Making the most of your talented people.

In recent weeks, I have been particularly struck by one client who is taking a refreshing approach to his business in the current challenging trading conditions. Like many HR practitioners, I have spent the last three months advising clients on the 'dark side' of HR - on the subject of redundancy and, I can tell you, its definitely the worse part of the job. At wrose it saps the life and energy out of the organisation and makes talented individuals run for the hills.

One of my clients took me by surprise and when he said that he wanted me to facilitate a business development workshop with a mix of managers and senior staff as an antidote to tight trading on normal product lines. Only too happy to oblige, my colleague and I went to it with great gusto, got our designing hats on and put the group through their paces getting creative and coming up with ideas for new product ranges to generate new revenues this year. We rounded off the programme with Dragon's Den style presentations on the morning of day 2.

I have to say that I was impressed by the seriousness with which the group attacked the subject and the quality of the ideas and pitches that they came up with in just 24 hours! I know a good few product development teams who would say that the process has to be far more long winded than that to get it right. Maybe it was the stress of the presentations on day 2 that did it but some of the pitches even came with some supporting research. What is more, I believe that we created a buzz and excitement around the business that will last and provide benefits for weeks, if not months, to come.

And what did the Board think of the ideas that were pitched? They loved them. Better than that they committed money to developing four of the six pitches, including one idea that had been pitched before and had failed to attract Board support. Two of the ideas, in particular, could generate revenue in the second half of this year as they are based on taking what they are good at and doing it in a new way. The other ideas may be slower burners, but they really do have the support of management to make them work.

Will this approach stop them having to make redundancies this year? The truthful answer is that I really don't know but, if I were a betting man, I'd say that the energy, enthusiasm and commitment that this process has released gives them the best possible chance of coming out of the downturn ahead of the competition and having kept the team motivated and committed to success along the way.

Watch this space!