If your company's fiscal budget is based on the calendar year, chances are you're grappling with the challenge of growing your bottom line in 2009 despite the economic downturn.

With so many companies already operating at optimal cost-effectiveness, that's no easy task. Based on the latest unemployment figures and headlines, it looks as if the solution for many companies continues to include cutting their payrolls.

But that approach could undercut the company's competitive advantage once conditions improve.

In her latest think piece, Ann Carlsen, CEO of Carlsen Resources, a leading executive search firm in the global media and telecommunications arena, reports that while many U.S. companies continue to view the looming recession in traditional ways, Asian companies are using economic uncertainty as an opportunity to rethink how they do business.

Carlsen cites a report from the Watson Wyatt consultancy firm, which found that 84 percent of employers in Asia said they had contingency personnel plans in place, compared to only 67 percent of U.S. companies. Of those Asian companies that had a plan, a vast majority said it "centered on hiring freezes and restructuring their business." In contrast, the majority of American employers said their plan would focus on "job cuts and layoffs."

However, some companies are taking the contrarian view and actually investing even more heavily in human capital, Carlsen finds. Motivated by the increasing difficulty they face in recruiting for key positions, which will be compounded by a labor shortage that's predicted to grow to 10  million employees by 2010, forward-thinking companies are taking a longer view.

The lessons of history haven't been lost on many of these organizations, which found that, once conditions improve, the cost of rehiring and training employees can be as much as 200 percent of the original employee's annual salary. This time around, they are opting to replace the "slash and burn" approach with innovative solutions for ensuring they have the right set of employees they'll need for thriving in the future as well as surviving in the present.

According to research cited by Carslen, many companies are actually expanding their recruitment departments, while others are launching them for the first time. Other companies are accomplishing the same objective by paying a premium to retain the services of specialty firms such as TalentKeepers.

Some organizations are hiring high-level corporate decision makers on a temporary basis to work on specific limited projects. In addition, competitive companies are training their managers on improving their "emotional intelligence" and instituting broad-reaching anti-poaching initiatives, according to Carlsen's research.

This approach is consistent with the latest thinking on ways to motivate employees during hard times.

In an except from his book, A Sense of Urgency, appearing in the Sep. 4 issue of BusinessWeek, author John P. Kotter describes how the most successful leaders refocus companies using tactics that made them successful until they begin to fail. He calls these "heart-head" approaches, which fall into four categories.

• Using a story-telling approach rather than overloading their presentations with data that provides the rationale for a change, these managers dramatically bring outside reality into groups that are too inwardly focused.
  
• They walk the talk. Their daily actions reinforce the urgency of the message they communicate to employees.
  
• Remembering that crises can present opportunities, they carefully evaluate all potential upsides and use these to focus their teams.
  
• They confront the naysayers in the organization and don't let them kill the sense of urgency that's required for effecting change in their organization.

"All four tactics can have an effect that is visceral — not merely intellectual — influencing attitudes, thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams and behavior," Kotter asserts.

"You can transform complacency with the status quo, or the anger and anxiety associated with a perceived mess, into a determination to move and win, now," he promises.

A related article appearing in the same issue of BW outlines some examples of the changes that businesses are making to ensure their future competitive strength.

In "The Best Places to Launch a Career," BW staffer Lindsey Gerdes reports that companies are expanding on the traditional perks they use for recruiting talents, such as pensions and health insurance, with "everything from work-from-home programs to faster promotions to financial benefits that kick in a few years down the road."

These companies are also recognizing that they need to tailor their incentives to the needs of employees they want to recruit and retain.

For Gen Y employees, that can mean creating chances for them to address their needs for involvement in community projects. Gen X employees are finding it easier to move toward their career goals with projects that bridge what they're doing today with where they want to be tomorrow. And programs like flextime and telecommuting are encouraging experienced boomers, who are becoming the most difficult to retain, to remain on board.

Some companies are also restructuring their 401(k) matches and vesting schedules to entice new employees to stay until the richer benefits kick in, according the report.

The MFM will be taking a look at these and some industry-specific examples as part of a Distance Learning Seminar we will be hosting next Thursday, Sept. 25, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. ET.

Entitled "Recession Readiness — Strategies to Succeed in a Down Market," the teleconference is based upon the work of several Grant Thornton experts and will be moderated by Dwight Delapenha, a partner at the firm.

In addition to addressing the importance of reshaping a media company's recruitment and retention programs to strengthen its competitive position, this seminar will also address steps for addressing both the short-term and long-term requirements for improving customer relationships and operational efficiency.

Additional information about the seminar and an online registration form may be found on MFM's Web site.

Helping media companies prepare for the changes that lie ahead is also the objective for a regional seminar we'll be hosting in New York on Oct. 16 at the Penn Club in Downtown Manhattan (44th Street between 5^th and 6th).

We have tapped experts from a number of leading advertising and media organizations, including AOL, Beyond Interaction, Google's YouTube, Magna Global, Pando, Razorfish's Avenue A and The Publicis Groupe, on ways to "Follow the Money — Give Advertisers What They Want."

As we continue to refine our effectiveness in targeting the right audiences and responses for our advertisers, we must also continue to move away from cookie-cutter approaches to find the solutions that are best suited for the long-term objectives of our organizations.

Mary Collins is the president and CEO of the Media Financial Management Association (formerly the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association), a professional society for addressing the diverse needs of the industry's financial and business professionals. Her column appears here every other Friday.