Tolerance Is A Virtue

Only You Need To Lead The Way!

Sometimes business explodes, sometimes it flattens out.  These are things that happen to all business leaders.  In baseball, we call a slow down a slump.  Sometimes hitters get into a slump.  For whatever reason they cannot seem to buy a hit during their slump.  They begin trying all kinds of extra things, twists, adjustments and modifications to their batting swing to try and get out of their hitting slump.  Sometimes it does not matter how hard they try.  The slump remains.  That is just how it goes once in awhile.  Then, as if by magic the slump disappears.  They beginning hitting the ball well again.  The slump is over.  Business leaders witness this very same thing.  They get into a business slump once in awhile.

Who knows where these slumps come from but they are real.  They do appear once in awhile.  They come into the play of every business model.  Sooner or later a slump comes to life.  Sales volume slows, problems seem to increase, needs spread out and challenges mount up.  Slumps in business often show up when we least expect them to appear.  They come when they seem to be the least needed.  I cannot think of any good time to have a business slump, but most of the business slumps I have witnessed have appeared during times when my business model could least afford them.  Business slumps seem to appear when the cash flow was the lowest.  This is a very trying thing to manage.

How do the leaders of business deal with this kind of challenge?  How do we bring our business model out of a business slump?  Can the leaders do anything to help relieve the slump of its control?  I have watched great baseball players try almost everything to get out of a hitting slump, and fail.  I have witnessed great business leaders do the very same thing.  They try everything to get out of the business slump their business model is experiencing.  Nothing seems to work well.  I have witnessed this effect and have lived through it several times in my business career.  Sometimes the slump wins.  Sometimes it finds a way to stick around for awhile.  No business magic seems to help get rid of it.  Try everything under the kitchen sink and the slump seems to still persist.  I have seen this effect happen.  Some of you business leaders might be right in the middle of a terrible slump right now.  It happens.

First of all, recognize that business slumps happen.  They do appear once in awhile and sometimes they appear without warning.  All of the sudden, the sales and customers disappear.  The sales activities become slow and slower.  The volume dries up and the revenues slow down.  The bills seem to increase during these periods of time.  The costs seem to mount up larger than normal during a business slump.  The relationships among the staff seem to tighten up during a business slump.  Personnel turf battles seem to come out of the closets during a business slump.  Common challenges seem much taller during a business slump.  Anxiety and stress seem to increase during a business slump.  Simple stuff becomes hard to do.  Business slumps do not play fair.

There are three things that every business owner should do when they notice a business slump has arrived.  First of all, do not worry about them.  Do not become too wrapped up with the components of unknowns at the first sight of their appearance.  Stay cool and calm as the business slump raises it head.  Second of all, get busy with determining what may have caused the slump.  Begin searching for logical and truthful business patterns that could be contributing to the growing slump.  Try not to avoid investigating some of the things you may have changed.  Be strong enough to ask your customers, your staff and your associates the effective questions you need to ask to determine where the best repairs can take place.  Do not try to pretend you know the solutions.  You are in a slump because you did not see it coming.  That is easy to see that you did not know what to do to prevent it.  You cannot pretend you way out of a slump.  And finally, begin working on some things that will help your business model improve the down turn of this slump.  Start making some real adjustments.  Become smart, respectful and effective with the business choices you make.

These three things will help you find your way back out of a business slump...do not worry, investigate why and begin treatment.  This is what a good business leader will do.  They will remain calm, find out what needs to be effectively done and start making the right kinds of necessary changes.  They will begin their work to eliminate the size and length of a business slump.  Oh, by the way, one more thing I might add...all of these efforts may not actually work!

They Are Counting On You To Fix The Slump

I have watched baseball hitters change the way they grip the bat to help them hit the ball better during a hitting slump.  I have seen them use superstitious ways to try and help them become good hitters again.  I have seen baseball players lie about the things they are doing wrong with their swing.  I have seen them lose their cool and throw their helmets, their gloves and their bats at the ground trying to get over the fact that they are living in the middle of a hitting slump.  Business leaders do the very same thing.  They get short with their patience, they get sharp with their tongue and they lose their temper when they cannot afford to lose their leadership.  Slumps can kill good a good leadership pattern.

We know what the immediate effect a business slump has on the checkbook.  The money does not lie very much.  It is what it is and when it isn't...it is noticeable.  Business slumps hurt the checkbook.  The profit and loss statements begin to fall apart when the business begins to slump in volume.  Business leaders feel this pinch and begin to stress out a little bit.  The leaders with the weakest personal skills will lose their cool the quickest.  Those who lose their cool will discover new problems they must deal with in the coming days and months.  A leader who loses their cool during tough times is a leader who will suffer with respect from the team players they need.  It can become a very nasty thing to manage.

Of the three things suggested to do when a business slump occurs described on page one of this post, losing your cool is not one of them.  Stay away from losing your cool, at all costs.  Remain calm...even in the worst slumping winds.  Remain calm.  Tolerance is a virtue.  Learn how to build it big.

Most very successful business leaders have a lot of wonderful abilities to handle great levels of personal tolerance for business patterns of down cycles.  This does not mean they like or permit down cycles to dominate their lives.  Great business leaders do all that they can to avoid downward business cycles.  However, they also recognize that down cycles are just another reality of the business game.  They will not be caught allowing those kinds of realities to dominate how they respond.  Great business leaders will remain completely under control during the toughest of economic times.  Great business leaders handle stress and challenges with grace and intelligence.  They are thankful for the little business they are receiving and work on new and improved ways for growing that activity.  Great leaders tend to do the better stuff when their business model is under water.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  This is the traditional mark of the better business leaders.  They have a way with tolerance.

I have worked for many business leaders in my 40 year career.  The ones with the shortest personal fuse of tolerance were always the ones who had the worst set of long term results.  Always.  When I think back at how each of those business leaders turned out in the end with regard to their business success, the ones with the most tolerance for pressure were the ones with the largest business returns.  The success of the business model always paralleled the level of tolerance for pressure those business leaders performed.  Good tolerance, good results.  Bad tolerance, bad results.  Every single time.  The pattern can be colored with crayons very perfectly by a child of five in a simple drawing.  Bad tolerance does not help a slumping business model.  All it produces is a leader who will throw down their helmet every time they strike out.  That is not the solution for fixing a hitting slump.  Get it together when a slump comes around and go find your way swinging extra cuts in the batting cage.  Stay calm while you work it out.  Business cycles are real and they happen.  They also happen to the best of them.   Tolerance is a virtue.

Become a seasoned business leader.  Learn how to develop the personal skills that can match the best of them with tolerance factors during stressful times.  Get good at managing slumps.  The best managed slumps may be the secret to doing well.  Get very good at managing them.  Become recognized as a leader who can lead others through a violent storm without wearing a single scratch.  Learn how to navigate the troubled waters that every single business model will eventually face.  Get good at managing the downward slumps that will and do appear.  Remain calm when those slumps arrive.  Become accountable when the going gets tough.  Develop stronger personal skills.  If your followers see you throw the bat when you get frustrated, they will immediately know they have the wrong leader.  Tolerance is a virtue.

Until next time...