Circle of Influence in economic down turn

Economic down turn ... Budget cut ... Pink slip ... Every website, radio or tv news, newspaper talks about the same subject. When you have your team meeting or management meeting you talk about the same issue in the last 2 weeks and weeks to come.

Steven Covey talks about "Circle of Influence & Circle of Concern" in his 7 habits. None of us have any influence on what is happening now. If we keep mourning on what has happened to us we will never be able to do anything. We need to come out of the circle of concern and try thinking about circle of influence. What can I do now that will position me when the economy improves is what we should be thinking about.

Here are some ideas

1. If you have short term contracts with your clients that you renew on a monthly or quarterly basis offer a reduction and seek an annual contract.

2. Companies will be trying to reduce the contractors and remove contracting companies. See if you can position yourself for a primary vendorship when the economy comes back.

3. Some of the big corporates always look for contractors who have specific experience working for that company. For eg. Wells Fargo will prefer a contractor with Wells Fargo experience. This is a time to collect the names of the resources coming out of such companies and create a database so that you can call these individuals when the projects come back

4. When you have resources on bench see how you can offer free service to your clients so that they remember you when the business returns