july 09 articles

Don’t Panic, Don’t Panic!

Who can forget the words of Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army? At times with Swine Flu for example authorities seem to be out there saying just those words; suggesting they are in control and that we should just not panic. This was discussed recently in a Radio 4 programme “All in the Mind”. Peter Sandman of Princeton University discussed what he calls this “Panic Panic” syndrome. This is where authorities (worldwide) attempt to damp down panic by in effect saying Don’t Panic, Don’t Panic. He suggested they fail in their objectives because they are really frightened themselves and that leads them to: -

Suppress information from the public
Issue misleading information
Be seemingly contemptuous of the general public and their ability to deal with the truth.

What this skewed approach leads to is distrust, outrage and potentially the very panic they are trying to avoid. This was well illustrated in Beijing with the SARS epidemic where the Chinese authorities blankly denied the issue in complete opposition to the known reality on the street. Panic ensued. But there is also the potential for such an approach to lead to apathy and disbelief. So when a real threat does arise the public does not believe that there is a real threat and do not take reasonable precautionary actions (which of you carries tissues and washes their hands as soon as they sneeze?).

Sandman was actually quite admiring of Winston Churchill in his dealing with the problems of WW2. As Sandman said WW2 is a much more serious situation than SARS or Swine Flu or even dare I say the economy. Churchill didn’t minimise the problem; he did not suggest he was in control and would sort it all out; he was honest. He

Described the real risks and did not seek to minimise them
He expressed deep concern at the horrible situation he and they were in
He shared the problem with the country
And especially did not say he could do everything

What he did was get everyone to treat it seriously; to work together and stick at it and got them to agree we would fight every step of the way to overcome the shared problem.

So what has all this to do with a Business Mentoring article in 2009? Well I am sure a number of you are going through tough times. The economy is in a recession. The unemployment figures are rising and the bad debts, shortage of credit, and reduction in forward orders is causing great pain to everyone in the economy (unless they are in a fortunate position to be growing; which to be fair some companies are). Anyway what message and approach does an MD who is facing such problems take when dealing with his staff?

Well certainly not saying “Don’t Panic, Don’t Panic!”

He should not be minimising the threat and the situation.
He should not treat his staff, his partners, his creditors, his investors, his bank etc as idiots.
All that will do is as per the more general example create the very panic he/she is afraid of.

What you should do is be as open and honest as you can. Share the problem. Treat the various interested parties mentioned above with respect and work with them to get through the bad times together.

Of course you might also like to talk to an independent voice like me to see if there are better ways of running the business to come out of it stronger in spite of the adversity. But in the main

DON’T PANIC, DON’T PANIC!