I see the crisis as a tipping point, a point of turning, beyond which things are no longer as they used to be. Beyond that point there usually comes a difficult, confusing period. We go adrift, and then, if we have the ability to pull ourselves up, to think in cold blood, to reposition ourselves, we can even have benefits. Einstein seems to have said we can not solve a problem using the same way of thinking that led us into the problem in the first place. The same is true of the crisis.

What everyone understands of the crisis and how everyone understands to handle it, both depend on experience, knowledge, and skills.

We / I have had many crisis situations in our / my 26 years of activity. One of them occurred some years ago when, just before Christmas, we found out that we would start several courses in January. I did not have so many employees at that time. On the 4th or 5th of January, I was supposed to have three new trainers to send to our client. There were no freelancers, or I did not know about them. I was lucky enough to find final-year university students between Christmas and New Year’s. They came to Train the Trainer courses on the 3rd and  4th of January and they were able to deliver the courses quickly afterward. I asked the client for a week of delay, nevertheless.

If I look back, I can say I seriously panicked at the time – but, at the same time, I also had a lot of confidence that I could do everything I needed to. This kind of attitude has helped me many times.

With time, I think it has diminished – I have learned more, I am more careful, more cautious, many times.

This was a “positive crisis” – if I can say that. However, there have also been much more difficult situations – related both to financial aspects and to people.

What I think has remained the same: the attitude of the type  “I can do it”, “I’ll find a way” – and I have found the way, most of the times.

What has changed – I think my reactions are less emotional (or the reaction is short-lived).

What I would recommend anyone related to the crisis:

I would tell them to pay attention to: managing self, managing others and managing the business. There are things that they should take into consideration:

  • Not react too loudly, too emotionally in front of the staff / the employees – I know, we are all human, we all react – but I have noticed that people will label you as emotional, impulsive and they will never forget that.
  • Team up with 1 or 2 people who are calmer and who can bring them balance – when you have someone around who says, “It’s ok, let’s take things step by step”, or something like that, it is as if you buy some time to reposition yourself
  • Get outside of the situation, out of the frame – when you are deep into the stale water, you cannot see anything anymore. If you can pull yourself above, you will find solutions to get out, you might even find white water.J
  • If you are a manager or an entrepreneur, it is your role to help others calm down, make a plan and manage the crisis situation. It is critical to communicate clearly, transparently – I can not emphasize enough how important it is to communicate. We often want to protect others and do not state the exact situation – in time, it is worse than actually telling them. While believing that you are protecting them, in fact, you “hurt” them, you prevent them from growing, from maturing; when they discover this, they will turn against you.
  • It is good to make a business plan – to rethink marketing, finance, and how the activity goes.

One thing is certain (to paraphrase the title of a book): what brought you here won’t even keep you there. So it is very possible that many of your actions before the crisis are no longer good. Sometimes you start all over again. In recent years, I have felt that entrepreneurship is like Sisyphus’s work – when you think you have gotten somewhere, you somewhat start over – only on a different path, with different ways/methods…