Use the Wisdom of the Collective
This morning the news broke that the President of the United States has been diagnosed with COVID19. Two different newspapers on my breakfast table are littered with articles regarding the virus, its impact on the economy, its impact on the stock market, its impact on oil prices, its impact on children and schools, its global impact on our lives. This is our normal.
With this as a backdrop, how are executives of companies of all sizes supposed to forecast and manage ambiguity? One of my clients recently shared with me that he has been trying to manage his company’s downward sales trend by digging in on his own. Scared to share negative results, he has been living in what I call “the bubble.” The bubble happens when we isolate ourselves, hoping above hope that we can single handedly manage our way out of the crisis. The result for him has been tremendous anxiety, sleepless nights, a short temper, and a P & L that is increasingly difficult to examine.
This week I had the privilege of spending some time with Tracey Grove, the high-performance executive coach, specializing in leadership effectiveness. I asked Tracey her thoughts regarding this kind of executive behavior and what she would advise. Tracey laid out an elegant model for executives managing this level of stress and ambiguity.
Speak the fear out loud. Acknowledge, I don’t have all the answers.
Gather the team. Ask for help.
Start asking questions:
Where could we?
How could we?
What are the possibilities?
What/where do we aspire?
What is the dream?
There is no going back. Our world has turned. Our collective question is needs to be "how do we move forward to create the kinds of business that will succeed and thrive in this environment?" There are no firm answers. What we can do is hypothesize. Put our toes in the water with small investments. Try things that are new and outlandish. Let’s see what works. Pivot. Try again.
No leader can manage through this crisis alone. Get out of the bubble. Use your team and be willing to use the wisdom of the collective.