When the Tornado has Passed…

So – you’ve hit the hard wall of slowdown we call Consolidation. You’ve gone through the heady, wild sales spike and rapid growth of the Tornado, and suddenly you’ve stalled. Sales are down, and you’re not making your margins – not even close. Now what?

This is not the time to point fingers and blame people for whatever brought your Tornado to an end. No one did anything wrong. Everything you are experiencing is a natural phenomenon in this cycle. You may have more staff than you need now that your Tornado is over, so you may have to have layoffs—but there’s nobody you need to fire because they blew it, and this isn’t the time for a wholesale department cleanup. If you have too much turnover now, you’ll lose your corporate culture even more, at the very moment when it’s vital that you rebuild it. What’s more, if you begin firing a bunch of people, you’ll only increase your staff’s sense of frustration and despair.

Start by letting staff know what’s happening—and then bring as many of them as possible with you for the next phase of the journey. Let them know that all is not lost. During this next phase, you’ll be working together to adapt your processes, preparing for a new and larger company that you’re now rebuilding. You don’t want to lose your best and brightest, the ones who were tough enough and determined enough to make it through a Tornado. You’re going to need them again when the next Tornado comes along!