Ways to Turn Company Struggles into Growth Opportunities
When a company is struggling, everyone feels it. Employees feel financially insecure and leaders second guess everything. Getting to the other side of hard takes strong leadership, teamwork, and the ability to embrace change. Here are ways to turn company struggles into growth opportunities.
Company Struggles are Leadership Opportunities
A struggling company means that the status quo is not working. And it is up to leaders to know when to stop business as usual and pivot their team to something new. “Your job is to lead your people into the future, not to stay stuck in the present. Your focus is not on business as usual, but business as it could be,” says Julie Benezet, Chief Executive.
To determine business as it could be, leaders must be willing to embrace change. This may involve an industry shift, an update in technology, or taking the business in a new direction. Instead of fearing these changes, savvy entrepreneurs should view them as chances to adapt and evolve. Take the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, which disrupted industry worldwide. The companies who adapted their business models and successfully worked remotely found new ways to connect to customers.
Company Struggles are Team Growth Opportunities
A period of downturn means it is time for a team to step up in a big way and come together. Now is the time to pull a team’s collective talents and networks and fight through the tough environment as one.
Rather than place blame, the team should understand management’s challenges and respect the need for the business’s viability. The team should work together to think outside the box, even if it means proposing tough cost-cutting measures. Every team member should be proactive in researching and leveraging industry relationships. Collaborating with other people can offer valuable insights that may help navigate the downturn.
Communication is important, especially when a frustrated team is uncomfortable about the future. Former CEO of IBM, Ginny Rometty, says, “Someone once told me growth and comfort do not coexist. And I think it’s a really good thing to remember.”
Strong teams need to push positivity and keep morale up rather than wither and become complacent. Leaders can model perseverance and positivity, but team members also have to demonstrate resilience.
Company Struggles are the Opportunity to Redefine a Business
Redefine means to change the meaning of something or to make people think about something in a new or different way. A time of company struggle is the perfect time to step back and look at the big picture. What part of the business is the most successful? What are the business’s core principles and values? How can everyone on the team come together to identify what needs to change and how a new normal could look. “If you’re facing cost cuts or severe economic headwinds, let your team into the conversation and engage them in identifying ways to make the hard decisions, ” says Ron Carucci of Harvard Business Review. “I’ve seen this done multiple times, and the team is always harder on themselves than you might ever be, but they almost always find creative ways to save jobs while hitting cost targets.”
In hard times, companies should focus on their “why.” What is innovative about our company and why do our customers support us? “Stay focused on your goals and the “why” behind your business. Remind yourself of why you started the business in the first place and keep that motivation alive,” says Rachel Beider, Press Modern Massage.
Challenges in life and in business are opportunities to be seized. The recruiters at Artemis Consultants understand life’s pivots and help companies and job seekers grow.
-Written exclusively for Artemis Consultants by Business Content Writer Mellody Melville
