A Covid Reality Check

When the economic impact of Covid hit its’ peak, almost 20% of workers lost their jobs.  But let’s be clear…20% of CEO’s did not get a pink slip; 20% of senior management were not worrying about how to pay the mortgage and the loan on the Mercedes; even 20% of most middle managers were not worried about more ground beef and less steak.

No, the impact disproportionately impacted entry level employees and other front line workers…those who were the least able to withstand an interruption in their compensation.  Yet these are the people who implement all the strategies that flow from the boardroom.  These are the ones who so often are the face of the company to the public on a daily basis.  These are the ones who routinely report a lack of engagement with the corporate agenda.

Little wonder…

Lack of engagement has always been an issue in every company and in every industry.  The impact of Covid is a double edged sword.  Not only are many jobs lost, but many more have been displaced with so many employees now working from home. 

The task of maintaining even a modicum of engagement has never been more difficult.  I’d like to offer a few suggestions for your consideration.

1.   Consider rehiring staff in advance of the return of demand from your client base.  This may sound counter intuitive but consider this.  A layoff has a devastating impact on the employee. Most businesses though have the financial capacity - either through internal cash reserves or through access to capital – to afford the extra overhead.  Yes, there will be a short term impact on profitability, but your focus needs to be at least mid or long term success.  If you rehire, or even better, do not layoff at all, you show that the company is invested in its’ primary asset – its’ employees.  What a tremendous expression of the value you place on them and what a confidence building impression it has on one who would otherwise be at a food bank line up. Obviously you cannot consider this type of response if the business is already in a critical life- saving mode but for those of you not that close to the edge I urge your consideration. The reality is that layoffs have proven to be a knee-jerk reaction to business interruptions in the past that are not significant contributors to expense controls once separation payments are considered.

 

2.   With so many employees now ‘working from home’ the lack of personal interaction has a negative impact on the engagement. As already noted, a lack of engagement is the primary hindrance businesses experience even though it is a silent killer. 

You need to develop a new and proactive communication strategy that puts you in front of your employees on a more regular basis.  Something as seemingly insignificant as a personal acknowledgement of a birthday is a start.  Have more frequent and focused ‘town hall meetings’ that combine both in-house and online staff shows your intentional attitude towards engagement.  “Breakfast with the Boss” or similar personal and informal group meetings further demonstrates this attitude. 

The key in all of these endeavours is that you must be genuine in your approach.  If you can’t be, the impact will be to worsen rather than improve engagement.

 

3.   Some years ago a short book called ‘Management by Walking Around’ espoused the unstructured personal interaction that characterized an engaged executive.  I found much personal satisfaction whenever I interacted in this manner.  Again, you need to be authentic and honest during these times as any lack of transparency will be seen as an attempt to manufacture a connection that really is not there.

4.   Finally, adopt this time principle. 

For every hour you spend in developing a strategic plan,   spend one hour with those who ultimately must implement it. 

For every hour you spend analyzing financial results, spend one hour communicating those results in a manner that front line staff can relate to and comprehend.

For every hour you spend in the executive boardroom, spend an hour on the shop floor.

And for every hour you spend schmoozing a client at a posh restaurant, spend an hour in the company cafeteria. 

The more real you are to your staff members, the more engaged they will be with your interests.

It's time to just do it!

In the darkness, it is always easier to see once you have some light.  Objects come into focus and you are able to manoeuver your way around. 

When the light is limited, so is your ability to make judgments that are appropriate about your environment.  You need more than a flashlight app on your cell phone to make sense of things.  By the same token, too much light can be blinding and render you as dysfunctional as total darkness.  Too little or too much have the same essential effects.

I use this analogy because right now we are operating in an environment that is new to all of us.  We need facts – light – to help us make decisions.  Too few leave us feeling vulnerable.  But it is just as true that too many facts can overwhelm us.

As the leader, it is up to you to determine when you have enough data to make an informed decision.  And decide you must.

Remember these truths:

1.     You have ascended to the role you are in because others recognize your abilities and experience and trust you to make difficult decisions.

2.    You have likely earned your share of scars over the past 10-12 years which have been about as turbulent as any period in modern history.  Those scars are now badges of honour and testify to your ability to stand up and be counted in uncertain times.

