HOW TO HANDLE A CRISIS IN THE WORKPLACE
“Life is a crisis. So what!” – Malcom Bradbury. Few of us have found our dream job. Some of us have a work space, the likes of which, dreams are made of. Most of us work, well, we just work. But no matter where you’re working at, at what post you might be working at, without fail, there’s always a crisis at hand! But that’s not the part that should worry you. What should worry you, is not knowing how to get rid of it. What you need to do when you realize the sky is falling is to use these tips to the best of your ability to contain the problem as cleanly and efficiently as possible for the financial planners.
• PROBLEM SOLVING – Problem solving should be made a compulsory subject in college curriculum for business consultants. When a crisis hits you straight in the face, your problem solving technique is put to test. Problem solving is basically understanding what the issue is and finding a way around it, no matter what. Don’t focus on the problem, but focus on trying to find a solution to the problem. If your junior comes to you with a problem, let not the enormity of the crisis rile you up. For every problem, there’s bound to be a few solutions. You may not pick the right one, but pick what works best for you at the moment. Get that crisis out of the way! In their eyes, you’re the superhero they always dreamed of.
• DON’T KEEP IT A SECRET – There’s no shame in letting people know you’re in a crisis. There are a lot of smart people around you and chances are, someone out there knows the answers to your problems. So, the more people know about it, the sooner are your chances of the crisis being managed. No doubt, everyone involved will learn something new in the process. • ACT FAST – Don’t sit to mull over what went wrong. “You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.” – Edwin Louis Cole. If you need that crisis solved, act upon it before it snowballs into something even bigger.
• TIME IS MONEY – Take time to understand the problem at hand. Invest a good amount of time if you wish you come up successful at the end. But also remember, wasting too much time can also be a problem. You don’t want to be caught in between another problem, in the process of solving one. Make a conscious decision to dedicate a certain amount of time to a particular technique. If that fails, move on. Find another.
• STAY POSITIVE AND BE CALM – Nothing solves a problem sooner, than staying positive about it. Your attitude towards a problem determines how fast and how efficiently you overcome it. You need to face the problem head on, with the mindset that you are going to overcome it. Chaos runs rampant in times like these. Remember, you’re not to enter into a race with it. You need to eliminate it altogether, by staying calm and organized.
Albert Einstein said something about the significance of a problem and our level of thinking while solving it as opposed to when we created it. They cannot be at the same level.
For lack of words and a more dramatic finish, you need to rise above the crisis, like a phoenix from the ashes!
