Practical Thoughts and Approaches to Leading in Tough Times.
- Karl Bevan
- Feb 18, 2018
- 2 min read
A selection of practical thoughts and approaches for leading operational groups, teams or departments in tough times…
The nuts team have recently been involved in working with companies that are working through tough times and by being actively involved with the operational leadership and management of these clients we have collated together some of the practical approaches that arose from the virtual coaching sessions to share with the wider NUTS audience past and new…
Many of these will not be new but what we learnt and realised during our work with the individual’s managers is that their performance state during the tough times reduced their capacity to think clearly and objectively and the just got sucked into the chaos and negatively charged environment around them at times…
Remember to communicate even more, often managers worry about what they have to say and can avoid the negative conversations that keep occurring during tough times, but leaders thrive on this period by engaging and communicating more…they manage it by having shorter sessions, use new ways where travel bans or remote access limits such as Skype or what’s app groups, yammer etc. they also allow people to vent, but limit this period, acknowledge constraints that can’t be changed and turn the focus to where there is choice…
Keep all communication simple and clear, there is a tendency to want to explain more and this can lead to embellishment or more complexity that only causes more concern and creates even more negative distractions…
Effective leaders also realise that they are being relevant and effective by being in touch with their reports and teams more in tough times, just being available ensures people communicate more, small issues are handled quicker and stopped from snowballing and individuals who are struggling can be picked up quicker and doubts and negativity can be managed and handled before it becomes a cultural RAS (focus) taking energy from other more productive and rewarding tasks…
We noticed that organisations become very dynamic when in tough times and communication from the top is not always clear or reasoned and we found the most successful managers were those who remained authentic and stated when they did not know the answers or even ‘why the business was or wasn’t doing something’ as this was far better than appearing to just be a mouthpiece for corporate speak or say things they did not believe or feel comfortable as this just triggered more defensive (guard) states within the operational staff and reduced productivity and focus. The leaders who were more authentic retained respect from their reports, co-workers and peers and therefore were better able to focus them on daily activity that provided some form of fulfilment for the individuals and they could at least say, feel or see that they still had a purpose and could add value to the customer etc…
This is our first blog on this and more will follow if you are interested?