Regardless of the industry and times, leaders continue to ask the same people and performance questions they always have. With the context now different, we’re going to get different answers.
Whether you’re in an industry that’s taken an absolute battering due to being shut-down overnight or an industry that’s needed to massively scale-up to meet market and customer demands, the performance questions being asked are the same.
Performance, regardless of the times, requires us to break traditions, push norms and smash through barriers.
Don’t be the leader who continues to do the same thing they always have, getting similar or declining results, choosing not to respond to market changes and step-up. This by very nature will see the majority of leaders make the wrong decisions right now. Sticking to norms makes us average and no-one wants to be average.
Given recent events, how might you respond to the following questions, aware of the need for change in response to market demands:
- What are the needs of my customers and have they changed?
- How do I support my people to be at their best?
- What sort of leadership do my teams need to be aligned and executing under our strategy?
- What mindsets and focuses do my workforce need to be adopting for us to win in the market?
There is no doubt that coronavirus has busted many of us. A lot of us are still in recovery mode. Some are starting to work out how they accelerate out of this and others are genuinely still locked up in the bunker after receiving a hammering. There has been a place for all of these responses, depending on individual circumstances.
As leaders we need to acknowledge this. We also need to commit to a very clear path back to what our best looks like, albeit a little different, to ensure we take maximum advantage of the situation. If we don’t, we risk being average, like many other leaders who will return to normal, doing exactly the same things they always have.
Regardless of where you sit within your organisation, you can get back to being at your best, post COVID-19, as an individual, within a team, leading others and as a business by committing to the following three step approach – from busted to best:
- Firstly, we have to accept.
Times have changed and as a result, we have lost things, both personally and professionally. Accepting what we’ve lost and recognising that things will be different moving forward are both important steps in our recovery.
We need to focus on safety first. People need to feel safe. Our performance as individuals, teams and leaders will build from this.
2. Secondly, we need to acquire.
As responsible adults, we have the ability to pick the mindset required, given the context of the moment, to be at our best. A willful approach to acquiring the mindset required for recovery will allow us to commit to making the best plans to move us forward.
This is the big RESET step, particularly for behaviours under your business values. It’s the incorporation of new ways of working, that we may have been exposed to as a result of COVID-19, which supports a blend of both old and new practices moving forward.
3. The third and final step is, action.
Resetting expectations and identifying new KPIs and scorecards allows us to rebuild accountabilities to drive purposeful action. This will support new plans and the reviewed strategic direction of your business.
Purposeful action also ensures we don’t miss performance cues, as a result of working shoulder to shoulder, exposed directly to feedback from our colleagues, customers and other industry stakeholders, about the new ways of working we’ve adopted as a result of COVID-19.
If you’re a leader who is okay with average, then just keep doing what you’re doing.
But, if you want to bust through norms, break new ground and take advantage of the uncertainty surrounding us to reset and enable a brand new position for your business, then we’ve got a solution to help you do that at all levels.
