Is the sky getting darker or lighter?
As the global and U.S. economies teeter on the brink of God knows what, sales people are losing jobs in growing numbers. And those who haven’t lost their jobs yet are wondering what they’ll do next if the axe falls on them.
It’s a defensive frame of mind. Some portion of your attention is focused on making sure you do so well in your current job that your company would be crazy to let you go. The rest is focused on finding a soft place to land if they do.
Anxiety makes it hard for you to succeed at either.
Don’t think your management won’t drop you the second they think the benefits of getting rid of you outweigh those of keeping you.
Surviving a corporate “reduction in force” isn’t always about individual performance. It can also be about age, timing, seniority, pipeline, politics, the viability of the business, availability of cash, the mindset of investors, and many other factors – many beyond your control.
A company where I used to work once let go of some very capable 30-something sales people because they didn’t want to risk an age- discrimination suit for letting go of too many 40- and 50-somethings who may have cost more and contributed less.
Another company I work with recently let go of a sales person with a $6 million pipeline because he told them honestly he didn’t think his deals would all close in the next two quarters. His managers needed to cut headcount now, and they spared only the people who had opportunities that would bring immediate revenue.
Other factors were also at work, I’m sure. This guy lived far from headquarters and wasn’t plugged in politically. Nobody stepped forward to save him.
Of the half-dozen sales people I know who are looking for work, all hope to find something just like what they’ve been doing till now: same kind of job, same industry, same kinds of products, same size of employer, same compensation plan, selling to the same network of contacts.
That makes great sense if they can pull it off. It would be the path of least resistance and maybe of greatest personal reward. But they may be whistling past the graveyard.
No one knows if we’ll be coming out of this recession toward the end of 2009. Some economist say we could be headed into a longer period of stagnation (like Japan in the 1990s) or even a full-blown depression. A lot will depend on how the stimulus package works through the U.S. economy.
Are you willing to bet your livelihood and your family’s security that everything’s going to be OK before it gets much worse?
I’m not.
In periods of great uncertainty, the surest thing you can bet on is yourself. Not the economy, not the government, not companies, not your personal network.
Ultimately, your ability to thrive in any environment will depend on how you use your wits, talents, abilities and strengths. You may have to be more adaptable and street-smart than ever before. So why not start preparing for that possibility right now?
What have you got to lose if you later find out you didn’t have to make yourself fitter, better and more flexible? Will you regret the effort you invested in making yourself stronger when you could have been lazier?
What have you done lately to sharpen your wits, assess your strengths, enhance your abilities, and hone your edge?
Is it possible you’ve let yourself fly a little too long on autopilot? Are you ready to take over the manual controls, to use your own abilities to get yourself and your loved ones through the turbulence we face individually and as a nation?
Many of us who have lived in privilege for decades have grown so bloated and complacent that we can barely imagine how much leaner and more agile we could be.
If you can’t think of specific actions you’ve taken in the past six months – reading you’ve completed, coaching you’ve sought, personal assessments you’ve made, research you’ve conducted, fitness or health regimens you’ve undertaken, networking you’ve done, seminars you’ve attended, skills you’ve learned or refined — make it a high priority to plan such actions for yourself now.
If this post strikes a chord, please share anything you’ve done or intend to do to make yourself more ready for whatever the future may hold.
More on this next time.
Stay fresh.
– Scott Silverback