3.    Few, if any, are better prepared than you are to make these decisions about your work place.

4.    As hard as you try to make the right decisions, failure is only an opportunity to learn and grow.  You will come to the right decisions a lot faster than scientists will bring us a Covid Cure.

5.    Most people want you to be right.  They don’t aspire to have your job; they want you to lead.

If it was easy, anybody could do it.  It’s hard because we don’t have a template or reference manual.

Collect the facts you need; weight them with the confidence that you have earned; and make a decision based on your experience.

We need leaders to lead.  Now is your turn to show us the way!

Nuggets of Gold

As a leader, you are facing unprecedented times.  Not that leading in normal times are easy, but the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic has been magnified by the world wide response and demonstrations in support of societal justice…specifically for those of colour.

Let me revisit that comment.  The world-wide response and demonstrations in support of societal justice have been magnified by the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic.  I think that it is important to put these two in this order because the former has existed for generations and cannot be fixed by the creation of a vaccine.  The latter has simply shone another and brighter light on the pre-existing situation.

Your challenge is to find the right strategy to guide your organization during these times.  I hesitate to say ‘through’ these times because the end is outside of your control.  Individually you cannot ‘fix’ either of these ills and you are as dependent as the rest of your team in the reliance of others to find the solutions.  Therefore you must strategize the ‘during’ period.

My advice is simple but, at the same time, also extremely difficult.

In all situations there is but one truth, one absolute.  And it is upon this truth that you can build a firm foundation.  That is the simple part.

The difficult part is finding it.  In today’s social media dominated world there is no lack of ‘information’.  Much of it is highly influenced by the biases of the author and by the validity of the ‘facts’ upon which the opinion is based.

You must be a prospector in your search for truth.  Not unlike the prospectors who panned for gold in the silt on the river bottoms, you must sift through the data and opinions until you find your nuggets of gold.  Once you have, and further tested to ensure that it is not fool’s gold, you have the foundation that is based on truth.  Now you can plan with assurance.

Recognize that this is not a quick process. No prospector got rich with one nugget and none found enough in one pass of the pan.  But the process is definitely worth the effort.

Don’t look for short cuts.  Don’t be ashamed to engage others in your search.

Like gold, your strategy will shine and show others – employees, clients, suppliers and society in general – the values upon which your company operates.  It will be evidenced in the moral, ethical and legal standards that support your decisions; that are reflected in your workforce; and by your contributions to society.

Simple, yes, but not easy.  Are you up to it?

Best before Date

I have written in the past about the need for so many of those in Executive positions to re-examine their ability to make meaningful contributions to their companies.  On balance I have not been kind to the Baby Boomer generation and the type of leadership that they have provided.  And I speak as an ‘early adopter’ member of the group.

The fact of the matter is that the primary objective of the vast majority of these CEO’s has been to ‘maximize shareholder value’ while simultaneously lining their own pockets with over sized compensation packages that reward them with stock options for fundamentally just doing their jobs.  And in too many instances they have padded their security blankets by ensuring that the Board is comprised of ‘friendly’ members.  For perspective, simply look at the exit package Boeing handed their departed CEO for his abject failure to navigate their recent fiasco.

With rare exceptions it is time for a changing of the guard.  The future will demand radically different thinking and the baby boomers are too tied to the present, and the past, to lead us there.  They lack personal understanding of the levels of technology that is needed.  Simply having brilliance as part of the team is insufficient to fully comprehend and implement the changes that the immediate future demands.

Succession plans must be implemented NOW.  The skills sets of the future are not embodied in the baby boomer generation.  Those in the corner office need to read their personal ‘best before date’ and make some painful admissions.

Oh, just a quick reminder, as you leave make sure you put the seat down in your personal washroom.  The next occupant prefers it that way!

Our Defining Moment - Part 2

In my previous message I stated the importance of the leader planning beyond this crisis.  Transitional, intermediate and long term planning that provides the direction of your company, or your team, in what is becoming the ‘new normal’.

I fully appreciate that there are a number of unknowns as you look into the future.  And I expect that this will be a very fluid situation with unanticipated factors impacting your decisions.

That said, it is vital to understand this.  Having a goal or an objective is not a plan.  Too often leaders confuse the end with the means and are surprised when the objective is unmet. 

This period of uncertainty is new to everyone.  Whether you anticipated it or not, there was no way to predict the impact and ultimate outcome. 

Lily Tomlin once opined that ‘truth is nothing more than a collective hunch’ and during these times one may be inclined to agree with her.

