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Learning to kick back

17th Dec 2010
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 December 17 – Still trying hard to come to terms with work at the moment.

For someone who is almost perpetually “up” it’s hard to be “down”. But I am, and can’t explain it. My wife has suggested I see a doctor and is muttering the word “depression” – but I don’t do that. It’s more like I’m angry at facing making people redundant which i don’t want to do, and having to put a brave face on it.

The shareholders have said I must get rid of staff if there is no work and no real prospect of work for them to do. I did ask if I could keep people – and of course one or two is OK, but in this case there is no immediate prospect of new work and I know it. But that makes it no easier.

So I’ve resorted to the Chair on a few occasions for discussions, because I don’t feel that I can do it elsewhere in the company right now. It’s not allowed to “whinge downward”. Others can’t carry my responsibility.

The Chair has been invaluable, as ever. He says I should stop kicking myself and count all the jobs we have made. He’s rightly noted this is what really motivates me. And of course we have made many jobs as the company has grown. But it doesn’t quite work. And I think the Chair knows why – which is I feel this situation is beyond my control. The problems we’re facing are bigger than issues I can manage – and that’s what makes me feel inadequate to protect my people and this company from them.

I’m sure I have to come to terms with this feeling if incompetence that I suddenly face. I can’t change the economy as a whole. But I read recently an insolvency practitioner saying business has not realised what will hit it in 2011, and I think I just have realised. And that’s what’s got me down.

 

I can tell you this: I don’t like it. And if this is one iota of what being depressed is like then those who are have my real sympathy.

I’m just going to have to work out how to kick back. 

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By jefflcbba
17th Dec 2010 15:55

Kickback

Hope this may help---from one who has been there:

1. Stop "beating youreslf up!" You can only do your best.

2. Remember you still have the same talent that grew the Company! It is the economy that has changed so much--not you.

3 Acknowledge and recognise the "jewels" in the negative part of your mind. (That one really helped me).

4.And all the stuff that advisers will give you-----go for market share, go for the business of less capable competitors etc etc.

Good Luck!

Mad Lemming

 

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By stephen_hoare
20th Dec 2010 10:51

Why 'incompetent'?

 You say you are having to come to terms with a feeling of incompetence - I would say you are having to deal with a feeling of impotence. In the time I have been reading the CEO's diary (and I can remember all the way back to the first FD's Diary posting!), you have demonstrated that you are anything but incompetent.

However, I don't think you are alone in feelings of impotence. More and more of us in SMEs are going to feel the same over the coming months as the  coalition government takes us on a madcap roller coaster ride of ideologically-fueled 'reform'. The level of cuts in public spending that we are facing is going to have huge and damaging effects on private industry - and the only ones who will do well out of it are likely to be the bankers who, I seem to remember, caused the problem in the first place.

The only reason you are feeling bad about the situation is that you are a caring and responsible manager faced with a situation where you can only hope to minimise the damage.

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By neileg
20th Dec 2010 11:55

Don't be a Canute

Try not to worry about what you can't fix. That you worry about people losing their jobs is to your credit. Working in the public sector as I do and facing 20-25% job losses (including potentially my own) there's no real source of comfort. If dealing with shareholders is difficult, just be glad you don't have to deal with councillors - politics and reality are often worlds apart. I just hope (without any real confidence) that all this pain is really necessary and that sometime soon we'll be in a better place.

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