5 Steps to Curb Panic and Continue Growth

I have talked to business owners about this many times with various responses. Some are open to a logical process and some are very resistant. I have started to wonder why.?

I have a theory based on observations, they are panicking and catastrophising…

Catastrophising is a mental habit that involves predicting the worst possible outcome in a situation.?

Catastrophising can manifest in two ways:

• Magnification: Making a catastrophe out of a current situation?
• Future catastrophising: Imagining the worst possible outcome of a future? event (based on the current situation).

Working on it, not in it

So why is spending a day in a room writing stuff down going to help? (said the cynical, panicked CEO)… Because it gives you time for reasoning, thinking about things in a logical, sensible way. Working on the business and not in it.

If you use a robust process for analysing a businesses current situation, and then projecting forward you can ‘reason away the shitstorm’, that you have been brewing in your mind… where you have compounded every daily issue into a massive pile that is now blocking any view of a bright future.

I have witnessed this happening, which is why I am writing this.?

When you are panicking, you tend to look at things on the surface, you see a problem staring back, and usually fail to look at the root cause… you solve temporarily and of course the problem comes back.

Note: If you are talking about the same thing for a few months, you’re probably doing this.

?

The Business Fear Cycle

Contributors to this cycle are things like tactical thinking. A problem appears (as they do continuously in business), you solve it with a short term mindset… it comes back, and is added to the next problem… as they pile up… fear comes along, fear can kill growth. If you keep doing the same things, you'll keep getting the same results.

Leadership?

Leadership is all about decision-making, problem-solving, and managing resources. All of these require a level of emotional intelligence and self-control. Panic is the opposite of these qualities; it can make people reactive instead of proactive and impulsive instead of thoughtful. Leaders who panic in crisis situations often make hasty decisions that are not fully thought out or considered, and these decisions can have severe consequences for the organisation and its stakeholders. So what do we do? Here's an idea:

A 5-step Process

1. Get out of the business for at least a day.
2. Have a framework that will allow you to logically go through and assess your current situation.
3. Know your BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and keep it in mind, it is 'success'.
4. Assess the current situation writing down all the barriers to success.
5. Raise barriers one at a time, write down all potential solutions to them, think laterally (come at them from different angles), be bold and brave on paper it's cheaper!

Some things may be raised easily and some may be more longterm issues, some will be within your current capabilities and capacity, some will require help, some will be affordable, some will require capital.

This will cost you 1 day and may repay you for years.

Whatever the outcome, it will be there in front of you, written logically, in a way that can be prioritised, organised and tackled… not kicked down the road into the shit pile, becoming another excuse not to grow.?

You will be able to see the bottlenecks, the areas where you lack finances, skills… even sit for a whole hour just thinking about solutions, you might even enjoy yourself.

You may see a reality where the business cannot grow any further or has no future, because of a lack of resources (human, financial)… better you know sooner rather than later, and if you choose to walk away, you can do so with the knowledge that it was the right decision, made logically, fully explored, no regrets.

So why doesn’t everyone do this?

I am not entirely sure to be honest, it may be ego, no one wants to think of themselves as being the person who panics under pressure, or is afraid of things, especially when you are supposed to be leading. As Ryan Holiday put it in Ego is the Enemy:

It blocks us from improving by telling us that we don’t need to improve. Then we wonder why we don’t get the results we want, why others are better and why their success is more lasting.

Whatever the cause, what I am sure of, is the solution... reasoned choice.

Note: There are many internal business analysis frameworks out there (McKinsey 7s, SWOT, Balanced Scorecard, Value Chain Analysis, Business Canvas) that will allow you to logically work through each area of the business and identify where the blockers/barriers to growth lie. Have a look through them and work with the one or two you are most comfortable with… or hire someone to help walk you through it.?