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3 Essential Skills for the Opportunistic Leader

July 27, 2022

Being the optimist that I am, I like to focus on the positive vs. the “pain” or “crisis” of the moment. And while sensationalism “sells” I always felt a pit in my stomach when having to market my capabilities to the crisis that leaders are feeling. What if we elevated the Opportunistic Leaders who embrace every challenge they are faced with as an opportunity to stand out and make a difference in their businesses and in the people they lead? I love partnering with these leaders and these are their stories:

Invest when others are retreating

A leader needs to see the opportunity to invest in the business, invest in your brand messaging and invest in people development. This CEO that I know (and I might add myself as well) has invested heavily in having the right people in their business. They know that when others are retreating and cutting back their budgets, these leaders see the writing on the wall and choose to spend money to secure a front position when the economy opens up. They call these leaders “crazy” or “poor business leaders,” however, by not investing consistently, they will actually spend more money in the long run.

The same philosophy goes for career advancement; the best time to look for a job is when you don’t need one. Same for business loans; when cash flow is good, this is the best time to secure loans. No one wants to lend you money when you don’t have it. So I ask you, do you follow the pack and retract or invest in the opportunity?

Focus on your core competencies and outsource the rest

Outsourcing can look very different for every organization, but fractional leadership and professional services that compliment your core competencies are always the most effective. Mid-size companies try to do without a resource for as long as possible before they’re in crisis and then have to pay more to get back on track. Gone are the days of trying to do it yourself or having internal resources for every functional area. Why not have highly experienced fractional leadership when you need it and at the rate you need it?

For example, you may not need a full time Quality Leader, but when there is a need to grow the capability in that area, bring in someone for the time you need them. It may look like a large short term expense, but a savvy leader sees the cost benefit of not having a full time resource year round. One such client only brought me in when they needed several 3 month projects. They saved a significant amount of money, but received high value results in return. It was only when the business grew significantly did they finally evolve the role into a full-time position.

When supplies are scarce and money is tight, invest in people development

People development may seem counterintuitive when the business is stressed and people are working long hours. But investing shows the team that leadership still care enough to allocate time for development. These are the times where people need to be agile, learn new skills in order to manage the complexity. Think about the capability of your people once you come out of challenging times if they manage difficult situations and you’ve developed their competencies at the same time. Investing sets your business up to thrive during the challenges. Your people will serve you better because you invested in them.

One such leader I worked with saw an opportunity to invest in the problem-solving capability of their people. They realized that time is their most precious commodity and if they could help their people solve problems more effectively, they’d get time back to do the work needed to expand the business. When the training was done, the capability was realized and also the teams came together as one; the greater outcome of investing in their development.

Do you have the courage to be the Opportunist in your organization?

One of the hardest things for a leader to do is to have the courage to do something that may be unpopular. What I find is that we’ve not given them the framework to influence others. I’ve shared this framework many times, as it’s my best tool to help you get what you need to invest in the future:

Describe the current state and the gap
Show how the trend is increasing or decreasing
Make the proposal for the change needed to close the gap
Describe the opportunity of making the change or the risk of doing nothing
Show the result or impact it will have on the organization

When we practice these skills, you become the leader others will follow by seeing the opportunity and influencing the change needed for long term success.

If you need more convincing that this is a better approach to being an Opportunistic Leader, Harvard Business Review discusses the Tactics of Strategic Opportunism which you may find interesting (originally written in 1987.) My recent blog post about What Peanut Butter Can Tell You About Your Business also shares about pressure testing systems to avoid a crisis.

My wish is for every C-Suite Leader of today and tomorrow to navigate their careers with confidence. If this insight was helpful, share this article with others. If you have a unique challenge and wish to have a complementary conversation, please reach out to me.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service:

Is Technology an Asset or a Detriment to Your Team?

July 22, 2022

When I see my daughter texting her friends, I would often say, “why not pick up the phone?” To that question, she would share with me it’s a group chat and far more efficient to organize their evening plans. Who can argue that technology can be an asset to help with productivity and communication? However, when I reflect on workplace culture and breakdowns in communication such as “I sent you an email,” or “they haven’t responded yet to me in Slack,” I wonder if technology is an asset or detriment to progress and efficiency?

