Move forward
Davis has been two through major recessions at Perficient and he has seen the cultural damage they can cause. So when cuts need to be made, he suggests you try to get it right the first time.
“Honestly, as cold as it sounds, the right thing to do for the business is to go down as deep as you can,” Davis says. “If that’s more than necessary, that’s unfortunate. But that’s better than having to make four cuts. That continual cut, cut, cut just kills morale. In the service business, those are your assets. That’s what you care about and that just kills it.”
Once the announcements have been made and those who are being let go have been notified, you need to move quickly to refocus everyone’s energy. Show people that this isn’t the first step toward going out of business.
“Try to give some concrete evidence that you’re taking action,” Davis says. “When the chips are down and they’re kind of down anyway, they want to know that you’re doing something. You’re not just sitting around waiting for the economy to get better.”
Davis took advantage of a declining market and made some investments that the company might not otherwise have made.
“We’re trying to gain share, so frankly, we did some experiments,” Davis says. “It allowed us to try some things that we might have been a little more reticent to try if we weren’t working so hard to turn things around.
“We invested and built organically a health care business unit that is focused on that industry. Before we did that, it was already part of our business, but in 2008, it was probably about 15 percent of our revenue. It’s 25 percent today. From 2009 to 2010, we added $12 million in revenue in the health care industry.”
You can’t promise people that you’ll never have to make cuts again. But you need to reassure them that the company is moving ahead.
“Let’s all get back to work,” Davis says. “It’s unfortunate, and we’ll miss our colleagues, but we’ve still got a job to do. For your own sake and the benefit of your family and yourself, we need to keep slugging it out every day. Let’s move on and keep moving it forward. That’s the speech I would give.”
Davis says it’s the need to work with his people and help them continue to grow that helped him weather the storm at Perficient a little bit better the second time around.
“I’m pleased to say we never got more than even halfway through the second list of cuts and never even had to get to third list,” Davis says of the three cutback scenarios that were considered.
He added that he continues to grow as a leader and learn the value of empowering others.
“I’m a better motivator of people that I was 10 years ago and I hope I get better every day,” Davis says. “That’s the most important thing as a leader is motivating. It’s making sure you have the right people around you, of course, but motivating them and not managing them.”
How to reach: Perficient Inc., (314) 529-3600 or www.perficient.com
