Managing During an Economic Downturn

Have you reached the end of your rope with trying to do more with less and now you find you’ll have to do even “more” more with a lot less?

Wondering if the bright side is that maybe you won’t even have a job next week?

Managing a nonprofit can be a grueling enterprise to begin with, and the roller-coaster downturn in the economy can make the extremely difficult nearly impossible with breathtaking quickness.

With that in mind, Faye Dresner, founder of Dresner Consulting, LLC, suggests several ideas for coping with rapidly changing times. She also notes that many for-profits are now actively looking for people who have been through a downsizing and landed on their feet.

*Address those things you actually have control over. Ruminating on things over which you have no control is a fast way to drive yourself crazy and create a lot of unnecessary anxiety.
*Stay in the moment. It will keep you from doing a lot of negative forecasting, something to which some of automatically resort. Even when it is as likely that an outcome will be positive, we assume the worst will happen.
*Do pro bono or volunteer work that interests you. If nothing else, it can help enhance knowledge and expertise.
*Give yourself a break. Don’t beat yourself up. On the contrary, treat yourself to whatever generally makes you feel better.
*Make a contingency plan. Even if you never use it, having a plan creates a sense of security.