Fear of redundancy has spread to almost half of full-time workers, a poll showed after the Government’s latest multi-billion economic rescue package was met by plunging bank share prices.  This was reported this morning on the news pages of Yahoo UK. 

In these challenging times it is natural for people to feel concerned and anxious about their personal situation.  On the other hand, these challenges times might well crate a golden opportunity for you.

What is clear in the current challenging times is that even some of the most experienced and senior leaders are finding it tough.  Just look at financial services and non essential retailers for some evidence.  So, in these tough times it might be that the golden opportunity for you is to make your mark where you currently work by being part of the performance turnaround.

If you are in an organisation that is struggling at the moment, take a few minutes and consider the following questions:

• What are the key drivers of our success as an organisation historically?

• How well are we doing on these key drivers right now?

• If you were put in charge of the organisation tomorrow, what are the three things that you would tackle straight away that would make an immediate impact?

• What things are not working as well as they could that we not fixing?

Chances are these questions will spark some ideas and solutions.  Test them out with some trusted individuals across the organisation and see what sort of response you get.  If it becomes clear that you have ideas that have not been considered, create an opportunity to discuss with your boss and other senior people.   It might just be the launching pad you need to take your career to another level.

So what are you waiting for?