Have you just started a business? If so, this is the post for you! After all, you’re probably concerned about the different challenges that are going to come your way over the next 12 months. One of the biggest of those is unplanned downtime, a.k.a., when things go wrong and the issue can’t be resolved within a couple of minutes. In these moments, you might panic over the amount of money you’re going to lose, which can be very demotivating! But that’s what we’re here to help you address. 

Make Clients Aware Immediately

If you’re going to be late delivering on a project or two, or you’ve not got the staff in today and that means your meetings are going to be stretched thin, let your clients know as soon as you can. These are the people you’re trying to impress, and that means communicating clearly and effectively even when things are going wrong. 

If you do, you position yourself as a responsible business owner. You know what you need to do, including how to adapt in uncertain situations, and you’ll come across in a positive light. Even if your clients are disappointed by the news, you’ll still maintain your reputation of providing a transparent and reliable service. 

Do a Few Tests

Unplanned downtime never happens by accident. As such, it’s best to run a few tests when you notice things are going wrong, or your work-wide productivity has suddenly dropped. This way you’ll get to the bottom of what’s going on sooner rather than later. Not only that, but you’ll empower yourself to get back up and running within a sensible timeframe. 

So, what’s going on? Maybe you need to order some Indramat products because the machinery in your product chain has a fault in it? Or maybe your automation settings haven’t gone through properly, and have slowed to a halt waiting for user input? Whatever it is that’s causing your downtime, this is where you run a test to ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future. 

Refocus Your Attention

If you can’t work on the one thing you had planned for the day, do something else! Downtime can be used effectively when you refocus your attention, even if it takes a bit of effort and some real employee wrangling. You just need to stop for a moment, clearly define when your normal operations will resume, and then make a to-do list of your current priorities. 

So, whether you have some emails you need to catch up on, or there’s a secondary project you were waiting to work on while the first one proceeded, either will be a good use of your downtime. All business owners should target their work issues accordingly, as it’ll keep you moving towards your objectives even when you can’t do the tasks you really want to. 

Unplanned downtime is going to happen. When it does, just do your best to adapt using methods like those listed above.

Originally Published on https://www.breakfastleadership.com/

Michael Levitt Chief Burnout Officer

Michael D. Levitt is the founder & Chief Burnout Officer of The Breakfast Leadership Network, a San Diego and Toronto-based burnout consulting firm. He is a Keynote speaker on The Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting and Burnout. He is the host of the Breakfast Leadership show, a Certified NLP and CBT Therapist, a Fortune 500 consultant, and author of his latest book BURNOUT PROOF.