I am a member of a small business networking group and everyone that I know through that group is terrified right now. The economy is unsure and people just don’t know if their businesses are going to make it. What I’m discovering as my associates and I talk about this is that the best thing that we can do right now is to try to relax.

This is obviously something that’s easier to say than to do. However, we’ve discovered that there are some really basic things that we can do to help us feel more sure about the work that we are doing despite the fact that the economy is unstable right now.

The main thing that we are doing is making sure that the values of our work align with our own personal values. This allows us to appreciate the work that we are doing today even if we aren’t sure what’s going to happen with it in the future. Adopting green practices, improving communication with clients and having a better relationship with employees can all make the work environment better and reduce the stress we’re experiencing.

Getting feedback from customers and employees (through customer surveys and employee surveys as well as through direction discussions) also helps. What we’re learning is that everyone’s scared but there are still people out there who think we’re doing a great job!

Technorati Tags: customer surveys, employee surveys