There are two primary questions that have surfaced this summer.
- How are we going to make it through the never-ending impact of COVID-19?
- What do I have to do as a leader?
Ram Charan in his book, Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: The New Rules for Getting the Right Things Done in Difficult Times (McGraw Hill, 2009) says it is best to answer these questions by dividing them into two areas, namely leadership and operations. As he explains, “The first is about inspiring and motivating people to go beyond their fears and painting a believable future that is waiting after the storm. The second is about the daily nitty-gritty of doing business successfully in a very tough and unpredictable environment.”
I think one of the biggest challenges of this summer is our individual and collective fear and uncertainty of what might happen next. People continue to be afraid for the future existence of their businesses, their families and themselves. As Charan points out, “Indeed, there is fear of fear itself - the kind that Franklin D. Roosevelt characterized as “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance”.”
In this kind of environment, some leaders will retreat and make no choices related to operations or motivating their people. Others will respond by entering into the land of denial or wishful thinking. But if we have the courage to recognize the current reality, Charan says we have to accept the fact that “there is simply no question that you are your company will be different two years from now. If you don’t believe that, you are condemning your company to the ash heap.”
The solution to fear of this magnitude is to do something we know how to do. First, when it comes to the subject of daily operations, Marcus Buckingham in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success (Free Press, 2005) notes: “To excel as a manager you must never forget that each of your direct reports is unique and that your chief responsibility is not to eradicate this uniqueness, but rather to arrange roles, responsibilities, and expectations so that you can capitalize upon it. The more you perfect this skill, the more effectively you will turn talents into performance.” This is something we can do each day. It is a small but powerful step because when each employee is able to do their best, then talent can generate daily positive outcomes.
Second, when it comes to leadership and motivating employees, Marcus explains: “To excel as a leader requires the opposite skill. You must become adept at calling upon those needs we all share. Our common needs include the need for security, for community, for authority, and for respect, but for you, the leader, the most powerful universal need is our need for clarity. To transform our fear of the unknown into confidence in the future, you must discipline yourself to describe our joint future vividly and precisely. As your skill at this grows, so will our confidence in you.” This is also something we as leaders know how to do. We can gather our team together, sit down and formulate a realistic and credible plan. It may not be a plan for the next 3-5 years, but we can create a short term plan of action which addresses current problems. And then as we execute it, we will be able to adapt it through regular strategic reviews.
This summer the questions will not go away and the fear will come in waves as more information and data about what is happening is revealed to us. Nevertheless, helping people do their best on a day to day basis and gathering your team together to create a plan about how to move forward are two good first steps.
Life as we know it is evolving. At work and at home, we have to keep making smart choices. But through individual acts of loving-kindness, support and an appreciation for peoples’ talents, we will continue to greet each new day with a reverence for life. And over time, our fear and our many questions will be transformed into courage and action to keep moving forward and to keep making a difference in the communities where we live and work.
No comments:
Post a Comment