Recently, I stopped doing Zoom video calls for my networking; deferring to a lesser form of communication; the ancient telephone! I find by eliminating the visual distraction, I can more deeply focus on the words and intonation of the words exchanged to deeply understand the person and try to connect with them. My advice to you is to consider this old school way of communication.

On a side note, if you are one of the many that I’ve recently spoken to by phone about your career journey, both opportunities & challenges, I can’t wait to bring your insights into my podcast and my “C-Suite Moments” as we kick off each episode!

…and now back to another story:

In my last corporate job, I remember receiving emails from the sales team about how frustrated our customers were about quality and also the lack of responsiveness from the plant managers to their concerns. To that, I would pick up the phone, address their concerns and proceed with setting up a regular 1-2-1 schedule to build a collaborative relationship. They were sincerely appreciative of my approach as others would hide behind emails and texts rather than to confront adversity head on and resolve issues in real time.

Don’t get me wrong, technology is a time savings and highly effective in a culture where the team already has a high performing work ethic. But for teams that have not established trust and respect for one another technology, in my opinion, will be the demise of the community and result in more inefficiency.

If this sounds familiar and would you like to change the trend, here are a few suggestions:

Be the change you want to see in others. Others will model your behavior. Stop with the technology and meet face-to-face or pick up the phone. If your colleague is in another country, WhatsApp is a great tool to also converse.
Use the rule of three. If there are more than three electronic exchanges (email, text, slack, chat) and the issue is not resolved or clear, meet face-to-face or pick up the phone!
Conquer confrontation. If you’re afraid to confront a difficult person for which technology has been a buffer to adversity, meet face to face or pick up the phone. At times like this, there is no better time to learn new skills to close gaps in understanding or reaching goals. My Drop In C-Suite Academy & 1-2-1 Coaching help you to manage challenging topics such as this.

When technology is doing more harm than good, resulting in inefficiencies and creating more division, it’s time to stop with technology and find ways of connecting with humanity.

If you need more convincing, Business Insider shares additional insights about 9 Subtle Ways Technology is Making Humanity Worse. I also discuss in almost every chapter of The CEO’s Compass: that human connectivity and development is at the core of every change you need to get back on track. I’ve learned that once you build connections with people, then the use of technology can be an asset to exponentially create value. This too, can be evolved with support of a guide through my leadership and competency development offers.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service:

P.S. C-Suite Academy enrollment is now open. This experience starts August 22nd, but enrollment ends August 15th. Message me for more information.

Three Warning Signs Your Team Needs Emotional Support

July 15, 2022

It pains me to see talented people succumb to the challenges of dynamic work environments without a support system. I was once one of those people for which there was no support in my environment except my poor husband who listened for hours. I know everyone reading this article knows at least 1 or 2 people who are distressed and need some level of emotional support. However, leaders don’t always see the signs. If not dealt with early, they become potentially performance issues as shared by my recent podcast guest Anthony Casablanca.

The early signs may manifest in the individual:

Pulling away from engaging
Having low or no energy or
Having unexplained delays or deflection

I implore you to not turn away and say it’s not your problem, because we rise and fall together. One weak link may not affect you today, but perhaps tomorrow when the person does not show up for work… ever.

Emotional support is becoming a conversation to have at the table and not behind closed doors. If you can help your team with their emotional support, more than likely a few individuals will highly benefit from simply starting the conversation. It all starts with you as a leader simply asking how people are feeling. Ask deep open ended questions about what challenges are they having and what is the impact. I often find that with increasing pressures, people don’t have good prioritization skills. In my article How to make better decisions we give our team better tools to prioritize their work and navigate complexity with confidence.

