Business leaders who have experienced any kind of work crisis will know how hard it can be to stay motivated during tough times. Not only do you have to motivate yourself, but you also have to motivate a whole team – or maybe multiple teams – to work towards a resolution. Dave Antrobus knows that sustaining this kind of motivation can be draining, to say the least. If you run a business, you’ll almost certainly have to endure a crisis or two (or three or four), even when you’re well-established in your market. However, the good news is that once you’ve worked through one crisis, you’ll be better prepared for the next. And the even better news is that there’s always a way through these tough times, especially with a little guidance from an expert.

Dave Antrobus and his colleagues at Fresh Thinking Group (FTG) are used to taking on their acquisitions’ crises, plotting routes to success, and overcoming rough patches. Not only do FTG’s carefully planned routes overcome corporate crises, but they also push the companies in question to achieve considerable growth. Dave has seen – and dealt with – every kind of business crisis, from financial turmoil and clients refusing to pay invoices to PR disasters and organisational disruption. Here, he shares his seven top tips to motivate your company’s way through tough times.

1) Take Time Out to Avoid Burnout

When you find yourself in a business crisis, you might feel inclined to ditch all of your personal plans and commit every waking hour to fixing the problem. This can indeed be effective if you have a sure-fire solution that you can implement immediately. However, more often than not, you’ll need to make some longer-term changes to your business. In this case, working on the problem 24/7 will lead to extreme stress and burnout. Plus, expecting your team to also neglect themselves in favour of working serious overtime will lead to resentment and further problems. Taking the time to recharge is more important than you might think when it comes to problem-solving.

2) But Do Take Action as Soon as Possible

Though it’s important to avoid burnout, it’s not a good idea to sit on the problem – ignoring the issue will only make it worse. No matter how difficult the situation, the sooner you can draw up a resolution plan the better. Meet with your most trusted colleagues and draw up a plan of action to reduce your stress and get the problem sorted. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from colleagues or mentors; identifying who can be of most help is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.

3) Update Your Clients/Customers

Once you’ve consulted your colleagues and mentors, it’s time to update your clients/customers. It’s important not to overlook the people who have invested their time and money into supporting you. Make sure you get in touch with these people and remain transparent about your situation. They should respect you for this and may even offer testimonials or referrals to help you to get back on track.

4) Break Down Big Workloads into Achievable Tasks

Often, the work that you need to undertake to solve a business crisis can seem like a huge, looming, maybe even unattainable task. In this case, it can be helpful to break the task down into small components that are easier to achieve. You might even be able to share these mini tasks between your team to spread the load. It can also be motivating to celebrate each small achievement. Promising yourself and your staff incentives at each milestone can be particularly motivating, whether you’ll be buying a small cake platter or throwing a work party.

5) Remember Why You’re Doing This

When your motivation starts to slide, remember why you’re running your business. Focus on your achievements, your goals, and the people that you would let down if you gave up. When you think about the reasons to keep going, you should find your motivation improving again. If it helps, you could even write down your ambitions and successes as reminders to motivate you through the challenging times.

6) Avoid Imagining Negative Scenarios

When things start to turn south, it’s easy to imagine every possible negative scenario – even those that are unlikely to happen. In the worst case, if one of these scenarios does happen, you’ve had to experience it twice: once in your mind and once in real life. Instead, make a conscious effort to focus on the facts. Make a note of exactly what has happened and the options that you have to fix the problem. Think about the opportunities that could arise from this challenge and actually benefit your business. Where possible, search for the positives and capitalise on these.

7) Visualise Success

While playing out negative scenarios in your mind is never helpful, visualising success can have the opposite effect. Many athletes and performers recommend this – picturing yourself accomplishing your goals can keep you motivated and put you in the best frame of mind to achieve success.

Fresh Thinking Group Can Help

If your business is facing a tough time, remember that you’re not alone. Every business has to navigate crises, and tough times are only on the rise thanks to COVID-19. However, Manchester’s leading independent capital investment firm Fresh Thinking Group is here to help. FTG helps distressed businesses, start-ups, and firms that are struggling to grow to overcome rough periods and reach their desired business milestones. Partnering with FTG allows business leaders to enrich their firms with invaluable growth strategies and capital injections from a team of business development and investment experts.As Fresh Thinking Group’s Co-Founder and Technology Director, Dave Antrobus coordinates the technical solutions that help so many businesses to drive through tough times and thrive in their markets. He is both an acclaimed business mentor who has supported teams through an array of corporate crises, and an award-winning software developer, known for his high-performance platforms and applications. Get in touch at https://freshthinking.group to book a free consultation with Dave Antrobus.