We are in the early stages of this pandemic.  Everyone is anxious to have things return to normal.  We think that a lifting of the shut-down represents the end.

The reality is that it may represent a small victory. I think that Winston Churchill’s words best represent our current situation.  During WWII he commented after a victory in North Africa “…this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end.  But this may be the end of the beginning…”

Soon you must commit to a course of action.

Once you have, communicate, communicate, communicate.

Care and listen, not the other way around. 

If your team doesn’t think you care, they won’t say anything that you can listen to!

Only now can you focus on execution.  Stay focused on the process because this is uncharted territory for all of us and the end may not even be where we think it should be.

Your leadership mettle will never be more severely tested.  I urge you not to go it alone.  If you succeed there will be glory enough to share.

Your Defining Moment!

For the past decade we have all enjoyed a level of success and prosperity that has seldom been matched in our collective histories.  To have led and succeeded during this period was less a testament to our abilities and more a testament to our good fortune.  I don’t mean to understate the value of quality leadership, but candidly, you had to mess up pretty badly to have failed in this period.

But now we are individually and collectively facing a challenge that is literally unprecedented.  This is no understatement in the face of the response that seems to be necessary for us to pass through this portal of time.

I think that it is fair to say that for those in leadership at this moment, your legacy will be defined on the basis of how you respond in crisis. Here are my recommendations.

1.    Be present.  Even when you don’t have all the answers, your teams are looking to you for optimism and inspiration.  You must be present and available. 

2.    This is not the time for hyperbole; it is a time for humility.  No one has all the answers and speculation only causes more confusion.  Hope is a virtue, but false hope only disappoints.

3.    This is not the time for empty rhetoric; it is a time for honesty and action. 

4.    This is not a time for sounding an alarm; that time has already passed. It is a time to respond to the alarm and trust those whose advice is based on the best scientific evidence.

5.    We don’t need to hear how bad things are; dwelling on the obvious is for the historians. We need to hear how we are going to make things better; we need to be assured that the sun will follow the darkness.

6.    We need inclusive strategies that offer purpose to everyone.  Being part of the solution builds a sense of community and that will be critical in a successful recovery.

7.    Leaders must have multiple strategies.  There is the immediate; what are you doing during the crisis to survive. There is the transition time, how are you going to move from today to recovery as the disruptions are gradually lifted.  And then there is the new normal.  You need to determine how this crisis alters your business in the future.  What changes are permanent; is there long term impact on your employees; with your customer base; with your supply chain.  You need to be planning now and putting together different scenarios because none of us have any certainty what the future holds.

Right now, nothing is easy.  But just because we don’t have all the answers doesn’t mean that we won’t.  You must lead in a manner that demonstrates concern for the present; optimism for the transition and confidence for the future. 

Lead acknowledging these truths and others will follow!  

Obituary Decisions

Every year presents us new challenges.  As leaders you will be required to make some difficult decisions that will push your moral or ethical standards to the limit.  And if your standards are not clearly established you may find that your ‘limit’ is flexible based on the situation.

My recommendations for these instances are twofold:

1.    Make your standards fixed.  Situational ethics or morals mean that those who depend upon your leadership never know with certainty what to expect.

2.   If you ever find yourself in a dilemma over which way to go on a decision, ask yourself ‘…what would I want to read in my obituary…’ as to how I responded under pressure.  Did I hold to the standards that I set or did I cave?

Clearly the easier decision, in the short term, is to turn the blind eye and move on.  But this only leads to more trouble down the road.  The right decision, the tougher decision, is one that you will be able to defend to the grave.

What you will find is that having made the tough call, it actually becomes easier over time.  Others know that you hold yourself to the same high standards you expect them to adhere to and they respond accordingly.  There will be no misunderstanding.  No one will be able to say ‘…but last time…’ when recalling a similar situation.

I am reminded of a quotation from a highly respected college basketball coach who said:

        ‘…reputation is what others think about you; character is what you really are…’

I know what I want in my obituary.  Hopefully you do too.

A side note.  In my blog dated November 9^th, 2019, I wrote about the different responses to failure in Boeing and McDonald’s. 

It was recently announced that Boeing has fired their CEO for the culture that he created that allowed their Max 8 planes to be delivered with a potentially fatal software flaw.

It took the Board too long to act, but at least they finally did.