If you see that the team collectively is in need of support, there is good advice from Brittney-Nichole Connor-Savarda, editor of in Emotional Intelligence Magazine and also a past guest on my podcast, The Drop In CEO. She shares insights from the work of Laurence Lee in How to Release Built-up Emotional Energy we need to engage in more:

Physical activity, like running, going to the gym, dancing, etc.
Creative release, like writing, painting, playing, or listening to music.
Time in nature: nature walks, grounding, time outside
Surrounding yourself with positive people
Meditation or prayer

Consider these leadership changes to get people more emotionally engaged vs. drained:

Change the work environment for a meeting to standing in a new location or taking walks while meeting.
Do something creative like having fidget toys or arts & crafts for people to use during ideation sessions.
Consider changing the environment of where you meet
Bring in guest speakers
Engage people in thinking time before starting some meeting with a question prompt.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service:

P.S. The C-Suite Academy enrollment is now open. This experience starts August 22nd. Enrollment ends August 15th. Message me for more information.

How to Encourage Networking within your Team

July 12, 2022

I wish I had someone give me advice about the importance of networking within your team and close circle. Some people just seem to have a knack for this; you see them joking and swapping stories about cookouts they attended or chatting about a recent sporting event. You watch this and wish you could do that, but shy away because it feels awkward. Not only am I talking about myself and you if you’ve ever experienced this, but I’m also speaking to the leaders who see this competency gap in their people.

What are you doing to provide feedback in a way that is positive and shows the value of networking? It is the difference between a team that simply gets results vs. a high performing team that fulfills a purpose and leaves an impact.

Fast Company speaks to the benefits of internal networking:

“When you continually network with other employees within your company, you’re building relationships, establishing rapport, and cultivating a mutual trust and respect that will enable higher productivity and a better overall work experience.”

I learned later that it takes a concerted effort to 1) choose to network, 2) decide how and who to network with, 3) actually doing it, 4) and being clear about the outcome you want to achieve.

I remember going to a networking event feeling quite awkward, but went in with the mindset that I would work the room and by the end give out 3 business cards. With that intention, I gave out 2 business cards and was later asked to join the board because I had the right presence and the way I spoke, they felt I would be a great leader. This worked well for me, but was guess work. I had no formula for successfully building a network.

We need to set an example for ourselves and the team to practice building this competency so it becomes natural. I wrote an article “How to be a Memorable Networker” . In it, I provide a step by step process on how to start a conversation with emphasis on asking well placed questions, listening and showing the other person you heard them. It is the foundation of building relationships.

I remember spending time with our sales team and hearing the complaints from customers and how we were not meeting their expectations. While solving the customer’s issue was important, the greater opportunity was building a trusting relationship with the sales person; letting them know we heard them. With that approach, future conversations went from a colleague who may rant about poor performance to one of collaboration and how do we make the customer right. This is the value of internal networking.

Zig Zigler once said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

When we spend time building this competency that enables better relationships, the individual and the team can achieve higher levels of performance. People need to focus on building competencies as leading indicators of success. When people hone these competencies, the performance and results will come.

While I’ve shared the importance of it, we now need to encourage it in ourselves and the people in our circle. Ask a colleague to go for a walk with you, join you for coffee, invite them over for a barbecue, go to lunch, set up a 1-2-1 and just set aside time to get to know each other and not always about work. These actions are simple to do, but it starts with your mindset, your intention and the willingness to try it. With all new competencies it takes practice until it becomes a skill. Are you ready to invest in this new skill?

If this insight was helpful, share this article with others. If you have a unique challenge and wish to have a complementary conversation, please reach out to me. I love helping C-Suite leaders of today and tomorrow reach their career goals.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service:

The Formula for Marketing Your Leadership

June 30, 2022

Great wisdom comes when you reach out to your network and ask two simple questions:

What were the opportunities you had that supported your career growth?
What were the challenges and how did you manage them?

I started on a journey to curate the best insights from industry leaders and bring them forward to you so you don’t have to struggle. Both leaders of today and tomorrow have the same challenges; just at different levels of evolution. To my surprise, connecting professionals has had a significant impact for me on many fronts. 1) It gives me the opportunity to stay current on the issues facing leaders of today and tomorrow. 2) It also allows me to build relationships with people I sincerely care about. I am pleased to share the insights I’ve gained from a corporate leader who I recently spoke to.

Why do you lead and what is the value you provide to people in your care?

