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Wouldn’t it be great to have a crystal ball so you could see into the future of your business? While there is no such crystal ball, there are things you can do to prepare for what the future may bring and to navigate your business through difficult times.
Gail and Erin offer three pieces of advice on how to get through a crisis:
- Have Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs).
- The faster you make decisions, the better it’s going to be.
- Focus on doing some major thinking and make some big moves in your business.
In today’s episode, Gail and Erin talk about the lessons they’ve learned from dealing with the many ups and downs they’ve experienced in their 15 years of business together. Think of it as a survival guide for your business.
All businesses go through cycles of good and not-so-good periods. You can’t always know how a not-so-good period will play out, but you can be prepared by envisioning multiple possible scenarios and planning how to respond to them. Gail and Erin discuss the process they’ve developed and how they’ve modified it during the current health crisis to keep pace with the constantly fluctuating business environment.
When we encounter major difficulties in our lives or businesses, it’s like being hit by a tsunami of grief and anxiety. We can feel overwhelmed, lose our sense of direction, and freeze up. Seek out tools, guidance and support to help you get refocused and moving forward again.
You have to draw on all your strengths to push through the difficult times. “It can be scary,” observes Erin. Nonetheless, says Gail, “You need to embrace the scary” and work through it. Reframe challenges as opportunities. Gail cited organizational psychologist Dr. Benjamin Hardy, author of How to Consciously Design Your Ideal Future and other books: “Things happen for us, not just to us.” We can choose how we respond to adversity.
Gail describes the attributes of what it takes personally to get through difficult times. Erin speaks further about what you need to do as a leader to help your team get unstuck and move past obstacles that are impeding their performance.
Listen to the podcast to hear more about why these can be game-changers for your business in difficult times.
Mentioned in this Podcast
You can find out more about Dr. Benjamin Hardy and his writings on achieving your ideal self at benjaminhardy.com.
Gail mentioned grit as one of the attributes needed to get through difficult times. You’ll find a useful Q&A about what it means to have grit at the website of Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, at angeladuckworth.com/qa/.