After the crisis, empower.

The recession is over, and it is time to plan the projects and budget for 2010. So what should you prioritize?

There are some obvious things which any company needs to do, if it wants to be more recession-proof (there is no guarantee of bailouts in a milder recession, after all) is to keep a larger buffer at hand, and make sure cost-cutting and tightening on decision making continues. Those things have to be executed top down, and it is something which is common for everyone.

But the effects of the belt-tightening, the cost-cutting, and the day to day stashing away of any money you may have earned should be alleviated now. When the recession ends, customers - especially private persons - will start spending again, and then companies will need better ways than ever to capture their money. That will not happen if the people in the company feel there is a crisis. Making sure the cost conciousness continues, but encouraging employees to make their own decisions, to speed up the business, and to be creative, that is going to be a great test of how good a manager you are (unfortunately, most of those who fail will not be demoted, since the crisis is over and they will muddle along anyway). Most importantly, it is time that employees feel they can have some fun in their jobs. Otherwise, there will be an exodus when the job market starts to work again.

How do you help people feel empowered, capture their creativity, and at the same time keep costs down and make sure they (you) do not spend overly much? Well, conferences in exotic locations are out for the next few years. It has to be something to do with IT.

But most of the stuff that you immediately think of looks pretty stale. Even if you could give everyone an iPhone or Blackberry, most companies who could motivate it already did so. Mobile broadband for everyone would certainly be something which could work, it is good enough a business driver that you could motivate the cost even with the software you have, as computers are being replaced. But what if you wanted to do something new? It would have to be a system that helps people capture and develop their ideas.

There are lots of those, and it is not particularly hard to build one on your own, actually. You can start with a decent blogging software, add some forums, and you are almost there. This kind of experimentation is precisely what Open Source is good for. It is a really interesting project for your developers. Make sure they start interviewing everyone now, so they get it right when you implement it - about Christmas at the earliest, but more likely around Easter (March-April timeframe) will be appropriate.

You will need the time to prepare, not they. Because once you launch comes the hardest part: Empowering the idea makers. How do you make people submit their ideas - and how do you make sure they do not feel turned off, when nothing happens? Make something happen, is how. Encourage people. If a someone posts a lot, give them an award - and try to steer them gently in a direction where their ideas lead to business. If someone posts something which is connected to business, use their ideas, and make it visible. The important thing is that it is visible that someone cares - and that you try to encourage them to care themselves.

Share the glory as much as you can, and take all the blame yourself. If managed well, there will be no blame to share. But there will be plenty of glory.

The trick is still execution, not idea generation, but it is the idea generation that makes people feel good. Execution remains as hard as ever. But if you are lucky, some of the idea makers can be taught to become idea drivers as well, if they are burning for their idea and can stand bending it to fit the marketplace. Make sure they blog their ideas and make the learning process visible, because that will encourage others as well. Remember, when things are moving upwards, you can afford to take a few falls, it is less likely either to hurt or be hard. You will benefit from having build creative staff who can execute ideas when the next downturn comes.