater than the whole.

So you know how I asked the question about a company in every industry benefiting more than their competitors? – Why can't that company be you?