As I was listening to the presentations I was reminded of a number of leadership principles from two classic books, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins that apply to leaders and how they lead in uncertain times. I will outline a few of these principles below.
So what can a leader do to lead their organization and teams through this maze and help them to prosper in times of uncertainty? There are many actions leaders can take but I suggest 3 main areas to focus on.
1. Focus on your strategic plan and create a compelling vision for success.
Leaders need to see through the clutter of their environment and create a clear compelling vision for their organization that their teams can rally around. Covey’s Habit of being proactive is a cornerstone of creating your vision. Proactive leaders take initiative and respond proactively and positively to their circumstances. They look at the environment and focus on the opportunity and what they can control. They expand their circle of influence, minimize their circle of concern and create positive energy for their teams. People are attracted to visionary leaders who articulate a clear path to success.
Leaders need to be disciplined in their strategic planning process and focus on excellence in their core businesses and their value propositions instead of a undisciplined pursuit of more that Collins describes in his book. Leaders need to learn from the past; their successes, failures and pay close attention to their financial and operational dashboard to help them formulate their strategic imperatives.
In times of uncertainty, a simplified strategic plan that is focused on excellence, your value proposition and your core businesses must be clearly and frequently communicated and measured.
2. Focus on employee engagement.
How engaged and committed to your corporate mission and strategies are your employees? In order to thrive and prosper in uncertain times it is imperative leaders focus on actions that engage their workforce. Recent employee engagement studies have shown the correlation between organization performance ( higher revenues, EBITDA, customer satisfaction, innovation and productivity) and highly engaged workforces.
Leaders need to be highly visible and engage in conversations with their teams frequently. Leaders need to talk less and ask questions and listen actively. When they need to speak, it should be with honesty and facts. People follow leaders who are authentic, transparent and have high integrity. Tell it straight and don’t sugar coat it. Your teams have ideas to make things better. Ask them to develop innovative and creative ideas to help the business. Then act and implement the best ideas and recognize the contributions of the team. There is no better time to invest in your people than right now!
3. Focus on the core of your organization…your values and culture to help navigate through uncertainty.
Your values are your moral compass as a leader. What you do, what decisions you make, how you show up, how you engage your teams is driven by what is most important to you. Leaders need to actively demonstrate their values through consistent behavior and actions. Value based leadership helps shape the corporate culture of your organization. In times of uncertainty, your corporate culture and value system will help you and your team drive and lead change that may be required.
Leaders need to identify their most important values, communicate them with their teams along with the expected behaviors. Leaders also need to also focus and spend more time on cultivating and embracing their corporate cultures.