Turning a Business Crisis into an Opportunity!

The very definition of business essentially comprises an overlooking risk factor. And at a place where risk is inevitably involved, crisis ought to follow, more often than not. However, the strength of an entrepreneur always lies in his ability to turn this crisis into an opportunity! Former CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, once pointed out, “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.”

While maintain your composure in the times of a glaring crisis may seem to be just too much, but by simply keeping a few things in mind, and implementing them as and when required, will not only help you avert such crisis, but might also give you the window to turn it around into a great opportunity. Let’s take a look at some of the strategies that have stood the test of time, and helped many an entrepreneurs in their deadlock situations.

·         Maintain Your Calm

What a crisis can really do, is simply weaken your spirits, by dwindling down the numbers. However, you can almost always strong-arm it by keeping a cool head. Instead of giving up, what you may really need to do is clear your mind of all speculations, and start afresh. If anything, you will only learn a few important things along the way that will prove to be of great help to your business in the long haul! And if you still don’t feel confident enough, always remember, it was crisis that lead to the birth of some of the most successful business ventures including Microsoft and LinkedIn.

·         Think Out of the Box

There are hundreds and thousands of people who believe in what they have already witnessed, and there is one person who marches ahead and executes a novel idea, and it is that one person who grows to become a leader. Take example of Steve Jobs. When he had the idea for a special glass type for the iPhone, the manufacturers were aghast by the strict deadline and the high level of quality that was required. However, Jobs didn’t budge and eventually the manufacturers made the requisite changes in their facilities and were able to deliver on those very timelines. Just the simple idea of getting something done, in a considerably less amount of time, got things working for him and for Apple. The rest, as they say, is history.

·         Do Not Play by the Rules

You heard us right. Not all games are meant to be played by the rules. There are certain games which can be won, only when you bend these very rules. And business sure is one of them. Take the case of Uber, a world-renowned taxi service which doesn’t own a single taxi, meaning that there was no ground breaking investment for a business giant as huge as Uber has grown to be is! Now doesn’t that sound mind bending! But to come to think of it, who’d ever said that you couldn’t be a taxi service without owning some cabs?

·         Think Negative

As harsh as it may sound, the technique of pre mortem, or thinking negatively is a tried and tested one. Simply put, this technique basically requires entrepreneurs to practice in hindsight, and think over every possible aspect that may go wrong. This way they aren’t met by an unhappy surprises, and they always have their guard on. Needless to say, a large majority of crisis situations, are averted way before than they can strike. This also gives the entrepreneurs a dependable way to stay ahead of the competition, at all times.