The fix to all of this begins with you, the leader. Everyone (your team, your peers, your boss, your business partners, your competitors) is looking at you to see what you're doing and how you're acting in this environment. It's the business equivalent of monkey see, monkey do. If the monkey sees you hiding under the banana tree, they're going to hide too.
Why is this so important? Because courageous organisations who are aggressive when others are scared are the ones that will prosper when things get better. As a leader you have to make decisions and doing nothing is not an option.
So how do you achieve this? Three steps.
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) can wreak havoc on an organisation. It's paralysing. It's like being afraid of the dark, when of course there is nothing to fear once you turn on the lights.
Your organisation is looking at the market as a big dark scary room. Your job is to switch on the lights. How, you ask? Do a fact-based and practical risk assessment. Get everyone in a room and get all their fears and nightmare scenarios listed on the whiteboard. From there, systematically analyse each risk in terms of both impact and probability. This exercise will help switch on the lights and show the team around you that there aren't as many realistic bogeymen hiding in the closet. Once you reduce the real fear, it becomes easier to act (and focus on Elmer Fudd who is the coolest hunter ever!).
Get Fired Up and Make a Bet
Being pragmatically aggressive pays off. It's a mindset. Determine where to summon that energy from and then drive forward. Regardless of whether it's music, working out, or a shot of Red Bull, whatever you do to get fired up, do it. Inspire yourself to act. Look at all the initiatives and projects you're waiting to do. Pick one. Do it. Don't necessarily pick the biggest, riskiest one on the list. But do be brave enough to pick one that's not a total slam dunk. As you look objectively at your list of things you can do, which one do you know is a good bet? Make it. You're a leader. A big part of a leader's job is managing risk. It's also generating upside. You can't win if you don't play. Get aggressive and take action.
Realise That Acting Now Means Winning Later
Why are leading companies leaders? Because they make sensible strategic investments and take measured risks even during tough times. Yes, taking those risks requires intestinal fortitude. On the back end, however, those bets pay off for these leaders. While everyone else is emerging from lying down and beginning to think about which initiatives to pursue, these leaders have been acting for months. They're way ahead in the race. They make it hard to catch up to them. Act. This applies whether you're a FTSE 100 company or an entrepreneur. Leaders in the race never slow down. Certainly they can be cautious as they navigate tricky patches but they never stop running. They make it hard for the competition to catch them and they look to extend their lead when their competitors slow down. In short - get up and lead. Eliminate fear and uncertainty. Make a bet. Build and extend your lead by focusing on the long term.
As Tanya Clemons from IBM says; 'During the tough economic conditions during the mid to late 1980's we abandoned our commitment to leadership development and paid a dear price for that in loss of market leadership later on. We had to re-learn the hard way the critical importance of grooming leaders at every level of this company and in every location that we do business around the world.'
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