Business has faced into some unprecedented challenges over the last year. A strained and nervous economy has not helped with people and business tightening their hip pockets and really thinking about where they spend their money.
This in turn of course makes business leaders very nervous. I’ve spoken with many who have cut staff, reduced their hours, stopped training and marketing activities and generally battened down the hatches.
A good strategy maybe for the short term but as one of my associates found out, things can turn again very quickly. When a major project came through they were under resourced because they had let key staff go due to short-term thinking. They then faced into a range of different problems and were at risk of damaging their brand, as they may not be able to fulfil the obligations of the project to expectations.
Uncertainty, fear, challenge and pressure can force people into short-term thinking. How do we survive now? How do we ride this storm now?
The key during uncertainty and challenge is to keep true to your vision, revisit your plan. Look for how you may be able to do things differently to create better results. And think for the long term also.
Have contingencies in place. Never ever rely on one plan; always have a plan b and even a plan c & d! If you did your planning and goal setting effectively, you will have these in place. If you don’t have these plans, now is a great time to get these established.
Short-term thinking did not save the day for my associate. It created many more significant problems for them that could have been avoided if they had thought for the long term also.