Layoffs have come to professional service firms. It's painful to see PSFs encounter the inevitable downsides of the economy.
But there can be an upside: to reconfigure the enterprise's go-to-market approaches so the firm can compete more effectively in the future. (You can bet most PSFs have been marketing and selling under numerous organizational barriers that have impeded their processes, skill sets and administrative supports. That's the subject of my next book.)
A "good" layoff should include a hard look at the way the firm markets and sells, and should feature new structural frameworks and cultural principles the firm will implement going forward. Things like a reconfiguration of everyone's shared accountabilities for marketing and selling. Things like retooled job descriptions that make marketing and selling expectations more explicit, and re-framing performance expectations. Things like a more modern functional scope for marketing and selling, or a formal professional development pathway to grow tomorrow's marketing and selling competencies.
In this economic downturn, has your firm begun addressing its marketing and selling silos, its ineffective go-to-market practices? Please, please tell me your firms are taking this layoffs season as an opportunity to retool for the next up cycle!
I couldn't agree more - and I've written a related article that will be appearing in Consulting Magazine in February. To see an advance copy, go to www.thomaswaite.com and click on the article called "Consulting Firms: Spend Less, Sell More!"
Posted by: Tom Waite | January 27, 2009 at 02:17 PM