Making business decisions can be simple
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With the challenges in the economy in the last few years, many leaders are getting discouraged. It used to be so easy to succeed. Now it’s more challenging. Leaders everywhere have to do more with less working with fewer resources, lower budgets and smaller staffs.
It’s hard to get momentum when everything seems so hard. You can start to fall into the trap of just getting by. But as a leader, it’s your job not to accept the status quo. How can you break out of the difficulties and rise to a level of ease and prosperity?
One simple way—and it may surprise you—is letting it be easy.
“Letting it be easy” is a mindset that can break you out of the toil and struggle that so many leaders experience today. It’s an acknowledgement that even though we can’t seem to control it, sometimes things just work out. We have a breakthrough. We get a golden opportunity. The answers just appear.
It may seem that such good fortune is impossible to attract, as if we just have to wait for it to happen. To some extent, that may be true. On the other hand, you have to be willing to open up to the possibility that maybe, if you could become more trusting and relaxed, those breakthrough opportunities are all around you.
A friend and mentor of mine once taught me this:
If things are going your way, go that way.
If things aren’t going your way, don’t go that way.
To put this suggestion into effect, you just have to notice what’s working and do more of it. Notice what’s not working and do less of it. Easy.
Let’s look at some examples of how letting it be easy can resolve some of the tough issues facing leaders today.
One organization was struggling with the decision of how to cut their staff, but the CEO had a strong commitment to avoiding layoffs. What was working? He had a loyal staff that was dedicated to the success of the business. What wasn’t working? He was overstaffed. He decided to start by simply asking people who would accept early retirement or willingly go part-time. The response was surprising, and the CEO was able to reduce the budget without feeling like it had cost people their jobs.
Another organization similarly wanted to cut costs, but leaders were stuck in the dilemma of hard choices about where to cut for the least negative impact. What was working? This was an energetic, creative organization with lots of innovative ideas. What wasn’t working? The organization simply didn’t have the volume in sales to operate the way it had in the past. Finally the leaders decided to do something easy: they asked their employees for innovative ideas about how to cut costs. The brainstorming meetings revealed very clear themes and the answer about where to cut became readily apparent.
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