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It can not always be the big, glamorous world that stands in the light cone. Even the inconspicuous holds some knowledge treasure ready. Let us turn to the dreariness of everyday life. More precisely: the performance of CDU and SPD in Saxony and Brandenburg.
There was no shortage of advice on how to handle the election results. And yet somehow missing in the coverage of the positive spin, the bright spot that tells us what we can learn from it.
Well - here he is. The handling of the once-great people's parties with the recent elections is a fine example of a skill that is one of the most important ones, especially in the job: making good news of bad news.
Only a question of perspective
The question of how to do that is particularly relevant in companies. More often, as many think, economics is not about numbers - it's about how to present those numbers.
Your quarterly result is well below the previous one? It may be, but it's still better than the same quarter last year - and that's what counts. Your product launch falls dramatically below the beautiful predictions you've painted on your PowerPoint charts? There is no reason to despair: the decisive factor is that you have sold something new in an extremely difficult market environment. And CDU / SPD: massively lost, coalitions voted out? Papperlapapp - the prime ministers stay, everything else is unimportant.
We learn: If you want to shine with good news despite bad results, you need two things - the right benchmark and effective expectations management.
- Using the benchmark is easy: search for a comparison number until you find one that is lower than yours. That's the value by which you measure your project. And lo and behold, everything is fine. Let's say you work in financial sales and have made twenty percent less sales this year than last year. Now creativity is required: Maybe you have implemented less, but gained more new customers? Or a particular segment has grown disproportionately? And anyway: Just look at the colleagues - surely there are a few who have made even less sales than you? And you already have the benchmark that belongs in your report. Greased and in 84 point, of course.
- Expectation management is a bit more complex, but more important: the higher the expectations, the deeper you can fall. So, if the forecasts for 2020 have to be made again in the future, do not save with worried facial expressions: Trump, the Brexit, trade wars - everything is difficult. We'd better leave the church in the village and the growth forecast clearly unary.
CDU and SPD have the school before the provincial elections made school - with strong supportive help by the pollsters. What was not all this microscopy: disintegration of democracy, dissolution of all values, AfD prime minister.
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Now that the prime ministers are expected to continue to officiate, all this becomes a minor matter: the massive losses, the lousy mood, the lost trust. What matters: The worst was prevented. And worst of all, that's been spelled out eagerly and meticulously.
So take an example of the people's parties: Only those who have admitted to it have lost. Everything else is a matter of interpretation. Only one thing is certain: If you paint the Apocalypse on the wall, but it is only a commercial disaster - then you stand as a brilliant winner.