Understanding the greater good: what makes a leader at times of crisis?
During this crisis, leaders across the board are faced with an uncomfortable truth; if you put off making key decisions then you will pay a heavy price for your lack of action. This is when real leaders stand up and make a difference to their people, their business and their future.
Three key areas discussed are:
- Leadership – Leaders cannot waste time and must make hard decisions early and quickly.
- Customers – You must be in touch with and understand your customer base and their evolving needs or they will go to someone who does.
- Commercial decisions – Going early on hard commercial decisions for the greater good of the company is key. Waiting costs money.
You cannot test the real strength of a person, leader or a culture until it has been exposed to some type of crisis situation.
Anyone or any culture can appear strong when things are good - it’s that unexpected moment when everything turns ugly when the truth is exposed. A crisis accelerates normal conditions and brings to a head what’s deep inside a leader or culture, good and bad.
Good leaders know that it’s not always about right or wrong, or fair and unfair in fast decision making. This is not a luxury some decisions can be based on.
Good leaders know it’s about finding the best way forward under the circumstances. It might not be right for some people and it might be unfair for others however the hard decisions are why leaders are put in place. They must not only make the call – they need to get everyone on board with it. This is where real leadership stands tall.
Some companies will fail in this crisis. A few of them are just facing some horribly bad luck, some had circumstances work against them and some will be found out for not making tough decisions about their business when they had the chance. Leaders who have procrastinated in the past are now being found out.
So, what can you do?
Every leader, manager or senior executive reading this will know in his or her gut about decisions within their business which have been put off. We all procrastinate and we can all justify our inaction - too busy or other urgent priorities of the moment.
When you are back in the office, get a small core group of your leadership team together as soon as possible and tackle each of these “elephants in the room” one at a time. You will know what these issues are – we all have them. By doing so now, you set your company on a roadmap that can possibly succeed in any crisis.
If you go back to the office and carry on with only a few tweaks to your operating model then you have failed to use a crisis to maximum benefit. This is the chance now to change the things you always wanted to but felt we’re too big to chew on – it’s time.
Yes, things are going to change in all companies after this crisis but it’s your leadership which will determine whether these changes are significant and real or just fiddling around the edges. Either way - it’s your choice.
