When sales are down or complaints are up and leaders are given an urgent mandate to turn things around, often they make things worse in the process of trying to do good. Sound familiar?
Yes, there are power points that describe Why there is a sense of urgency, but behaviors such as rapid firing emails and assigning owners in such a short amount of time to show something is being done shows a lack of discipline.
In the process, you have disrupted the organization without consideration of current workload of the tapped resources and you’ve elevated the emotions of those you need to focus on the issue at hand.
What should have been taken care of all along because the issue is most like not a surprise. The waiting to pull the trigger and realize that things are going bad fast should elevate a different set of behaviors in an organization.
So I suggest leaders take a stern look at themselves and ask could the crisis could have been avoided. Also, could you have approached the crisis that you caused a bit differently?
Navigating with calm is the key to chaos management
Now, I could have called this crisis management, but there’s a distinction that I need to make. The drop in sales or the increase in complaints is the crisis that was caused due to lack of earlier action. The effect is amplified because you’ve imparted chaos on top of crisis, making what you are doing less effective.
Is there a better way?
As a leader, you are paid well and have the responsibility to instill confidence in the direction and in the people you lead. Bring them along in conversation so the engagement is two way vs. top down. When people are part of the conversation, their level of understanding is much deeper, you lessen the emotional whiplash and you share the action plan collectively.
Top down directives are the worse way to wear your team out in the process. You may prevail through the crisis and the chaos you created, but your team will think twice if they want to stay in such an environment.
Is this a real scenario that I’ve lived through? Yup! Too many times, so the issue needed to be raised.
While I wrote this in a tone directed to you, it was intentional to get your attention.
If you are one of those leaders, let me partner with you on a calm approach to mitigate crisis and instill confidence without the chaos.
If you know someone who is behaving this way, you have some tools to provide kind feedback to change their approach.
If you are someone who has experienced such an event, you are wiser now because when you are faced with a crisis, you can navigate with confidence and be the leader others will follow.
If you want to vent because of a bad experience, let’s talk. I’m a great listening partner and in the process, you learn the secrets of the C-Suite and become the next “CEO”.
Until we speak, be well
-Deb
