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Did You Know...
During the Great Depression while most businesses were shutting down, Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, kept his workers busy producing machines even while demand was slack. Thanks largely to the resulting inventory of equipment, IBM was ready when opportunity knocked. They landed the "biggest accounting operation of all time" when the Social Security Act of 1935 was passed.
Is your organization ready for the next opportunity?
The economic uncertainties in some parts of the world are having a rippling effect. The reality is that businesses go through cycles. Perhaps some more than others. Times are good. Times aren't so good. When times are good, we seem to count less paper clips, travel everywhere, hold meetings for lots of reasons, attend the best development seminars, and move business mountains with our creative efforts. When we are suddenly faced with a business downturn, spending comes to a screeching halt, often taking with it any real signs of productivity toward achieving the goals that adorn every wall and corridor. A kind of hopelessness often looms over the organization as uncertainty digs deep into our souls of managers and employees alike--- and for a while, plans are frozen in time--- and sometimes so are we.
Why do we so give up so easily?It's the actions and behaviors of the leader during "tough times" that shape the attitudes and actions of a team or an organization. What if we looked at downturns in business as opportunities? What if we used times of adversity as a gift to regroup, re-evaluate, re-create, clean-out, re-organize, re-consider possibilities, re-dedicate ourselves to creatively overcome the obstacles that have been placed in the path --- activating our initiative, intuition, creativity, and brainpower as a replacement for money? What if we picked one or two priorities to pour our hearts into? With so many things to be done in our businesses (and communities), it's not hard to imagine that any organization faced with a business downturn , could chose to channel new energy into some highly productive endeavor that might lead to an important contribution that could reshape their future. At the same time, the DOING has a revitalizing effect on people --- and always comes with some significant learning and benefit.
What CAN be done?
Bring your team in on the dialogue. Don't think you have to have all the ideas. Help your team help themselves by letting them figure out what they could do to plan for the future or make a difference in some way.What you can do is figure out what resources can be spared. Then let them have the uplifting job of figuring out what to do.
Copyright 1995-2006 Leadership Solutions Publishing
Putting Ideas Into Action
· Be dissatisfied
· Map out your plans
· Take a whack at it
· Get rid of excuses
· Have something at stake
· Get support
· Sell, sell, sell
· Be courageous
· Give yourself a deadline
· Be persistent
Roger von Oech, Author
A Whack on the Side of the Head
Breakthrough!® Everything You Need to Start A Solution Revolution
ISBN: 0965767795
$ 30.00
by Debbe Kennedy