Alan Zimmerman on what Victor Frankl teaches us about surviving a downturn

Thanks to whoever recommended Alan Zimmerman's Tuesday Tip (Colin? Kate?). It prompted this...

I was reminded again yesterday, when working with a large company on their leadership development, that a lot of managers have never been through a downturn and simply don't know what to do in the face of one. A lot of the sales managers at the company I was visiting yesterday have only ever sold into a booming market, where customers snatched what they were selling from their hands; marketing likewise, operations the same.

Managers simply don't know what to do

They simply haven't experienced a tough market before, and don't have the skillset or the experience to handle it, I was told. They are confused, don't know what to do for the best. They don't know what to do or say to their direct reports who, like them, are worried about mortgages, savings, whether they will be laid off or kept on. So, they struggle to maintain morale - their own and their colleagues. And, as morale dips, so does performance. In many ways, this is their first real, big challenge.

This is our crucible

Then I remembered Warren Bennis, the leadership guru, saying the tough times, when you look back on them, are where you learn your leadership. It may not be pleasant, but it's necessary. He calls it 'the crucible' in which you are forged. So, this is the ideal time to help your people strengthen their skillset, get them back to motivated, for those of them who are now demoralized and feeling powerless in the face of the global financial juggernaut. The downturn in other words, is your ideal training ground to develop your people's skills, harden their resilience, nurture future leaders.

So, where do you start?

So, where to start? This is from Alan Zimmerman's Tuesday Tip:

"I have learned ... to get through great loss and great tragedy ... you must believe in something bigger than yourself and your circumstances. You must believe in something so good, so grand, and so powerful, that no matter what, you won't be brought down...Whatever it is, you need a belief or a purpose that will get you through these tough times.

"I learned that from Dr. Vicktor Frankl, who was shipped off to the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. There ... in the worst of conditions, with little food, inadequate shelter, and horrendous torture, thousands of Jewish prisoners were forced into labor that went on month after month. What amazed Dr. Frankl was the fact that some of the laborers survived ... while others, in the same conditions ... did not. Dr. Frankl found that the ones who made it through those terrible times had a purpose.

"They had a purpose that said, "I will do whatever it takes to get out of this place, to find my wife, to find my kids, to reunite my family." It was that kind of belief that got them through the crisis. After the war, Dr. Frankl wrote a fascinating book about his experience. In essence, he said, "If you know your 'why,' any 'how' is possible." In other words, if you believe in something bigger than yourself, bigger than the times, bigger than Wall Street, bigger than your circumstances, you can make it through almost anything."

What do you stand for?

Now, you don't have to go all religious. Rene Carayol, the Leaders in London (declaration of interest: I'm their leadership advisor) chairman and facilitator, has always said the test of a leader is the one question "What do you stand for?" If you have an answer to that and are passionate and sincere about it, there's your higher purpose. And if you can inspire people to feel the same, you've begun your own upturn at work.