SPG Blog

A few years ago I was asked to serve as a board member in a community I am a part of. At the time, I was honoured to be asked. I liked the idea of making decisions and having a voice. I also felt somewhat inadequate. I realized that I hadn’t always brought my best self to that community. I sometimes was selfish and looked to the community to take care of me, rather than being a contributor.

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I have been talking with people about resilience this year.  It hasn’t been easy for many in business this year.  There have been layoffs, sales numbers have been missed, survival has been the conversation rather than 5 year goals.  Vision conversations and succession planning have been replaced with short term measures to get through the next cycle.

I think it made sense to cut back in order to survive.  To put aside leader development and team building to focus on the bottom line.  It was a wise business decision.  It made sense in tough times to cut the budget anywhere possible.

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On a recent trip to visit the kindergarten classroom of my 4-year old twins, Emerson and Xander, I noticed how many of the challenges we see on leadership teams do have roots early on—in the kindergarten classroom.  I have to say, my childrens’ teacher is a brilliant.  I watched her blend great facilitation , inquiry, and relationship skills while keeping the interest of 17 busy 4 year olds for an hour.  I saw her demonstrate great leadership skills herself, but I also saw her teaching leadership skills—something we work hard to teach leaders to do.  Here’s what I saw:

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1. Keep the information flowing. Don’t hide your head in the sand and pretend the recession isn’t happening. People will jump ship and look for a new job if they hear rumors about lay-offs and don’t know how they may be affected.

2. Offer as much security as you can in the midst of uncertainty. You may not be able to promise that people will keep their jobs for the next five years, but you may be able to say, “We feel certain we will not have any lay-offs for the next six months and we will re-evaluate then.”

3. Allow people to be human and to have feelings during lay-offs. After lay-offs have occurred, allow a time for the people left behind to talk and express what they are feeling. Help them to recognize that the organization cares that they are feeling strong emotions and understands that their workloads have increased. This will help your employees become productive again sooner. (more…)