Article contributed by Mike Berman, COO, Day & Nite/All Service, with Tia Tassava
If you have followed the first three proven crisis management advice columns, you have already established the necessary strong foundation of credibility to lead your organization through this most critical next phase.
Whether coronavirus came on us quickly or was an emerging threat this nation should have been better prepared for is subject to a different debate, a different day. Reality is, we have all endured something none of us could have imagined, now all must prioritize what is vs. what ought to be. To successfully lead over the immediate future, more than delivering unfiltered truths so that all stakeholders are prepared to not only readily accept these truths, but constructively act from this basis. Though how hard these recent months have been, the next phase months will be even more challenging.
Coronavirus is not an event; it is a societal altering way of life. However, anxious many are to “get back to normal” as restrictions ease up, be fully prepared for heightened anticipation coupled with unrealistic expectations. The business sun will not magically come out tomorrow; rebirth is anything but automatic. Indeed, expect this next phase to be the most challenging thing you’ve ever experienced as a business. The best practices to guide you and your team through this most critical phase include:
Expertise Rules
We start here as it sets the tone for everything to follow. Now is not the time for anyone to be prideful. Experts knowing a lot about a few things are your most valuable resources. Seek out and depend on subject matter experts to shape your best action plans. As experts are often those closest to the action, dive deep in your resource pool to surface them. By way of example, the individual and company maintaining your equipment knows more about its operating characteristics in your environment than the designer or manufacturer.
Titles and Turf Irrelevancy
The best leaders will exhibit steady degrees of humility, ceding control and power to chart the best business course. While more senior management will ultimately determine strategies, budgets, and sign off on all enterprise decisions, businesses standing on ceremony over practicality will, at best, struggle; most will implode.
Constructive Collaboration
The phrase might imply total harmony, but the best process is anything but harmonious. Rather than seeking consensus, hard decisions require challenging every assumption and not rushing to easy answers. Established trust, coupled with placing a premium on expertise over the role, creates conditions for true constructive collaboration. Avoid consensus decisions, instead make sure the best, most well-thought-out solutions are adopted. More often than not, this process is best conducted by including trusted 3rd parties; i.e., suppliers or customers, to participate in your process.
Great Leadership Requires Greater Followership
One’s thoughts, words, deeds, and actions, must consistently align to set the proper tone. If a leader is unable to follow others managing out of a crisis, that leader is not going to have requisite trust. It is important to be aware of lip service and to be wary of company grapevine and water cooler talk. In a crisis, the negative sentiments have more to do with distrusting executive management than employee character flaws.
Decisions Beyond the Moment
This past week, Chipotle agreed to a record 25 million dollar settlement from E. coli illnesses 2015-2018. Think about the risk exposure for any restaurant, hotel, or other heavily trafficked public space. Anyone not going above and beyond to protect environmental, workplace, employee, visitor, patron, and food safety beyond coronavirus is at risk. COVID-19 is a 0.1-micron-sized particle doing unprecedented levels of damage. Even before this outbreak, studies show that 50% of all illnesses come from poor indoor air quality. Indoor air quality is a more significant health hazard than outdoor air quality, ranking as one of the five greatest health risks. At a minimum, you must adopt comprehensive, integrated, high-impact solutions.
Successfully steering your business through the far more sensitive next phase will require nothing less than great deliberation mixed with equally great urgency. These two forces are to be harnessed to work with one another, not compete. More than meeting the market, you will restore confidence in the market by leading with the most considered, comprehensive, validated, and integrated approach. A prudent approach must be adopted weeks before even a partial reopening.
