In today’s economic environment things are going financially wrong everyday in virtually every office in the world. Whether it’s being behind in your budget, not generating the amount of revenue from current clients you need to, or failing to land new customers; you’re behind – we’re behind. So, what do we do? Let me rephrase the question, what do leaders do when the chips are down? Good question. I’d love to tell you to sit down and make some lists, become very logical, suck the emotion out of the situation, and go forward but that’s just stupid and useless. You want REAL advice?
In my time I’ve had my fair share of disappointments like lost bonuses, nasty bankruptcies, missed revenue goals, etc. What I have chosen to do is look at historical figures that have beaten the odds or have come back from heart breaking shortcomings to succeed when it mattered most. I love the comeback story because it offers up a dump truck-sized load of hope showing that it can be done and things can get better. You’ve got to find an example of significance you can hold on to. Hope is what both your people and you need “when the breaks are beating the boys”. Hollywood almost deifies the comeback story. If you really want to find one it won’t be too hard. I’m a Notre Dame fan so Rudy works just fine for me.
The next part is sharing your feelings and thoughts with your people from your heart. I can guarantee you that they would love to know what you think and feel. When you choose to open up and share they will begin to bond with you, which creates a tighter-knit team. It’s kind of like the whole “Us against the world!” mentality. Most leaders aren’t fans of this approach because they’d rather be the one with all the answers who has perfect faith in the company and the corporate office to do the right thing. Unfortunately that does little good and in some cases creates more issues like driving people away. Your crew needs you to identify with them. If you take the non-emotional, dead fish route you might as well trade your people in for robots because they won’t work for you like they could, which may make things worse. It’s crazy, but when you identify with your people and share your own feelings you give them hope. You are the key to a brighter future.
You don’t have all the answers and neither do I, but I can tell you that this is not a time to give up. Things will get better and there’s a good chance you’ll be around to see that happen. In the mean time, hold your people close and help them get through it because they need you and you need them.
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