Anticipation
A new year brings lots of anticipation, regardless of the good or bad things that may have happened the year before.
2010 is no different…the anticipation is high…but only the best will be rewarded.
Here are some reasons why:
(1) the economy is certainly rebounding; companies are hiring again; friends and former co-workers that are still anxiously seeking jobs will most likely find them early in this new year
(2) people will become mobile again, changing jobs to find new challenges and disrupting (in a good way) the personality and passions of organizations as they take their talents from one team to another; companies will in turn be forced to focus on work environment and compensation in order to recruit and retain the best talent on the market today; bosses will once again need to be as good of motivators as they were cost cutters during the down turn
(3) startups will be desirable again; with VC money being tightly held and jobs in startups being riskier than ever, lots of startup minded people have been in holding patterns in big bureaucracies where they’ve been frustrated and anxious for the turnaround to come; now that it’s coming, the calls to lure them back are coming too
(4) communications will be a primary consideration for hiring executives; it’s fascinating to see how blogs, facebook, twitter and other new media tools have changed the way team members in business communicate and bond with each other; successful leaders now need to embrace and adapt to the new generation of communicators and aggressively communicate with them in ways they communicate today
(5) training and personnel development will become fashionable again; because of all the cash concerns, OJT or no training at all was the norm during the darkest times of the current economic crisis; companies will focus on development across the board and all team members in organizations will benefit from it
(6) profits and income (as a percentage of revenue) will move upward; times of crisis create great opportunities for cost cutting and instilling efficiencies; companies that did that smartly and took advantage of the downturn to improve themselves will benefit tremendously as the economy recovers
(7) folks will fight for the biggest challenges again; during the desperate struggle to survive, many folks hunkered down and did their part to keep companies solvent; with the recovery accelerating, folks will once again position themselves to be the “go to guys” given the biggest challenges of the organization
(8) secrets won’t be so secret anymore; with the emergence of new tools for communication and the viral nature of new media, companies will be held accountable for everything they do and everything they say; honest and effective internal and external communication will become more important than ever and communications departments will be elevated even higher and given a “seat at the table”
(9) the window to act on opportunities will shorten once again; competition will exist for great people, for the right acquisitions, for good investments, and for that perfect client; companies mired in process will miss those opportunities; 2010 will reward the nimble over the lethargic
In tough times, companies find comfort in a stable work force (folks don’t choose to leave with jobs not available elsewhere), cost cutting/deferred spending (it’s easy to set priorities when there is no discretionary spending), and adequate (sometimes ruthless) leadership. When the good times return though, those creating comfort in the down times as supporters and defenders of the bureaucracy may find themselves out of touch and out of time with the newly revived and more-demanding-than-ever workforce.
And thus the anticipation!