Leadership, if one chooses, is a pursuit that continually evolves with a positive attitude and a thirst for knowledge. Whether through being a lifelong learner, having a mentor or investing a mastermind, we always need to develop these skills to have the best impact on the people we serve and lead on our journey. The first step is to check yourself and ask if you want to lead and what type of leader you want to be.

I find this step is the first in determining Who you are, Who you serve, How you will serve and what problems you can solve. This simple exercise getting crystal clear on your “elevator pitch” is the key to practicing and then coming forth as this leader. After all, being a leader is about marketing a vision and inspiring others to follow and elevate their capability to achieve. Learning marketing as part of your toolkit is a key step in messaging who you are. If you can say it and see it, then you become it!

Evolve your value in an environment that cultivates your passion and skills.

Find a job you are passionate about, consider a rapidly growing / changing company and one with opportunities to interface with customers. When you love the work you’re doing and throw in a fast paced environment, learning is at its highest level both the good and bad. You learn from this process and iterate rapidly to hone your technical and leadership skills. I found when I work in startup companies, you wear a lot of hats, you have broad responsibilities and you see the impact of your work much faster.

“Pursue excellence in everything you do and give up on perfection.”

Once you’ve honed your value and expertise, you must be able to apply your skills with speed and agility. People need to see your value and also be brought along in the process. We must have grace when it’s not perfect and acknowledge our humanity. With leadership comes the responsibility to have an impact, but also be mindful of any risk of not doing things right. Leadership is about gaining respect of the people in your care and when they understand this style of leadership, they will follow and have your back.

Be a student of people – this is how you connect and have greater impact.

When you take your technical knowledge and add the art of reading & engaging with people, you perfect your impact. You need to read their body language, their engagement and how they look at people. I might also add you should focus on what is said, but more importantly what is not said. Sometimes the silence speaks volumes and a wise leader will study this deeply.

Invest in learning vs training.

Leaders need to assure that the training of their people achieves a greater outcome by coaching the skills needed until competency is achieved. Through an iterative process of asking questions about their training and how they apply it to what they do and how they think, we transcend the spectrum to a learning environment. Companies that simply check the box of training as a matter of compliance miss an opportunity to communicate a message that they care. By showing people you care about them as humans vs. a transaction we build trust in your leadership and might I say, your brand.

Always ask for feedback.

Great companies engage with people as part of consumer insights and market research to ensure the products and services provided meet their needs. Leaders that recognize that while we are in service to the needs of external customers, investing in the feedback of your internal customers provides you insight into what people are thinking. Create a culture of always asking for feedback. If you know me, I teach a workshop in providing a positive framework for soliciting feedback: What should I continue, what should I start doing and what should I change. All constructive and actionable for which leaders leverage these insights and make interactive improvements. People respect this action and continue to solidify your position as a leader worth following.

Learn what you will do and not do.

Great wisdom can be gained by modeling the behavior of leaders you admire and have succeeded. Even more powerful is knowing what you will not do as a result of a leader you have worked for. Taking the time to qualify your values and ways of working also add to your marketability as a leader. Yes, I am inserting the concept of marketability, because after all, people are loyal to great brands or great leaders. Being consistent in the leader you want to be and leading with your values will resonate with the people who are attracted to you and will support you.

Embrace the 70 / 30 Rule: be the leaders you want to be and it will happen.

We are required to deliver results and our employees, the business and our customers depend on us to execute consistently. However, you must continue to invest in yourself and evolve your impact by seeing and acting at the next level. This is the key to being seen and recognized for the next level. This wise leader shared that the formula is to be 70% in your current role and 30% performing at the next level. Take some time to look over the work content you do on a daily basis. Pick areas where you can improve your skill. One example I had was in the way I did presentations. Most leaders at my level did powerpoints in bullet form and spoke to their talking points. At the next level of leadership presentations, visuals and pictures were used to communicate messages and only supplemented by a few talking points. The presentation moves from a place of disseminating information to one that communicates powerful messages for influence.

What does all this mean?

In a Center for Creative Leadership Article, self promotion can be an asset to both yourself and your team. Leadership comes down to your value and marketing of who you are and how you will lead. When we establish our core values, be clear and consistent on our ways of working along with continually learning and evolving to the future needs of the market (your people, the business and customers), we evolve into the leader we want to be. We don’t often think about marketing ourselves as it can be seen as “showy”. However, we need to own how we show up in the market and become a person worthy of loyalty and followers; that’s marketing plain and simple.

