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As an executive coach and business owner, I know balancing everything in today’s economy can be hard. Unfortunately, you can’t hit a pause button when leading an organization. We must find a way to win despite the odds. Here are a few tips to help keep you on track and in control.

Leading in a Turbulent Economy

First, let’s be clear about one thing: just because it feels like the sky is falling, it doesn’t mean you have to be buried by it. As a leader, you’ve got to slap on your superhero hat and create a way to make it through the difficult times for your team, business, and personal life. Here’s the thing:

Whether you’re a business leader or manager, your job is to lead, grow and develop your team during all economic times. Great coaching and stellar leadership are absolutely vital in today’s uncontrollable market. And, unlike the economy, they’re under your control!

Here’s where you need to apply logical thinking by strategizing new ideas that are outside the box. To borrow from the greatest sport on Earth, football (don’t even try to argue it!), you can’t play defense and expect to win. As business leaders, playing defense shifts the focus from growing the organization to protecting the organization.

Let me borrow from my book, The Sales Leader’s Gameplan, by comparing two strategies. One is playing not to lose and the other is playing to win.

Playing Not to Lose? Lead With Poor Players

Applying this mentality typically means focusing on short-term fixes against long-term gains. One example is tolerating bad performances due to a hiring freeze. It flounders on the belief that a bad body is better than no body.

In theory, 50 percent is better than zero percent; however, the truth is, this process always costs the organization — especially the top-performing sales professionals — because it sends a message that low performance is acceptable during a hiring freeze. I don’t need to point out the obvious — this is the worst time to encourage low performance.

In the long run, this strategy will slash production and decrease revenue. This will also take a toll on your morale and workload, you’ll constantly have to follow up, take over work and babysit these poor performers. That’s an unnecessary and punishing distraction.

Playing to Win? Lead With Strong Players

This mentality means not tolerating anything that will potentially hurt the organization in the long-term. Let’s go back to the bad performance example. In this case the leader believes having no body is always better than having a bad body. Hear me out.

A leader must never lower his or her standards or expectations based on the financial restrictions of the organization.

Increased profitability is only possible with strong performers. It’s also far less distracting (and stressful) for the leader. You can put your energy into strategy as opposed to filling gaps — even if you run a plumbing business.

As a leader, applying this strategy will justify hiring a new highly qualified team member that will actively contribute to increasing profits beyond the current rate. Or, worst case scenario, maintain profits until the control of market returns. Either way, it is a win-win. To control profits, a leader must control the team’s environment.

Final Thoughts

When you lead a business in any sector, controlling your profit margin in an uncontrollable market is never easy but it is possible through focus and team control. When you’re a great leader, controlling the profits of your team requires hard work and proactive play-to-win decisions.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].