Let’s Beat Recession!

For the last four months, recession has been the axis around which most of the web-debates revolve. Questions such as, “How long will recession last?” “Will it affect my country as deeply as it has affected many others?” “Will it impact my family and my life?” “What can be done to cushion its impact?” and so on; are being heatedly discussed on most forums.

Answers to these questions have come from the eminent and from the earthy; and these answers have been as varied as they could be. For instance, take the first question – “How long will the recession last,” we’ve seen answers ranging from “Recession would last an year,” to “No, it will last until 2010,” and also “Recession – what recession? We shouldn’t even be talking about recession!”

Many eminent economists have given us different answers to these questions, and so we may conclude that we can’t really have the right picture in front of us…at least now. We can surmise that there is really no point making conjectures about the first question at least – except that there definitely is something in the air. There is a definite slowdown and most businesses are experiencing the slowdown first hand.

The question that I’ve been asking myself for some time now is – what can we do in absence of concrete projections? Should we sit back and let things happen to us…or should we make a plan that works for us no matter what. Look at it like this, if there’s a possibility of a viral in the air, it’s best to take precautions – if the viral were there, you’d be safe, while if it weren’t, you wouldn’t lose anything!

So the assumption that I’d rather go by is that there is a severe recession in the offing…and I’d plan accordingly. If I turn out to be wrong, I wouldn’t lose much, but if my assumption turns out to be correct, I would’ve fortified myself against the implications!

Let us begin our quest for the right plan by first understanding the nature of this dreaded economic situation. Recession can be understood as a general slowdown in the economy where there is reduction in demand, which forces producers to produce less and maintain viability by cutting their costs. The costs that are directly attributable to production are salaries and wages or the variable costs. So when production suffers, the variable costs are the first to face the axe. Thus, salary-reduction and job-cuts become the order of the day.

Now let’s see how this impacts an individual. An individual who works in an organization feels the impact in form of salary cut, reduction in salary hike, expectations of multiple skills, and even the unfortunate pink slip. Remember that a job-cut doesn’t necessarily reflect upon the redundancy of an individual; it could reflect upon the redundancy/replace-ability of a role too.

When we specifically look at training and learning professionals, it is expected that there would be slowdown on recruitment. In the coming years, most organizations would review eLearning as an optional method of imparting learning. Since processes lend themselves quite well to eLearning, it can be expected that many organizations would implement eLearning at least for their process trainings.

It is also expected that there would be an overall slowdown in business, which will force organizations to review the profiles of their employees and reward those who are:

• More competent in their core-skill
• Equipped with useful peripheral skills
• More efficient and responsible

Effectively, they would like to determine how “profitable” an employee is for the company. Note that a highly paid employee who ends up bringing in the same revenue as the one who is paid less; would be less profitable than the latter.

Thus, this is the time to dig into your collection of competencies and retrieve all those that you may polish and add to your resume. This is the time to speak up and let your skills be noticed by the management. This is the time when you need to establish your indispensability. This is the time when your superior managers should be able to trust you where they wouldn’t trust themselves!

I have always been a voracious learner. Not until I was out of college, but since. I’ve always tried to work from the fundamentals up…so when I worked in a machine shop, I would study the different tools used for the different jobs and experiment with them when I could. Then I would mount the jobs on the machines on my own so that I knew the entire process first-hand. This made me confident of my capability and I knew that nothing could hurt my future.

Then when I changed my career track I did the same again! When I hit the lowest that a person of my background probably could, I persisted. Blind acceptance of a dictum just never worked for me, and so I questioned, I queried, and I learned. I continue to do the same and for this reason, I feel that I have enough competencies to keep me going…all through my life.

I am sharing this with you because I’ve been hearing about dashed hopes and unyielding depression every day. It’s the same everywhere around the globe! In times such as these, the only advice that I have for those who are facing tough times, is – buckle-up take stock of your competencies and also of the need of the hour – if you feel that your competencies aren’t strong enough, strengthen them…if you feel that you don’t have any competency that the market needs, go ahead – acquire it! Just don’t let yourself be pulled down. Remember that Misery is Optional…and it’s you who exercises that option!

Here is another tip, which may help. Settling down for a conscious bout of learning may be tough, especially if you aren’t feeling too well right now…but knowledge opiates. It numbs your pain and makes you strong. So push yourself towards reinforcing your competencies. The inertia may try to keep you grounded but through the power of your will, move on!

The mass of knowledge makes you the center of your universe and it ensures that you remain viable no matter what! Don’t pay heed to the stories of depression – talk to yourself. Reclaim your additional competencies and put them to work!

Author: Shafali R. Anand