Recessions Provide Growth Opportunities

We Are All In the Same Business: Energy Management 

To be competitive during a recession, we all need to find affordable ways to infuse positive energy into our work environments just to compensate for the brain drain caused by the negative energy generated by an economic downturn. To think clearly, our brain cells need more oxygen, endorphins, and adrenaline that are sapped by the indecision, worrying, laying low, and whining that are so pervasive during recessions.

This is easier said than done, especially if your clients view your team as a resource for the positive energy they desperately need. These days, it doesn’t take much for a team to feel pretty “used up.”

Your team members may not always say how they feel out loud, but your attempts to “cheer up” hard working professionals who feel “used up” may evoke facial expressions that scream:

•  Go away!

• You have got to be kidding!”

• What else do you want from me, anyway?”

• Isn’t it bad enough that I have to put up with so much __@#$%___ from our clients these days and you want me to be HAPPY about it too!!??”

Instead of trying to cheer up your hard working “used up” team, sometimes it helps to convene a meeting to directly discuss the connection between oxygen, endorphins, and adrenaline with clear thinking. Many of the companies on the lists of fastest growing privately held companies have succeeded because “Mind Fuel” meetings led to the reintroduction of company parties, luncheons with guest comedians, training to strengthen improvisational skills, contests, policies to ban sarcasm and whining, or an investment in aerobics or yoga programs. One of my clients invested in training focused in IMPROV to help their sales force think on their feet.

It is Easier to Attract Top Talent

Where are the people who could be choosey about where they work and demand expensive compensation packages? These days, some of those same people feel trapped in jobs stuck behind timid department heads or business owners who have stopped investing and are just waiting for the recession to “blow over.”

Life is not just about money for creative productive people. They crave the opportunity to think, create, be productive, and feel a sense of accomplishment. While their competitors whine about the recession, the fastest growing companies succeed by attracting very talented people because it is clear that their teams are on the move, welcome creativity, and generate opportunity. And recessions provide ample opportunity for all of us to clean house. It’s a great time to let nay-sayers and dead wood go.