I just finished up the main article for the next issue of Ignite, our monthly e-newsletter.  It features an interview with Madeleine Homan-Blanchard, who is the founder of the Coaching Services division at The Ken Blanchard Companies.  

One of the things we talked about was the situation new managers find themselves in as the deal with managing through their first recession.  In most cases, these new managers don’t have any past experience to draw from since they were not in a managerial position during the downturns of the early 80s and 90s.  

So how do these managers chart a course without the benefit of past experience?  Madeleine recommends that they take a moment to step back and reflect on some of their own best managers.  Who were the people that provided direction and support for them in the earlier days when these new managers were direct reports?

One of the traits that she thinks people will rediscover through this exercise is the power of consistency.  Not that these managers acted the same with every single employee, but instead that they used systems and processes consistently so that people knew what to expect and also what was expected of them.