When effective bosses need a good radar system to see their way through adversity, they figure out a way to motivate their employees to help overcome the obstacles.
Even the bosses of small companies can suffer from image problems externally and internally. Either one or both will adversely affect profits.
An inordinate number of internal financial challenges impeding the control of costs often indicate the need to implement a cultural change for profits.
In the minds of employees and sometimes customers, bosses lacking an image of leadership become synonymous with the problems. That’s true whether it’s a matter of performance, productivity, bad PR, costs, turnover or an uncomfortable break-even point.
Every company and its adversity is different, but for most situations here are the basics:
Be mindful of red flags.
To be effective, it’s important to maintain an image of leadership by being alert to red flags.
Hone your instincts. Don’t act like a novice manager doomed to failure.
Look first at your internal situation. Are you partnering with your employees for high performance? If not, power your brand with employee empowerment.
Use three time-proven, simple strategies to deal with the big picture.
For emerging challenges, take the right approach by putting into practice problem-solving’s three As: Awareness, acceptance and action.
A sharp, honest eye at the situation is required. Acceptance means keeping an open mind and considering solutions.
Then, taking action is having the audacity to take charge and implement them to alleviate uncertainty in business.
Employees who are fearful about their jobs will love it.
Elevate Communication with Employees.
Start a program of employee engagement. Don’t rely on e-mail, especially if serious problems break out.
Take responsibility in tough communications. Do it personally.
Don’t delegate important communications. Employees will want to know that you’re on the firing lines.
Be transparent. Demonstrate how you feel about coping with adversity. Your employees will appreciate it.
Use strategies for productive meetings to improve your company’s performance. Employees will also appreciate knowing the company has a viable plan to deal with the adversity.
Document everything for your paper trail. If you really want to be good, learn the 10 key differences between leaders and managers.
Profit from Adverse Situations.
Not only do you want to overcome adversity, you and your employees need to take steps to learn from it.
Consider adversity to be an opportunity – for growth. You can and will bounce back from adversity, if you accelerate positive change.
First decide whether you want to be the obstacle or solution.
From the Coach’s Corner, editor’s picks for related articles:
Small Business – Easy Ways to Boost Your Employees’ Morale — Employee morale affects performance. Study after study shows a significant percentage of worker morale is mediocre, at best. That’s often the case even for companies that are able to pay competitive wages and benefits.
Sales Management: Motivate Your Staff in 10 Seconds — All too-often when sales managers are busy, they’re task-oriented. Not to be critical, but they’re focused only on what’s at the end of their noses. For effective management and revenue, the trick is to guard against it.
Convert More Prospects with 10 Best Marketing Tips (Even on a Tight Budget) — So you’ve got a pile of business cards from prospects, but you haven’t converted them? Great sales stem from great marketing. You can’t grow crops until you plant the right seeds. That’s the purpose of marketing.
Action Steps To Get Top Results From Your Marketing Plan — Why do seemingly great marketing plans fail to yield the desired results? Well, one reason: Such plans don’t turn the ideas into reality because they’re not action-oriented. What counts is the scheduled specific footwork, and then tracking the results. There’s a second reason, quality of execution, but more on that later.
“Adversity is a stimulus.”
-James Broughton
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