Patience Not Panic: Survive and Thrive Through Economic TurbulenceWritten by Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE
From 28,000 feet, snow still spots parts of Michigan, Illinois and other states further West. The earth looks brown and barren, dark and ugly from this vantage point. But I know that if I could walk fields and wait patiently, I’d see signs of new growth inching out of hardened earth. I’d eventually find dead-looking tree limbs swelling with rising sap, pushing buds into blossom under warming sun.But what if I opted NOT to be patient? What if I panicked, burned dead-looking trees, cut off limbs, and retreated in disgust within my cocoon? Spring might NEVER come because my shortsighted actions jeopardized natural course of events. That’s what has happened with stock market and many of our companies. It concerns me that such actions can create a rippling self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m concerned that departed talent and trust might not be regained within workplace. I’m concerned that customers will retreat because quality and service could suffer as employees attempt to fill shoes of a thinned out workforce. Here’s a hard pill to swallow but perhaps all of us – myself included—have become greedy for amazing returns and astounding growth of past eight years. Perhaps we’ve grown fat and lazy instead of prudent and thoughtful.
| | Don’t Shrink – RETHINK!Written by Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE
Now is time to pull together and think creatively about our businesses. When times are easy, unfortunately, we often lose edge to monitor performance, to question out-dated procedures and unnecessary expenses. Maintenance items slip when we’re busy “filling orders”. This might be anything from physical maintenance to reconnecting with clients, to exploring new opportunities for growth, to taking classes for improvement and enrichment. Consider brainstorming some of these questions: What would happen if we had a product that was 180 degrees different from today? (Example: A hospital with low census went from finding ways to get sick people in door to finding ways to get well people in door! They re-created their unused physical space into a wellness center and found lots of takers!) What if we blew up business and started all over? What would we get rid of because it is extraneous, irrelevant or an unnecessary expense? (Example: How many people really READ that report? Does it have to be so immense? What’s bottom line here? ) Have we put people in positions where they play to their strengths? Talk, talk, talk and figure out where is match.
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