How to Maintain Your Company's Health During Challenging Times

In the last couple of years, businesses have been inundated with a lot of issues that they did not cause, nor do they have direct control over, such as The Great Resignation, residual pandemic issues, supply chain issues, a very different work force, and a looming recession, just to name a few. A lot of business owners and leaders wonder how they can hold their ground and keep their business healthy. How can they hang on and still succeed in this environment?

One thing that an experienced business leader knows is that there have been previous periods of time that have had many challenges. They have been through recessions, some rather deep and long. They have been through periods of inflation and stagflation, and they know that whatever the challenges are that they are facing will pass. At some point in time, there will be a lot of options for supply chain issues, or a more engaged work force will become available. Hopefully, inflation will become more in line with what the Federal Reserve Bank's target of 2 percent as well. The leader that knows challenges come and go “in their gut” has confidence moving toward a successful future for their businesses.

Starting from this point of confidence is important, because then the business owner needs to be especially focused. They need to refresh their vision for the business and their strategic plans, taking into account their five largest challenges that they now face in their businesses. The confidence that they feel should be transferred to their management team, along with the updated vision and strategic plans.

A plan would look something like this:

The five largest challenges will be assigned to different members of the management team to come forward with various potential solutions. The team will meet again and decide on the best of the solutions for these challenges. The solutions will be divided into steps, which will again be assigned to various members of the management team. The business owner or leader will meet every week at the same time for a set limited amount of time with the management team to keep everyone focused on the goals. The managers will come into the meeting with the data to show how the company did on various metrics that are essential to the success of the business. The managers need to be accountable for their part of the equation toward the success of the business. If there are issues that turn up each week that impact the goal, they will be addressed at the meeting.

Now that the business owner has the management team engaged and they are still excited about the future, that same management team needs to take their part and meet with the members of their team. If, for instance, that manager is a sales manager or VP of Sales, that sales manager needs to meet once per week with the sales team to set the goals of the sales department and those of each member of the sales team. The sales team needs to come to the weekly meeting with metrics of what was done. If there are issues where the metrics do no meet goals set, the issues can be addressed at those weekly meetings to maximize the success of the entire sales team.

The successful business owner or leader, especially in these trying times, must focus, focus, and focus. What their time and attention stays on tends to expand, resulting in more success in the business, which is greatly needed during times like these.

Businesses despite challenging times can be successful. Too many times, the business owner or leader thinks that they must carry the weight of that success themselves, or they don't connect with the team to make sure that the successes do happen. The adage remains true—If you don't plan well, you are planning to fail. Instead, plan and then implement your plan for success. You will find that when you set up a schedule, make your expectations clear, get input from your top team members, and allow yourself the time to focus on working through the issues effecting your business, you will open opportunities you may not have been aware of, make changes that can benefit your business, and find solutions to issues you may have thought couldn't be solved. Be confident, plan, and remember – your customers still need what you sell, even in these challenging times!

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Denice Gierach

Gierach Law Firm

Denice Gierach is an attorney, CPA, Northwestern University business master's graduate, and has owned several businesses from real estate to manufacturing. She is the lead attorney at Gierach Law Firm in the Chicago area. With more than 30 years of experience, she has been a respected and sought-after resource for businesses looking to grow, sell, solve problems, and succeed long term. Her insights across business areas gives a fuller lens to business issues and solutions, and helps businesses grow and succeed with less time spent on legal issues and other time-consuming problems.

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