Like the majority of companies, the last 18 months has seen dramatic changes in nearly every facet of our business. When I step back, it feels as though we are vividly living one of the management business fables from the likes of Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson.  As described on the website, “Who Moved My Cheese? is the story of four characters living in a "Maze" who face unexpected change when they discover their "Cheese" has disappeared. Sniff and Scurry, who are mice, and Hem and Haw, little people the size of mice, each adapt to change in their "Maze" differently.” In recent months, we’ve experienced similar, cheese-disappearing challenges.

 

Not only has our client mix changed, in many cases the actual individuals with whom we have done business with for years within those clients have changed due to staff reductions. We have seen shorter engagement durations for contracts, longer sales cycles, and a significant shift in the mix of our work. In early 2008, classic staffing constituted over 70% of revenue with outsourced project work providing the balance.  Through both changes in the market and concerted effort on our part, this ratio is now reversed.

 

As we grow through these changes, we are learning a valuable lesson in the difference between reading and studying management concepts and watching them play themselves out. We are all learning in a much more real way that adjusting to a new business environment – an environment “without the cheese” - is a three-fold problem. First, we must adapt and learn the specific skills required for succeeding in a changing landscape.  Second, we must make assessments and decisions faster and faster.  And finally, we must intentionally forget that which no longer serves us. Most challenging throughout this journey is maintaining positive energy and focus on what, at times, feels like an emotional rollercoaster.

 

Fortunately, at Ambassador we have a few things in our DNA that have served us well. Most importantly, we talk about this stuff. We talk about fear, uncertainty, and conflict. We try to recognize when our coworkers are clinging for the comfortable familiar, swimming in self-doubt or worry, or maybe just having a bad day. This experience has served to reaffirm the cultural values that we hold dear and forced us to truly reflect on our core competencies, resulting in deep investments in the technological skills and methods that we believe are transformational to our industry.

 

I hope that your experiences in these trying times have been as valuable for you as they have been for us in testing our foundation and forcing a necessary rebirth. Our greatest impediment to reaching our real potential is not the challenges that lie before us but our involuntary clinging to the baggage of the past.  As in our personal lives, we have found that in order for an organization to evolve, transform, and emerge stronger it must struggle. I regularly remind myself that nothing worthwhile comes without some form of struggle, and even as we live through this real-life business fable, it is important to embrace the opportunity.