In times of great uncertainty, leaders are faced with one of two choices. Freeze to the point of inaction, allowing uncertainty to damage culture, performance, results, and significantly slow a return to greatness. Or, transform fear into engagement, execute with excellence, use the uncertainty as a time to actually increase trust, and help everyone in the organization prepare to do more with less.
SECTION 1: EXECUTE WITH EXCELLENCE
Execute Your Most Important Priorities With Excellence. It is imperative to narrow focus to the few most important priorities that will make the biggest difference. Everyone in the organization must understand these priorities and how their daily work connects. With clear goals, strong alignment, and a system for daily focus and accountability, the best organizations make rapid progress even in very uncertain times. Is everyone in your organization clear on the most important priorities? Do you know if their daily actions align with those priorities? Further Reading: Building a winning culture - execute with excellence
SECTION 2: INCREASE TRUST
In low-trust environments, friction grows, speed slows, and cost increases significantly. The combination of slow speed and high costs is a killer and will greatly diminish the ability of your teams to come up with new innovative ways to work, serve customers, and come together to navigate internal and external uncertainty. Do you have pockets of low trust in your organization that may slow you down when you can least afford it? Further Reading: Move with the speed of trust
SECTION 3: ACHIEVE MORE
More than ever, you need your people to be both effective and efficient. There is no time for wasted energy or for people to invest resources on the things that will have the biggest impact. As most of your people have gone home to work, are you confident they have the tools necessary to focus their time and energy on the tasks and projects that will have the biggest impact? Further Reading: Narrow your sales focus
SECTION 4: TRANSFORM FEAR
The combination of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty come together to stifle productivity, innovation, and engagement. The best leaders help their people move quickly through the change cycle. As a result, they actually achieve greater levels of engagement in times of uncertainty. Have you appropriately equipped your leaders and your people to thrive? Further Reading: Reduce fear and anxiety