Many thanks to the leader who inspired this article. I’m forever grateful to know this person and to share their insights with you.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service:

3 Questions to Mitigate a Future Crisis

June 24, 2022

I was tired, stressed and burnt out. I would come home each night and tell my husband something has to change. I would share what happened that day, what I had to do that night and then the next day; rinse and repeat. The challenges of managing a crisis, or shall I say multiple, were immense. I mustered all my energy and that of others to get through it and ultimately we did. I often reflect, was there a better way?

I wish I had a support system that would have advised me better during a series of crises in my last corporate role. But given that is in the past, I can only pass on some wisdom to help you to avoid a crisis or to come out better in the end. While I and my team weathered the storm of a quality issue, I wonder if we’ll ever get back the weeks & months of our lives. We were stressed and spent so many hours away from the things we love such as family, community and activity; all in the name of managing through a crisis.

According to a Forbes article report, 72% of those who came out whole in the end sought advice from their outside counsel. This is what makes leaders stronger, while for others, it can be their demise.

The formula comes down to three simple principles of what to do in a crisis:

Ask yourself what to do
Ask your team what to do
Ask someone from the outside

Ask yourself what to do: You are the leader and either through past experience or having the skills to navigate, you already have 80% of the answers in how to manage the situation. It’s served you in the past, but sometimes you need more input in order to succeed.

Ask your team what to do: If you’ve build a trusting relationship and they have your back, the team can fill in the blanks of managing through a crisis because of their depth of experience in their area of expertise. Their input enriches or course correct the experience you already have. They will validate your approach and bringing them along, they will work the crisis with you. You’ve gained another 15% of knowledge to navigate, but there is still something missing.

Ask someone from the outside: The missing 5% of how to manage a crisis can make or break a leader. Those that seek outside council are confident in themselves and recognize their strengths; but also where they don’t have all the answers. Some see this as a weakness or moreover, they can’t see it as a weakness because they’re heads down muscling through the crisis. This is where leaders fail because they look like they have it all figured out, but the outcome is quite different resulting in burnout.

The most important question a leader can ask is what else do they not know. Those that ask for outside counsel are seen as the strong leaders and those worth following into the next crisis. It ultimately comes down to: how do you know what you don’t know? By asking yourself, asking your team and asking someone from the outside, you build the confidence you need to be the leader of today and also model the behavior for those who follow you. And now I turn to you… will you ask for help?

The Drop In CEO is here to help; all you have to do is ask.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service:

How to Prevent a Crisis with 7 Principles of the CEO’s Compass

June 15, 2022

According to Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) 2021 Global Crisis Survey, 62% of businesses used their crisis plan in response to the pandemic and 95% of the businesses reported their crisis management plans needed to be improved. Is Crisis Management a compliance activity neatly tucked in the corner until you need it or an integrated conversation into our daily / weekly / monthly operational conversations? Based on that 95% statistic, I think it’s time to wake up leadership to the harsh reality that their job is not done until they apply the 7 Principles of The CEO’s Compass.

When I’ve dropped into Crisis events over the last 20 years, I have found a common theme amongst leaders. They have a false sense of calm because they can check the box on their compliance activities. They’re getting results (most of the time) and their team is loyal (or perhaps complacent). This calm before the storm is common and those that don’t respond quickly to a changing landscape (loss of a leader, changing customer requirements, changing customer perception), they find themselves moving down the Crisis Scale from being in Control, down to Chaos and finally Crisis. When I’m finally called into bring things back into Control and move them up the scale to Continuous Improvement and further into a Competitive Advantage, The CEO’s Compass provides you the direction of where you’re off track and how to make course corrections:

