2020 is a year that will make or break leaders, and many organizations are facing a difficult business climate, and there aren’t many companies that aren’t facing decreased revenue, increased expenses, or all of the above. Here are the 5 most important things you should be doing as a leader.
#1: Be a realist
There’s a time to be a cheerleader and an optimist and there’s a time to be brutally honest. Right now, being real is far more effective than blissful optimism. Transparently paint the picture of the current situation and the hard work required to dig out, and cast the vision for the optimistic future that lies on the other side.
#2: Execute
Results are more important than training and development right now. Training your team is one of the most important things you can do, but some companies don’t even know if they’ll have the cash flow to keep their teams intact. Getting through a crisis is “on-the-job-training,” and the best thing you can do to protect your team and your company is to push for results.
#3: Focus
When you’re not hitting forecasted numbers, it’s easy to scramble and go on a scavenger hunt for money. That is bound to fail. Be strategic and find the small handful of the most important things you can do to increase revenue and decrease costs and then move forward bullishly with your plan of attack and be ready to pivot as needed.
#4: Be empathetic
You won’t get people to buy into your vision if you aren’t able to demonstrate you care, and you understand how this is impacting them. This is a tough time for your employees; volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are at all-time highs. Yes, all those things fall squarely on your shoulders, but that’s what you signed up for as a leader.
#5: Be bold
In exploring top talent. You probably have recent vivid memories of the pain you’ve felt trying to find top talent the past 5-7 years. Right now is the most volatile and uncertain period of time the past decade, and you have the opportunity to explore talent that’s been otherwise untouchable. While your competition fearfully aspires to survive, top talent could be a springboard for you to thrive and sustain an insurmountable competitive edge.
I hope this is helpful, and if you are bold and want to explore the top talent that can springboard your organization forward, we’re twice recognized by Forbes as one of the best executive recruiting firms in America and I’d love to speak with you. Be well and keep fearlessly leading your teams through this difficult period of time – it will pay off I promise.