Ignite! Newsletter—January 2009 Article
Acknowledging Reality, Defining a Direction, and Managing People’s Energy
In times of uncertainty, people need information, direction, and a clear plan for action. If leaders do not address these issues, people will tend to imagine the worst. Self-preservation and an individual focus will end up replacing the collaboration and cooperation necessary for an organization to survive. The result is a loss of organization-wide focus that inevitably leads to declines in productivity and profitability—the very outcomes that companies are hoping to avoid.
It’s a pattern that Scott Blanchard, Executive Vice President of The Ken Blanchard Companies, has seen repeated many times. To survive and thrive during an uncertain economic environment, Blanchard recommends that leaders adopt three strategies: acknowledge reality, define a direction, and manage people’s energy.
Acknowledge Reality
People get nervous when times are uncertain. Therefore, during difficult and uncertain times, employees need more information, not less.
Share the realities of the current economic situation with your employees. What does the situation look like from your point of view? Be honest. Now is not the time for sugar-coating. The stakes are too high. You want your people to know that they can trust you and that begins by sharing information. Even if you do not have the complete answers that you would like to have, it is important to share what you do know. Now is not the time to take a “wait and see” approach to communicating strategy or to provide information on an “as needed” basis.
Instead, maintain regular communication throughout your organization and insist that other leaders throughout the company—including department heads, mid-level managers, supervisors, and team leaders—do the same. Make sure that everyone makes an effort to increase the amount of communication that they are having with their direct reports.
Define a Direction
Employees want to know that senior leadership has evaluated the company’s position, and has a plan for dealing with it. They also want to know how their role fits in and contributes to that overall plan.
The best companies right now are creating well-thought-out plans for people to come together and respond. Yet many companies remain at risk in this critical area because people lack clarity regarding exactly what they are supposed to be doing to achieve success on the job.
“In our experience, only about a third of people actually feel crystal clear about what their job responsibilities and their accountabilities are,” explains Blanchard. “Less than 25% of people understand exactly how their job contributes to the organization’s success. Less than 15% have real confidence that their senior executive group has a clear strategic plan that they understand and really agree with.”
What is the situation in your organization? Have you charted a course of action that is proactive and gives people a way to contribute, rather than sit back, worry, and wait?
Manage People’s Energy
Leadership is about managing energy, and right now it is incumbent upon every manager and every business to manage that energy as effectively as possible.
“If leaders don't manage people’s energy and their emotion and their fear, then what is going to happen is very predictable,” explains Blanchard. “Employees are going to spend more energy worrying about things that they cannot control, rather than focusing on doing things as best as they can within their control.”
These are extraordinary times. Leaders need to think differently, they need to act differently, and they need to take action now rather than sitting around and watching things unfold around them.
Focus on the positive. It helps to balance the viewpoint that everything is falling apart. What is the reality of business in your industry? Is business forecast to be flat, down 10%, even down 25%? Chances are the reality of the forecast is better than the rumors. Find the bright spots, present a balanced view. Let people know that good things are still happening.
Draw on past experience. Has your company faced a similar time in the past when business was extremely bad? Chances are, if you’ve been in business for any length of time, you have already faced difficult times successfully. Remind people of your company’s history of success.
Are you a newer company that has not experienced difficult times before? Look at this opportunity carefully. Could this be your time to show your commitment to your people? Is this an opportunity to show that everyone is in this together? Could you use this downturn to pull together and move forward while weaker companies contract and lose market share?
Looking Ahead
“It's hard to run a company when things are going well,” concludes Blanchard. “It is extremely hard to run a company when things are tough.”
“Right now we are at a place where the pressure is up and the stress is up and we need to pull together and really focus on working together to resolve these big issues.”
It would be nice to think that this current recession will be short and that conditions will improve quickly. The reality is that this current recession will require a sustained effort on the part of companies to weather it out. It will be a challenge—but one that strong companies, with good people practices, can rise up to. Acting strategically based on the realities faced, and managing people’s energy to remain focused and productive will greatly increase your organization’s chances to survive and thrive in the year ahead.
Would you like to learn more about leading people through turbulent times?
Then join us for a free webinar on January 21.
Managing People’s Energy: The Power of Alignment
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
9:00–10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, 12:00–1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
5:00–6:00 p.m. UK Time, 5:00–6:00 p.m. GMT
Leadership is about managing energy. In this webinar, Scott Blanchard, Executive Vice President of The Ken Blanchard Companies, will show you how to keep your employees’ energy focused and productive—even during uncertain economic times.
You’ll learn how to start the process by acknowledging the current situation, defining a direction for your company, and aligning people with a strategic direction in a way that keeps your company moving forward.
Using an innovative impact mapping system, you’ll also learn how to:
- Identify key objectives
- Cascade those objectives down to the department, team, and individual levels
- Deploy your people effectively
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn a proven method for engaging people in a common purpose and helping everyone to see how they contribute to the overall goals of the company. The result is a strong, aligned organization that can move quickly, boldly, and successfully through any financial turmoil that may lie ahead.