🔒Important leadership practices in times of crisis

How do some companies manage better than others in a crisis? 

How is our new Zoom World affecting culture, accountability and outcomes in a coronavirus world?

We can get it wrong to assume that Zoom will allow us to carry on as before. It will not. 

As useful as it is, when we Zoom, we lose important connections. It is harder to read body language. Group dynamics are lost in cyberspace. We feel far less human connection. We do not have the whole picture because we lack a daily social platform of spontaneous thinking and creativity.

In my executive coaching business, I have often heard that employees feel untethered in cyberspace. Building and maintaining culture is difficult.

As for accountability, they do not know if employees are truly engaged. In other ways, employees have lost the boundaries between work and play, contributing to burnout.

Regardless of company size, executives need to be hyper-conscious of their leadership right now. If they expect to drive results, they need to cascade leadership through the organization.

Cascading takes hold when the CEO establishes the differentiating behaviors that create the conditions for scaling leadership.

If the CEO creates the right environment for the executive team, then the executive team can perform better together, and other teams will follow suit as these actions cascade through the organization. 

The best leadership practices often begin at the executive level and cascade down the organization.

Here are some ideas for consideration:

1. Scaling leadership is a critical job of the CEO.

It’s a leader’s job to help scale the effectiveness of the executive leadership team. This is the beginning of the cascading model.

Scaled-up leadership speeds results, aligns leaders, mitigates risk, creates clarity, and allows for nimble reactions to events. 

Some CEOs understand this inherently. You may recall Procter & Gamble CEO A.J. Lafley, who famously met with his chief human resources officer every Sunday morning to determine the needs and career development of the company’s top 300 leaders. 

Lafley made leadership development a priority.

2. Create an environment for success at the executive level.

Does the CEO nurture a high-performance environment among the executive team? 

A command-and-control CEO may demand what is to be done. Hard driving and relentless in the pursuit of success, the executive team mimics that behavior and drives their teams. 

This too often leads to burnout and a lack of good decision-making. 

The CEO who leverages the collective intelligence of his team is more effective. The positive impact is felt throughout the company.

3. Encourage decision-making at and beyond the executive level.

Research shows that leaders who push decision-making down the chain of command have more engaged employees. 

I encourage all of my clients to recognize “The Answerman” in themselves. Provide fewer answers. Ask more quality questions. Your team will naturally rise to the occasion and get more comfortable making their own decisions. 

4. Encourage democratic participation.

This inclusive practice can have significant benefits, including higher creativity from multiple sources and higher engagement.

A case in point: One of my clients invites any employee to sit in on prospect calls. They are silent observers. They are given access to the sales calendar and schedule themselves on a call. 

Prospects are told about the practice at the beginning of the call. Most are truly impressed with this practice. It sends a message that the prospect will have the attention of the entire company. And it reinforces the fact that a company expert in culture-building is walking the walk, talking the talk. 

Stephen C. Wakeen is the founder of Playbook Coaching LLC, an executive coaching firm.