Prepare for Better Days Ahead By David Reed

Prepare for Better Days Ahead
By David Reed

What do we do now? With the “slow down” in the economy that some are predicting, unfortunately, many of you may find yourselves in one of three positions:

1. Gone and looking. You were “selected” to be part of a downsizing program at your employer and find yourself looking for your next opportunity.

2. Holding on. You work for a company that has seen a decline in orders or business, yet your organization is fortunate enough to be able to hold on to the employees.

3. Hold down the fort. The company you work for forecasted a reduction in revenue and implemented a staff reduction program. You are one of the employees left to continue getting the job done and you have more work to do than can be done in a day.

If you are in the third category, there was a word for you in the recent article “Preparing for a Recession” in the March 25, 2008, issue of this newsletter. If you are in the first two groups, this article is for you.

Many of us have been blessed to be working in industries that have enjoyed a long run of steady business. You may even have been quoted as saying: “Boy! I am ready for a break. When is it going to slow down around here?” Even though no one would like as significant of a slowdown as some people are predicting, we all enjoy those momentary periods to catch our breath.

No one feels that an economic recession or slow period will last forever. We all realize that it is part of a normal cycle of business. In most industries, when customers stop spending money, their needs or demands for services don’t go away, they are just delayed in placing the order or starting the project. Eventually, the sun will come out and the accountants open the purse strings and the orders start to flow.

So what can we be doing during this slow period to prepare for this coming age of new opportunities and increased business? If you are in the “Gone and Looking” category you should be doing two things in equal proportion:

1. Looking for work. Unless you are independently wealthy, we all will eventually need another paycheck. Start immediately working your network and looking for employers that are still hiring new talent. Resist that temptation to say: “I’m going to take some time off and then get started on the job hunt.” The hiring process can take months for some companies to work you through their pipeline.

Don’t be afraid to look in new directions. This may be God’s way of pushing you out of your nest and into a direction that is brighter than you could have imagined.

2. Improving your skills. With the electronic age, there are opportunities around every corner to obtain training and broaden your set of skills. For example, the Ziglar Vault is a very cost effective way to harness the knowledge of many others and build your value to a future employer. Spend at least half of your day reading a book or magazine, completing online training, or some other method of making you a more marketable and qualified candidate in the job market.


If you are in the “Holding On” group, take this opportunity to do the following:

1. Cross train. Just because you are fortunate to be working for a company that has the financial backing to ride out a decline in revenue, you are not guaranteed that in the future you will never have to be part of a cutback and pick up tasks previously performed by your co-workers.

If you are in a leadership position, the more you can cross train your workforce and reduce the holes in your corporate knowledge base, the better prepared you will be if you lose a key employee. Look for those areas where you have a single point of knowledge and assign someone else to shadow them and document what they do on a daily and monthly basis.

2. Train your staff. Unfortunately, it never seems that there is a good time to invest the time and financial resources to provide the needed training for your staff. A slow period of business is the perfect time to conduct the training classes you have been putting off because everyone was too busy to be away from their daily jobs.

You should view this period in the business cycle just as a sports team does the off season. They use the time when they are not competing to refresh and build skills. Rarely will you see a high performing professional athlete just sitting around during this time. They are in the gym or working out in their particular sport to help them prepare for that opening day. Once the season begins, it is difficult to do some of the re-tooling and sharpening of skills.

Are you doing everything you can to be ready for that “opening day” when the customers start calling and your products are again in high demand? Use this time wisely!

David Reed is the Founder of Customer Centered Consulting Group, which works with organizations of all sizes to improve their effectiveness through enhanced customer service, strong leadership, and simplified processes.