Management Secrets by Mary Elston

“Hang onto your seat, you’re in for a rough ride!” This isn’t something you want to hear as you’re taxiing down the runway for a long flight or overhear the boss saying as you head into a four hour meeting. No matter how cool you are under pressure most of us react to moments like this in only one way: stress. Now shift your thinking to how you handle market stress as a manager. That’s our focus in my current blog series … managing economic stress and three typical reactions – freeze, freak or fight. Are you cool under tough market pressure or do you go to the other extreme when stress is staring you in the face? With my first blog entry a couple weeks ago we looked at the “freeze” response and how freezing in your tracks and doing nothing in a tough market can be good and bad. Check out my blog installment right below this one for the details.

Today we’re moving on to the second stress response: freak. This is a good stress reaction when you’re running away from a tornado or burning building. Smart move. Freaking out – similar to the stress reaction of “flight” — is not the recommended stress response however when managing your business or group. If you’re a freaked out manager you may be a victim of a natural disaster, you’ve been disconnected too long, had too much caffeine or you’re in over your head. If there is a good side to freaking out it is recognizing the need to make decisions which could save your business. Freaking out usually catapults you into reactionary decision making — good or bad –such as drastic changes in your product and service mix, downsizing employees and space, or even bankruptcy. Whether freaking out is a good stress reaction is all about timing. How long had negative conditions been brewing before you reached a key managerial conclusion? You already know why freaking out is a bad stress reaction when it comes to management tactics. If you had been consistently managing your flanks you likely wouldn’t be freaked out in the first place.

Have you previously managed your way through difficult market conditions by freaking out? Don’t get sucked into this often detrimental reaction to stress. Stay on top of your management responsibilities by communicating with your team and regularly taking the pulse of where you are — successes, failures, revenue, costs, trends, projections, strategies for staying ahead of the curve and more. Looking the other way now and freaking out later isn’t going to make your market stress magically disappear but you’d be surprised how many managers think it will.

It you don’t freeze or freak when confronted with stress in the market place, how do you manage your way through it? More than likely you “fight” – our third stress response option. We’ll dive into the “fight” alternative in my next installment. Until then – feeling stressed? Make a note as to how you are managing your stressful situation or drop me a line with your story. It’s great to hear from you. See you in a couple of weeks.*

*excerpted in part and reprinted from Mary Elston management column with permission from Soundings Publications, LLC.