Dealing with tough times

There is a lot of noise in the market about dealing with the 'new economic reality'. In the workplace there a lot of people who are worried and anxious about the future.

Personally I welcome the 'new economic reality'. It is a return to sanity. Someone once said, 'Life is tough, 3 out of 3 people die, so shut up and deal with it'. Or to put it it another way, even if we are going through tough economic times, must I whine and complain going through it?

The key is not to let the constant economic gloom perpetuated in the media overwhelm clear thinking. Business wise and personally I believe that there are three reactions we must avoid:

1. Rabbit in the Headlight syndrome - negative news overwhelms and causes us to 'freeze'.
2. The frantic action syndrome - the fire, ready, aim approach, being busy, chasing every 'opportunity' that moves.
3. Famine mentality - turning on each other, building individual survival positions, taking care of number one and not working as a team to pull through.

The answer is radical. Slow down. Think first. Get strategic and bring your team with you. Of course we can take advantage of easy opportunities for new business that come our way, however short termism has a short shelf life.

This is a great environment to really assess ourselves - are we in the right business? Are we doing the right things? How should we be positioned in the market? What should we look like as an organisation?