When did your company first feel the hit of the recession? I was talking to a CEO this week, and he said it started for him all the way back in 2002. For most companies, the initial impact goes back to 2005 or 2006. Think about how long that is. Most recessions last a year or two. The Great Recession has buffeted organizations for at least five years and as many as 10.
The recovery is shallow and anemic, but at least we can move on, right? I wish it were that easy. The Great Recession did not come and go without consequence. It took its toll on organizations. It emptied the treasury and thinned the ranks. It brought thousands to the brink of extinction. It has created awesome pain.
For the organizations that survived, the problem is moving beyond survival. Those who study organizational culture tell us that to recast a company’s culture wholesale takes at least three to five years. The Great Recession lasted at least that long and that’s exactly what it has done — changed the DNA of organizations.
MIT’s Edgar Schein, the father of the study of corporate culture, explains that culture is “a pattern of basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valued and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”
The recession was a terrifying challenge of external adaptation. It changed our focus from growth to survival. It shifted our orientation from managing revenue and profits to managing costs. Breakeven became the goal. It thrust us into a mindset of austerity. We learned to retrench and do more with less. When you do that long enough, it changes your instincts. It changes your response patterns. Organizations become more centralized and directive because they have less margin for error.
The grinding slog of the Great Recession has refined us. By its pestilence, we have learned to be wiser stewards. We have learned endurance and gratitude. I hope we can retain the lessons, discard the losses, swallow the fury and move forward with optimism. Deseret News
