With the OECD's Interim Economic Outlook published just last week, this has been a good time for many state officials around the world to declare visions of "green shoots" of economic recovery. Indeed Japan, France and Germany were reported officially out of recession (if you consider at least two quarters of positive domestic growth as an indicator).

If you are a British Member of Parliament, however, such an early prognosis may condemn you to Whitehall's wasteland and a very public drubbing along the lines of that received by Business Minister, Baroness Vadera, when she dared allude to prospects of an UK economic revival earlier this year.

No. For the moment at least, British MPs - and Labour pundits in particular -  are well advised to keep stumm as the country lags the overall economic trend, notwithstanding tentative signs of UK manufacturing recovery (the strongest growth in three years during July.) Whether Prime Minister Gordon Brown's address this Tuesday to the annual Trade Union Congress will raise the embargo - and thwart David Cameron's electoral ambitions in the process - remains to be seen.

This restrained approach must not, however, be aped by commercial enterprise. Just as contingency planning is necessary in advance of an imagined crisis, organizations need more than ever to anticipate and embrace the notion of resumed corporate success - even if it currently seems to be doomed prophecy. For this is not the time for bears in the boardroom if companies are to muscle their way out of the curve and seize early competitive advantage (a philosophy echoed by corporate strategy guru, Philip Kotler and CEO Dr. John A. Caslione in their latest book, 'Chaotics', whose UK launch strategy we recently advised).

Nor, must I say, is it the time for organisations to cut their communications talent. While CEOs and senior leadership teams may be bunkered down in their war rooms, good PR professionals* - in-house or agency - are those supremely qualified and adept at raising a head above the parapet, at sounding the marketplace, at taking a long-view of horizon opportunities and shaping a more bulllish internal culture to evolve corporate success.

In an earlier blog, 'The Client Brief: When PR Agencies Fail', I mentioned that strong PR advisors would tease out the essence of what makes a company viable for the future and build strategies to create subtantial corporate reputation and growth. Certainly CEOs should already be asking themselves the following questions with trusted, seasoned PR/communication advisors driving answers in a way that builds a future corporate mission that is transformative, perhaps even revolutionary, in helping an organization re-launch itself into a deeply altered landscape.

These, then, are my top 10 questions for the current climate - in no particular order and by no means definitive:

1. Learning
"What learnings - or "gems" - have we taken from being forced from our comfort zone? (What worked? What failed? What mattered to the marketplace?)

2. Innovation
Are we embedding those "gems" throughout our product service offering, talent recruitment/retention, issues intelligence and control, corporate language? (What will be the timeline and specific action points to do so?)

3. Skills
Have we upgraded our skills to achieve more with less (for our clients/customers/shoppers/users?)

4. Proximity
Have we reinvigorated our public/social and internal employee networks?

5. Dialogue
Have we evolved our understanding of, and outreach through, their connection channels? (have we clarified internal roles/responsibilities and protocols?)

6. Competitivity
How will we organise our infrastructure and processes to secure and maintain future USP innovation and agility?

7. Value
How will we (re)structure to make our client/customer value sustainable - and understood?

8. Feedback
How will we capture and feed client/customer/public/regulatory trends and response into our continuous improvement?

9. Relevance
Is our current business model still relevant to achieve all of the above - sustainably?

10. Vision
What does success look like and how will we measure it/drive accountability?

Just as slowly as doors to opportunity open, so too can they slam shut, leaving many institutions - and their consultants - on the outside if questions about the company's future shape and role are not aired in a frank, timely and trusting environment.This is where robust, proactive PR counsel matters.

We'd be very interested in hearing whether the current climate and prospects are re-shaping the way your are interrogating your business. Or that of your clients. Please do post your insights which we always enjoy reading!


Image thanks to kind contribution by Alex Nolasco http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexandernolasco/382374166/

Labels: Baroness Vadera, business, CEOs, Chaotics, David Cameron, economy, Gordon Brown, John A. Caslione, marketing, OECD, Philip Kotler, politics, PR, recession., reputation, TUC