Framework of The CEO’s Compass to Navigate to Peace of Mind

Purpose – test the landscape and ask if people understand the purpose of the company in the context of their job function. This is an indicator that cascaded communications are effective
Performance – no longer the lagging indicator of results (quality, service, safety, sales), but leading indicators of closing the capacity, capability & confidence gaps of your team to meet the purpose of the company.
Past – if you or your direct leadership team cannot articulate the deep culture that each individual brings to the table, go find out now. In doing so, you pay respect to the individual and their unique qualities that made them special and the right to be part of the organization
Pride – building on understanding one’s past and their culture, you need to go the extra mile and understand their unique gifts and intellectual property they have. Whether you use them or not, by asking the question, you pay respect to the individual, they tend to be more loyal and you never know when you may need to leverage those gifts. Leaders that skip Past & Pride simply have a transactional workforce and they leave their minds & hearts at the door to your business.
People – developing the mindset & skills of your people fall on you to remove any barriers to enable them to reach their full potential. Ensure you have a robust program that starts with strategic investment in your people through 1-2-1’s and capability development.
Process – the dynamic between individuals and functional groups is as important as people development. Without coaching team dynamics and leveraging each other’s skills, you will fall victim to wasted time and lost revenue due to process inefficiencies.
Platform – a leader who has an evolving team and moving towards high performance needs to provide them with tools to assure they can maintain high performance. Often tools that enable good decision logic, prioritization and accountability are critical when your people are taking on more work and need to increase their efficiency & effectiveness else they’ll burnout. 77% of people surveyed in a Deloitte survey say they’ve experienced burnout.

I can assure you that most leaders are off track on 2-3 of these guiding principles to prevent a crisis. There is nothing in here about a crisis, communication or risk mitigation plan as typically developed by your Crisis Management Officer. If you’ve not shored up the compass, you become the 95% statistic of the company not being prepared and needing to make improvements. For the team that is navigating towards Peace of Mind, the 8th compass point, the Crisis is the opportunity for which their fullest potential will be realized.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service. Click the link if you’ve been thinking:

Is Your Team Loyal or Complacent?

June 10, 2022

The worst thing that can happen to a leader is to have a complacent workforce. You may be getting your results and the team is perceived as loyal and dependable. However, underneath the tip of the iceberg is a crisis brewing. The crisis becomes the inability for you as a leader to navigate, should anyone leave the organization or possibly become obsolete because your team simply doesn’t care to grow. You’re lulled into a sense of calm when in actuality you’re doing a disservice to the people in your care and the organization you lead. For my audience that may not be a leader of others, the content in this article can be valuable tips for you to take action before you become obsolete.

Planning for a crisis instills a sense of urgency and a risk mitigating mindset. When it comes to a complacent workforce, it is a crisis in the making. It is a matter of time before the planets line up and you have challenges in achieving your results.

Let me refresh you on the Crisis Scale so you understand my reference:

5 – Crisis: You’re losing customers, resources, competitive advantage
4- Chaos: You’re not losing customers yet, but you’re in fire fighting mode and trying to survive another day.
3- Control: You have everything in order and achieve your results.
2- Continuous Improvement: You continually seek new ways of performing
1- Competitive Advantage: Your customers are asking you to share your best practices.

Framework to ensure your team is loyal vs. complacent:

Challenge them with Breadth or Depth – For the subject matter expert, give them a project in a new area for which they have less expertise. For the generalist who knows a lot in many areas, give them a project where they need to increase their knowledge & impact in a specific area.
Push them out of the nest – Make it part of their development plan that they need to move to a new role every 1-2 years. It forces them to prepare for the change and capture their tribal knowledge to share with the next person. It also builds new skills in anticipating change.
Create a sense of urgency – Start the dialog to let them know they’ll need to grow in breadth and depth and ask them to come with suggestions on where and how they’ll do that. It creates more value for the organization and it makes them more valuable. Without creative input brought to the conversation can be a condition of employment and a good review.
Where a career ladder is not established suggest alternatives – If someone is at the top of their career position (i.e Director of procurement), suggest areas where they can work in different areas of the business that are downstream. This may include working in Operations or Quality where the output of their current role in procurement has an impact on those other functions for which they can add value as well as learn.
Help them discover opportunities before they experience a crisis – This is especially important to the less senior employee who has a thirst for knowledge. Often they leave the company because they become bored. However, if you create an “apprenticeship” model for which they rotate every 6 months, you keep them interested and engaged.

