We are allegedly out of recession and commerce is supposed to be thriving once again. And yet, it turns out that business confidence is as low as it was in the very darkest depths of the recession. In fact, nearly 50% of all CEOs are so negative about the state of the business world, that they believe it will only be a short period of time before we are back in recession.
So why is it that confidence is so low?
The problems facing the Euro and the constant stream of bailouts that seem to be affecting Europe may explain a certain amount of the problem, but this is only a small part of it. In fact, much of the problem actually lies within individual companies themselves.
Whilst the Euro crisis has indeed affected the economy, many more businesses are simply low on optimism as they have no ability to deal with risk or problems arising in the company. Even when outside factors such as the fall of the Euro do not affect companies directly, the threat of problems is often enough to see companies start to change their tactics, in many cases for the worse. This approach creates a negative spiral, causing more panic and more problems, when originally there may well have been none at all.
For many companies, using business consultants to help better understand potential and how to deal with risks will in turn optimise confidence. With executive coaching, the confidence can start from the top and filter down, allowing the whole company to focus their approach on creating the best of any situation instead of using fear to dictate an approach.
Using business consultants to impart knowledge and to offer executive coaching can help not only improve confidence, but also help companies to better understand the external factors that really will affect each individual company.