The truth is, every business will suffer a setback. Sometimes your organization will set a big goal, and you’ll cross the finish line with flying colors. Other times, you may miss that goal due to a competitor’s unexpected move, a global threat like the COVID-19 pandemic, or a sudden, unexpected industry downturn.
I was the chief operating officer for a Fortune 500 technology company some years ago. The industry was experiencing a major downturn, which caused the company to incur significant losses that put us on the brink of bankruptcy. Our banks would not lend us additional cash, so the only offensive way to save the company was to sell off various large and complex business assets.
The board asked me to lead the sale of those assets, and I assembled a team. Of course, we were disheartened by the company’s financial situation, worried about the company’s future, and a bit anxious about our professional futures.
Thankfully, I grew up in an environment that emphasized the power of positive thinking. This was due, in part, to my family’s religious beliefs. I developed a winning mindset thanks to my extensive participation in sports, including an active football and baseball career at Princeton. Both perspectives taught me never to give up, even when the challenges are significant. The trite but true “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” maxim is deeply woven into my being. Throughout my leadership career, I have applied this attitude toward every challenge I’ve faced and inspired that same attitude in my teams. What you can accomplish is amazing when you and your team believe anything is possible!
Returning to the company’s dire financial situation, my team and I were able to sell those significant business assets within six months. This raised over $600 million in cash, saving the company from bankruptcy. The significant money we raised allowed the company to invest in its remaining business divisions, which ultimately increased its value by 20 times!
Four Strategies to Develop Strong Leaders
So, how can you train your leaders that ups and downs are “the nature of the beast”? How can you guide them to rally their teams, so they dig deep and win? As CEO for several entrepreneurial tech companies during my career, I’ve experienced more than a few up-and-down rollercoaster rides! Here’s my advice.
Four proven strategies to develop strong leaders who inspire their teams to overcome setbacks and meet strategic goals:
1. In your leadership trainings, remind leaders that ups and downs are the “nature of the beast” – Guide them to recognize this as a natural and expected part of business and an integral part of their leadership role. Help them understand how they can tap into their internal motivation and positive outlook when something goes off the rails, how to encourage their team members to view the setbacks they encounter similarly, and how to refocus every member of the team for a full-on team push to overcome the challenge and achieve the goal.
2. Train your leaders to practice participative leadership – I believe in a participative leadership approach at all times, but especially during challenging and uncertain times. When the entire team participates in defining the problematic situation and then developing the best solution to deal with it, this will boost their positive attitude and morale. In participative leadership, all team members are involved in the decision-making process in a shared, open, and communicative way. This takes a little more time and patience. Still, it pays off in the end by creating a higher level of team engagement and collaboration, which maximizes the team’s commitment, focus, and drive to overcome the challenge. In the dire financial situation I described above, my team participated in all decisions related to finding buyers for the assets and finalizing the deals. I’m certain this participative approach resulted in the best outcome possible.
3. Honestly assess if you should stay the course or make a significant pivot – Leaders often need to change everything to address the challenging situation. This can create chaos and confusion and inadvertently sabotage the effort. If you and your team believe you have the best strategy to deal with the challenge, stay the course. However, sometimes the opposite is true. A setback presents an ideal opportunity to think outside the box and objectively assess your current “box”! You may uncover a new, more innovative strategy that leads to profit and success.
4. Train your leaders to use a structured, disciplined approach to think about the situation and make better decisions. This may be a controversial statement, but I have found this to be true: Leaders do not think enough! Most leaders do not take time to assess a challenging situation objectively, identify all the various options, and clearly understand the ramifications of their final decision on the business. Complicating matters, many leaders are too optimistic about a developing threat and do not deal with it early enough or forcefully enough. Others suffer from analysis paralysis; they overanalyze the issue and wait too long to deal with it. Again, a participative leadership approach, where the entire team is involved in defining the situation and deciding how to deal with it, is a great way to make a timely, well-thought-out decision and move forward with the best course of action. In addition, your leaders may benefit from reading my book, Mega Thinking, which presents a simple, robust process to make better leadership decisions.
