To survive - to hang in there - to keep your head while all
around you others are losing theirs - to stay in play - is
a critical skill of leaders. Let's face it - even the most
astute, successful person will suffer setbacks, and
surviving and overcoming those setbacks is the true measure
of a leader.
To some, survival sounds like a skill for a loser. And,
frankly, there are many who try to survive by holding back,
by not taking risk, by getting as invisible as possible.
Those are not the behaviors of leaders - they are not what
survival means in this article - and they lead to failure.
An example of survival and leadership:
A client had a business unit that was doing badly.
Unprofitable, losing customers, over budget. The business
unit leader had been in the job for six months - not long
enough to have created the mess, but long enough to be held
accountable for it. Her predecessor had held the job for
ten years - and then retired with honors. There were many
days when she felt like giving up. She felt that she was
more a victim than anything else. She had been a top
performer in every other assignment given her. She felt she
had gone from the top 5 percent in her company to being
perceived as a loser by former colleagues. Everyone likes a
winner - no one wants to be associated with what looks like
a loser. No one was going to rescue her from this situation
- she was either going to sink or swim.
She felt she had four choices:
1 - She could quit and find another employer - she was
highly regarded in the market.
2 - She could stay and look at who to blame. She could try
to cash in on her former accomplishments and get a transfer
- or not be held accountable - or be given lots of slack.
3- She could let the situation tear her down, wallow in
self pity and blame fate, and turn into a part of the
problem - rather than be part of the solution.
4 - She could do what she had to do to survive the
situation - stay afloat, give herself a timetable, work to
improve performance, and then decide where her future lay.
She chose the last alternative. She reviewed it with her
boss - he agreed with her. For the first time in her career
she was faced with stabilizing a losing business, rather
than growing a winning one. What a difference! Going from
winning as a strategy to surviving - as a strategy - at
least as a first step strategy.
She shared her survival strategy with her staff - and
watched their reactions. They ranged from acceptance to
indifference. This unit was part of a much larger company,
and some of her staff had friends in other parts of the
organization that could "take care of them." She let some
people transfer to other parts of the business - got rid of
some others - and brought in key people who saw their new
positions as a chance to prove themselves.
She put together a "stop the bleeding" short term plan with
goals and measures that could be quantified and tracked and
reported on regularly. No "BHAGS" here ( Big, Hairy,
Audacious Goals). Her boss gave his support -while keeping
the situation at arm's length. The plan was shared with the
people in the business unit, and every person was expected
to establish goals that contributed to the plan. Some did -
some didn't. The plan worked - at least to the extent that
the bleeding stopped and the business returned to marginal
profitability in six months. No celebrations were held -
but the leader and her staff were pleased with their
progress -they knew just how much had been accomplished -
although no one else seemed to share their emotions.
As the six month plan unfolded, it became clear to her that
some significant investments in capital and systems were
going to be necessary if the business was to prosper - and
there was some risk that, even with those investments,
prosperity might not happen. The fight for capital was
intense, and other, more successful business units got
their share - and hers as well.
She gave it six more months. In that time, steady progress
was made, customers were won back, and profitability
continued to improve. At the same time, she sensed a
growing impatience from her boss with the rate of progress
- but no real help in the form of additional resources. At
this point she was 18 months into her job, and while she
had seen major progress, very little recognition of her
accomplishments came her way. She gave it six more months.
At the end of two years in the assignment, when continued
improvement went unrewarded, she resigned.
When asked about that experience five years later, she said
it was by far the most valuable of her career. When pressed
to identify what particularly valuable lessons she had
taken from the experience that helped her be successful -
and she had become very successful - she listed the
following:
-You gotta pick your spots carefully. Every organization
has top units and bad units. To decide to survive in a
marginal unit with little upside is not very bright. Be
sure the survival situation has an upside.
-The decision to fight through a tough situation, and take
the risk of surviving, must be a conscious one. And once
it's made, all effort must be directed forward. It's easy
in these situations to adopt a "why me" or victim attitude
- and that is fatal. Managing, defining and communicating
expectations in a survival situation are absolutely
critical skills - more than in a highly successful
business. Pressure from above to see progress can lead to
commitments being made that simply cannot be kept. And
intentions sound good at the beginning of a reporting
period - but only results matter. "Hockey stick" forecasts
and plans - where all the good news is forecast to occur
near the end of the measurement period - are always greeted
with suspicion.
-Tolerance for mistakes is much lower in survival
situations. And negative outcomes that would be ignored in
a successful business are magnified and used as examples of
just how bad things are - while good news is received with
skepticism. Protecting and insulating the people committed
to making it work from harsh criticism and judgment is a
major task for the survival leader.
-A survival leader must have a core group of optimistic
believers who are committed to making it work.
-Stay in close contact with the Boss - absolutely no
surprises are allowed.
- Keep people focused on improvement through widely
communicated goals they can share and buy into.
-Don't let people see discouragement at bad news - and
there is always bad news in survival situations. Negative
emotions will be multiplied 100 times by those that observe
them.
- Survival mode must be a temporary situation - it's easy
to slip into a survival mind set and make it a long term
behavior.
- Survival - both personal and organizational - is often
thankless. While in survival mode leaders have to see the
value of their contribution themselves. Often, there is
very little positive recognition given to survival.
- The worst thing a survival leader can do is to stay in
place and let the situation grind them down. When the best
shot has been given, and it remains apparent that that
isn't enough, move on - that's always a choice - always.
Know when to hold, and know when to fold.
- In the stress of survival situations, it's easy to
personalize all kinds of things. Don't. The ability to see
things for what they are - no more or no less - is a
necessary ability. Trying to ascribe motive, or waste time
on hidden meanings are great ways to lose control and
perspective.
These Lessons In Survival were learned the hard way. That's
the only way to learn. If you see yourself or your
organization in survival mode - use these Lessons to
inventory what and how you can apply them to get through it
better, quicker and more successfully.
----------------------------------------------------
Andy Cox helps clients align their resources and design and
implement change through the application of goals focused
on the important few elements that have maximum impact in
achieving success - as defined by the client. He can be
reached at http://www.coxconsultgroup.com and E Mail at
acox@coxconsultgroup.com
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