Video Transcript

In almost 20 years of running a company and dealing with hundreds of brands and companies that were in transition, there’s four pieces of advice I have for you when it comes to how do you manage well — wow do you lead well — during a time of change or challenges in your business? The first one is to remember that values are not seasonal.

Whenever you’re going through something difficult together as a team, as a company, it’s a heightened sense of time for everybody. All your senses are on overdrive, and this is a time when employees are really watching and waiting to see, are the values that we have on our walls, are the values that we have published on our website, is it actually what we’re leading through?

Values are not just for good times. They are really tested, and us as leaders have to be sure. The way we rule things out and the decisions that we make, in the difficult times, that we are still adhering to the thing that we said we are all about when we were in that conference room deciding what our values were.

So the first one is values are not seasonal. The second is that we’ve got to face the brutal facts. It can be really tempting as a leader to turn into a cheerleader during times that are really tough. “Hey, guys, it’s going to be great. No problem. Let’s get back in the ring.” Like, come on and kind of like, rally everybody. But it doesn’t sort of hit with truth. It’s also your job to face the brutal facts as a leader surrounding yourself with people that will give you the worst news.

Making it really safe for people to walk into your office and tell you when tough, tough things have happened and to make sure that the organization doesn’t just hear you encouraging them, but that they know that you also know the brutal facts. Of the customers that are unhappy, the employees that are leaving, the supplier that’s let you down.

Whatever the thing is, it’s all happened to us as leaders. Be sure that you have the courage to face the brutal facts. The third one is say everything. And here’s what I mean by that. Whenever you’re leading through a hard times, there are certain times you have to get in front of the company, the organization, you have to say something or you have to put yourself in a place where you’re asked questions that you don’t really know the answer to.

And I answer things in these three categories. The things I know, the things I think I know, and the things I don’t know. As I sort of think of, if you think of yourself as a leader, like the sort of monster for information, there’s some stuff you just don’t know yet. I haven’t talked to that customer yet. I haven’t researched that. I haven’t been to that plant site. I don’t know about that location. I haven’t talked to that SVP, whatever it is.

You can build trust with an organization when you help them understand what category your answering the question in. Is it something you know, is it something you think you know or is it something you just don’t know yet but you’re going to take a guess at?

I think that builds transparency and trust. We are not perfect creatures as leaders. Our employees know that. Our teams know that. But when we can be honest and truthful about what we know or where we’re still pursuing knowledge, I think that is the makings of a team that wins. The last one is kind of packaging it up and is having predictable frequent communication with the team, predictable and frequent. They need to know when they’re going to hear from you next.

And so whether, you know, maybe you’re in a super crisis and it’s twice a week, Monday and Thursday, you know, you’ve got all hands. Maybe it’s every Friday, you send an email, whatever the communication, if you’re in the middle of it and the temperature is really hot, more frequent communication is always better.

And as the pressure starts to lessen, then you can reduce that frequency. But just know if you haven’t told them what’s actually happening, they’re filling in the blanks themselves, likely with less information than you have. So while it can be scary to export, to address everybody, to sort of get in front of the company when you don’t actually know everything that’s happening.

If you use the framework that I just talked about, then you can still address people. And when they know when they’re going to get another update and it starts to feel like a drumbeat of information, that’s when you get more information, the organization starts to get more aligned between actually what’s happening and what you see and where you’re headed.

And you can begin to make progress even when there’s all of these external distractions, fighting for your attention, trying to keep you away from winning in the middle of the war.