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Even as employees work remotely,
organizations can experience a sense of
unity and cohesiveness when they line
up behind a shared vision, shared goals
and a crystal-clear understanding of why
their work is important. And, in times of
crisis, an employer's vision, mission and
values empower the best and brightest
to make decisions and get very creative
very quickly.
Fight against natural tendencies
Be careful of your natural tendencies.
When in crisis, a natural instinct is to
override values such as collaboration,
inclusion and transparency and to
restrict decision-making to ourselves
or a small group of people in the name
of perceived efficiency. In addition,
when people feel uncertainty, they
usually go to where they think their
strengths are — and often overplay
them to the point where they become
weaknesses.
In reality, almost every crisis benefits
from many minds and the whole
experience of your team is going to find
the best solution.
Great leaders help their team stay
To begin this transformation,
leaders must be project champions,
organizational ambassadors and
employee mentors.
They must also demonstrate an
unrelentless commitment to establishing
clear expectations for themselves and
the team and empower each employee to
grow, gain new experience and to do their
best work.
The key elements of an agile corporate
culture are: communication, respect and
collaboration; recognition of effort, trust
in the process and in our team members;
improvement and learning; pride in
ownership and accomplishment; a focus
on delivering value; and the ability to
adapt to change.
Your corporate vision, mission and
values are more important than almost
anything when faced with crisis. They
are also a key foundation for an agile
corporate culture, especially in times
of chaos.
When everyone is looking through
the same lens, it allows teams and
businesses to seek excellence and be
highly responsive and collaborative —
no matter where they are working.
focused on the corporate vision, mission
and values and empower to make
informed decisions.
Conclusion
Crisis often forces important decisions
and accelerates change. As leaders move
forward over the next weeks, months
and even years, they should adopt the
mindset that, whatever decisions are
made, they may need to continually
refine them and even abandon them if
they become obsolete.
Leaders will know they are doing a
great job of leading through a crisis
when they see their team building
supportive relationships and trusting
each other, and when the leader can be
out of touch for a day or two and, for
the most part, all work continues.
And, as the speed of change continues
to accelerate, be mindful that how we
lead through crisis and how we lead
through "normal" times will continue
to look and feel more and more alike.
Keeping a team focused on their
corporate vision, mission and values,
and then being the most inspirational
leader, can help them do their
best work.
CHRR
Bruce Mayhew is an
executive coach and
corporate trainer based in
Toronto. He can be reached
at (416) 617-0462 or
bruce@brucemayhewconsulting.com.
As the speed of change accelerates, how
we lead through crisis and how we lead
through "normal" times will continue to
look and feel more and more alike.