The impact of this framework is creating a workforce that is loyal to you or the company because you simply cared. You cared about them as a person to seek additional value from them and invested in their learning. They become loyal to you and will bring their “A” game to the challenges and even more important, you will leave a legacy in the minds of people in your care. After all, the loyal connections we make are far more important than simply the results of a complacent workforce.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service and then get you to this week’s insights:

The Five Steps for a Successful Crisis

June 5, 2022

Want to skip to the how-to? Find my framework here: https://bit.ly/3m5yFNu

In response to a potential recall, the response team assembled waiting for the results of our investigation. The inventory team was able to account for every location of the product both in-house and at customer sites. The customer service and sales leads were ready to advise customers of a potential disruption and course of action to mitigate the supply. While I hate to admit it, I was grateful for legal counsel and corporate communications ready to advise next steps in managing stakeholders and industry perception. When the meeting was done, I was able to confirm all systems functioned as expected and we successfully completed our mock recall. This wasn’t a real situation, but it could have been.

While no one wants to live through a crisis; whether product related, natural disasters or a cyber security threat, knowing you can successfully survive a crisis can afford a leader peace of mind. The key question you should ask yourself is, do you know all your systems work as expected?

As a senior leader if you are reading this, have you given all your people the tools needed to be successful in managing a crisis? If you’re an expert within an organization, have you ever tested everything to be sure it works vs. checking the box and saying everything is in place? What is written down on paper and neatly tucked away vs. reality in action are two different things.

I never want anyone to have to go through a crisis, but for some it is a testament to good planning and testing your systems. For others, it may be their demise for which they ask the question, “How could this have happened?” I want you to be prepared and give you something to think about how to be successful in managing a crisis.

Framework for a Successful Crisis

Prepare your People for a Crisis – this is far more than simply a fire drill or annual training. Leaders need to integrate conversations about crisis and risk management in everyday conversations. Ask yourself if you are comfortable speaking about it, ask your people what then need to be successful and ask an expert to get the additional insight you need to assure your systems are designed well.
Planning for a Crisis – once you’ve curated all the expertise and documented the systems to manage a crisis, again ask your people if they understand their role in response to a crisis. This goes far beyond the annual on line training needed for compliance and checking the box. I’m talking about true conversations with people to confirm understanding and their important role in supporting crisis management.
Pressure Test the Crisis – the schools see the value of preparing children to respond to emergencies, but other than a fire drill at work, I don’t see many companies testing their systems. In the world of flavors & food manufacturing we regularly conduct “mock recalls” to test our ability to manage a crisis to mitigate any harm to humans. At your next leadership meeting, ask your team what systems need to be pressure tested to give you peace of mind the team is prepared?
Post mortem the Crisis – after the event is complete whether real or simply a pressure test, always evaluate what worked and what did not. Be sure to give thanks to those that engaged and how they performed. When things didn’t go as expected, seek the opportunities that can better prepare the team. No one likes a crisis and there is often emotional damage in response to such an event. Leaders need to not only take the situation seriously, but the people dimension is critical to get through the current crisis and future events.
Performance Improvement to close gaps in the Crisis – this is where a lot of companies simply move on to business as usual and lack the structure to keep gap closure top of mind. This is as critical as your top line growth initiatives. Failure to close gaps in your crisis management system will be your next gravely expensive line item on your P&L; negating all the work you did for top line growth.

For those who have a keen eye for how I structured this framework, I leveraged the continuous improvement methodology of PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Act). Whether you’re a Senior executive or a specialist on the front line, PDCA is a sound method for ensuring systems perform as expected. If you’d like to learn more about preparing your team for a crisis or learning more about the PDCA framework for continuous improvement, let’s schedule a call to see how I can partner with you.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service. Click if you’re thinking any of the following:

What Peanut Butter Can Teach Your About Your Business

May 26, 2022

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service. Click the link if you’re thinking the following:

What Peanut Butter Can Teach Your About Your Business

I gasped as I read the news about a peanut butter recall and I thought to myself: “Thank goodness that’s not me.” In a past life, I was faced with such a crisis for which we mitigated a significant event, but I never wanted to go through that again. Yet, some senior leaders are aware there are inherent risks in their business, but de-prioritize work to avoid such an issue because they think “That will never happen to us”… and then the unexpected happens. Let me remind you of the 1993 Jack in the Box E.coli outbreak that killed 4 children and infected 732 people and the impact it made on so many lives.

