For many of you, this may be the first time you’ve navigated market uncertainty as a founder.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed during these periods…
However, your psychology plays a vital role in the company’s leadership and success.
Here are a few friendly reminders to manage your and your team’s psychology:
1. Lean on founders and trusted advisors in your community.
Lean on the relationships that you’ve developed to learn from fellow leaders faster, and have reassurance that you aren’t going through it alone.
Ideally – from folks who have “seen this movie before”.
Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable when asking for advice from your trusted network. No one has ever become successful purely on their own. You learn and grow so much faster with a support system who gets it.
2. Rethink your goals.
Successful founders set ambitious but achievable expectations upfront.
Psychologically having “wins” are important for a company’s culture and maintaining momentum.
Alternatively, poorly designed goals lead to poor performance and low morale.
In uncertain times, it is a good time to reassess your goals such that your team stays motivated.
These target goals are all about motivating desired behavior within your company.
Adjusting your goals doesn’t mean giving up on your wild and admirable ambitions, but adapting them to a changing environment.
This adjustment is rooted in having a clearer understanding of what has changed, and how these changes impact your business (and hence strategy).
3. Focus on the “road”, not the “wall”.
In other words, focusing on what’s going wrong (the “wall”) can drive you and your team nuts!
There are always many things that can go wrong in a company, so focus on where you are going (the “road”) instead.
With a market slowdown in companies’ growth and sales cycles, take this as an opportunity to reinvigorate and unify your team with increased presence, develop a more detailed/adjusted strategy for the “road”, improve your internal processes, iterate on your product, enhance customer discovery, and more.
Question: Founders, how are you taking charge of your business and well-being?
