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Leading in adversity

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons or the wind, but you can change yourself.” (Jim Rohn)

A business downturn is inevitable. Periods of growth are always punctuated by periods of stagnation or decline. This can occur in an economy, an industry, region or simply for a single business. Major customers can leave, disappear or refuse to pay; your brand can be damaged, fairly or unfairly, by ignorance or malice. Mistakes or unforeseen sequences of events can conspire to create adversity.
There is, however, a much more positive aspect: both downturns and even the prospect of downturns can strengthen your business.

This toolkit explains how to survive and pull out of a downturn.

Length: 16 pages

Contents

The Benefits

Action Checklist: Surviving a Downturn
• Take personal responsibility for ensuring survival
• Adopt the right mindset
• Develop commercial awareness: use knowledge and information
• Recognise that revolutions fail, flywheels succeed
• Confront the brutal facts
• Develop a culture of discipline
• Differentiate between hygiene factors and the business idea
• Get the business idea right
• Manage the firm’s hygiene factors
• Find, agree and implement the best strategy

Avoiding Problems – this includes avoiding potential pitfalls and making sure that the organization avoids ‘business as usual’ thinking and active inertia, as well as ensuring that the recovery goes well.

Dos and Don’ts

Key Questions

Things You Can Do
• Develop creativity and innovation
• Boost profitability
• Increase sales revenue
• Manage risk
• Control costs
• Monitor sales and customer issues
• Manage your cash
• Seize commercial opportunities
• Develop people’s skills
• Establish a compelling vision

Key Questions: Are You Facing a Downturn?

Further Action