Why do C-Suite leaders take the knowledge provided by their subject matter experts and not act on those risks? Some leaders choose to ignore the risk because they don’t give much credibility to the people they hire to highlight those risks. To them it’s just noise and they don’t feel the pain yet. For some leaders, funding or resources could be an issue for which they may defer to invest hoping that time is their friend. Wise leaders may seek mitigating actions to lessen the risk until funds or resources can be applied. The sad truth is when you roll the dice and the risk becomes a reality, leaders take the victim’s position and ask a naive question: “How could this have happened?”

The peanut butter recall is the tip of the iceberg. This is what got out and potentially negatively impacted people or at the least a significant inconvenience. This is all serious, but do people realize how serious? What about all those small risks that exist in our businesses for which we hope our systems don’t let bad things into the market and impact our customers? However, are we sure that all systems are always working and there is no risk?

I know leaders must make decisions everyday based on the information at hand and making the best decisions possible that support people, the business, the community, shareholders and consumers. It’s a daunting job they face everyday, but what could be done now to be more sure tomorrow than you were today that you’re not the next peanut butter story in the news. Not everyone makes peanut butter, but we all make decisions in our business everyday and provide products or services to our customers.

Framework for avoiding risk in your business

Ask the 3 most important people about where there is risk. Ask yourself, ask your team and ask an advisor. You already know 80% of the risk, your team another 15% but that 5% from an external view may be the one that bites you if you don’t know it’s there.
Qualify & Quantify the risks in your business that will drive action. Unless it’s documented, prioritized and assigned an action, you’re following yourself that you have a risk mitigation plan.
Pressure test the risk and make sure all your controls perform as expected, rinse and repeat. As leaders, we need to trust but also verify your controls are effective. Find a way test your systems vs. auditing or simply relying on data. Taking a blind eye to what is lurking below can be your biggest mistake.
Be the leader that your consumer needs you to be. Make sure you can see your end consumer and picture the worst thing that can happen if you don’t mitigate the risk. It could be as small as the battery running out on a toy for which you visualize a child crying due to disappointment. A better leader is the one that can visualize the child who is run to the hospital because the battery broke and injured the child. The child needed you to be the leader and avoid the risk. If you didn’t mitigate the risk, you need to ask yourself if you should be a leader.

The next step is up to you. It may sound simple and you have “people” that take care of this for you. But are there experts in your care that have been escalating risk, but you’ve not been listening or taking serious action? Do they know how to articulate what is really a risk vs noise and how can you help them to give you the information you need to make good decisions? All of this takes time and I could be a resource for you to help you to look at your business and be sure you are not the next peanut butter story to hit the news.

If you would like to download your own copy of the framework for avoiding risk in your business click here.

Resources

Good Reads

Individual Advantages: Find the I in Team by Brian Smith – I’m reading this book right now and can’t wait to get into the details. I’ve met the author and I’m connecting again in June to share what I learned from it. The core of this is that we rise to our leadership roles because of the hard work we do. But the greatest legacy we can leave is to work with our teams and elevate them for a lasting impact. We need to find the true gift that we or “I” have as our advantage to move people.

Good Music

Megan Wofford – Awake – I’ve always been averse to risk and never took chances. However, with maturity, taking a risk is what can propel you forward. So I know the article I wrote can be a bit scary, but there is an upside to risk, especially investing in yourself. Lately, in building my business I’ve been taking calculated risks for which I’m starting to see the fruits of my efforts. This piece called “Awake” is smooth and reassuring that life has a way of smoothing things out if you take the right calculated risks.

Good Advice

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The formula comes down to three simple principles of what to do in a crisis:

Framework of The CEO’s Compass to Navigate to Peace of Mind

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Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service and then get you to this week’s insights:

Framework for a Successful Crisis

What Peanut Butter Can Teach Your About Your Business

Framework for avoiding risk in your business

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