At one point you will face adversity. It happens to everyone at some point in their personal or work life and there is no avoiding it. You just need to face it head-on.
When faced with adversity — or a crisis — it’s hard to imagine the experience could eventually lead to growth. Resilience is built from adversity and having that challenge will show you how you can deal with it if it happens again.
The team at Schlomka’s Vac Truck Services in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, learned what they could do when faced with a crisis. As you’ll read in this issue’s profile, the company fell into some hard times in 2016 when they were banking on just one customer and that customer stopped using them.
You’ll read about what happened to Schlomka’s, how they bounced back from that adversity and what it has done for them since then. Spoiler alert, it made the company stronger in the long run.
WHAT YOU LEARN
Fighting through and overcoming a crisis like Schlomka’s faced in 2016 can help build a stronger company because you know what you and your team are capable of. You know what stresses can be handled and what cannot be, and you learn from that.
One of the first things you learn is that you need to go back to the basics. You need to devote your resources to what you are currently doing and what works the most, and not to starting something new. If you need to cut expenses, review your business activities and pare down to what is most needed for the coming months.
When Schlomka faced its crisis, they had to quickly adapt to finding new customers. That might be something you need to do as well. Either reconnect with your current customers or seek out new ones. Communicate with how much you value them.
Working with current or new customers can be tricky. You need to understand that they can be under stress also, so be patient and empathetic with them. The important thing here is to communicate frequently.
RENEWING MOTIVATION
When facing adversity it can also affect the crew that work under you or with you. You need to be aware of that as well and address it if you see it happening.
Layoffs might be needed and it is important to be open and communicate with all employees with things like that need to happen in order to find your way out of the crisis.
Help the employees see the positive impact of what could happen as you come out of the adversity. Make sure the employees know the value of their work and how vital they are in the company making it through the struggle.
This could also be a chance to discover new leaders within the organization. Your company could face new tasks because of the crisis and new project might be needed. Put employees with leadership potential in charge of some of these projects and let them show you what they can do.
WHAT HAS HELPED YOU?
Has your company fought through some adversity or crisis? What did you learn from it and what made your company better? Email me at editor@digdifferent.com and tell me your story.
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