As a sales trainer, I talk to many presidents owners, and CEOs. Over the past few years, I have noticed a huge jump in the number of conversations that included a frank discussion about fear and anxiety. The owners feel it, their people feel it and they are afraid that their clients feel it. The short-term impact of COVID-19 has turned into a never-ending saga of weird economic conditions. It feels like a loss of momentum - that we are in a perpetual "hang on" mode.
The problem is businesses cannot afford to be in “hang on mode” or “to simply sit and wait to see what happens.” We have employees and suppliers that expect us to deliver results, hit goals, and meet targets. We need momentum. If we have we need to keep it. If we don’t have it, we need to find it.
So how do we find momentum? Where do we go to shake this malaise? What can we start doing that will relieve the stress and deliver the results our businesses need so very badly?
The start is looking in the right place - the mirror.
First, let’s get rid of the platitudes, this is not going away if you stay safe and exercise self-care with a heap of compassion and gratitude. Not that those are not important, but fear is the mind-killer. As humans, we have evolved to handle short intermittent feelings of terror with chemical reactions that help us survive short-term dangerous crises. We hoped we were dealing with a bump in the road instead we are handling a chronic problem.
These long-term problems put us in a position to make poor decisions and to be frustrated with conditions do not rapidly change in our favor.
So what is the solution? To start, you must identify what you want to accomplish. Second, you must decide what you can and are willing to control to solve that problem. Finally, you must learn to do what you can with what you have and leave the rest for someone else to worry about. Eventually, the crisis ends, the danger passes, and we will all emerge to realize the market kept evolving and changing no matter how much we love the way it was.
So you can start to fight the battle by painting a picture of the victory you want to win. Next, lay out the steps in the process you have to execute. Finally, get busy doing the work required to experience the outcome you want to see.
This will not be easy, it will make many of us uncomfortable. Most importantly it will be a test of our ability to pursue our personal goals regardless of what we think or feel. Not sure how to do that, Send me a email matt.nettleton@sandler.com or call 317-695-8549.