This year I had the opportunity to attend a simulcast presentation of the 2020 Global Leadership Summit (GLS), which is the largest gathering annually of leaders focusing on business, church and non-profit organizations. GLS comes from a Christian worldview perspective. But many of the ideas work well in any organization. A key focus of the presentations this year dealt with leading through chaos and uncertainty.
Craig Groeschel, the pastor of Life Church and the new Champion of the GLS, opened the conference speaking about leading through the dip. He commented that most businesses have five phases as they go through a life cycle. It all starts with a birth, extends to growth; a company then reaches maturity as sales reach a plateau. Then comes the dip as a company starts to decline and eventually reaches the death phase if it doesn’t adapt. The company may experience new growth or rebirth if it can change and effectively handle the dip phase.
Too often company executives try to push harder the old buttons that used to work instead of trying new approaches or pushing new buttons. Craig Groeschel said, “Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better – leading through the dip requires courage.”
There can be different types of dip from market changes to competitor innovation to poor financing to ineffective leadership and management. Successful companies over the long range must have courage to face obstacles. Groeschel identified four keys to effectively leading through uncertainty and managing through decline.
The first is to change the way you think about change. Groeschel said, “People don’t hate change as much as some first believe. They hate the way we try to change them.” Finding the right way to communicate and incentivize change can make transformation easier to accomplish. If you have tried to change in the past, what got in the way? How did people react or sabotage change efforts? What do they really want? Asking the right questions can get you to a better way to achieve the desired outcome. Wherever there is uncertainty, there is opportunity.
The second major point is that you must have the courage to unmake some promises. The customer is not always right. Sometimes they can’t always get what they have received in the past. Nobody likes uncomfortable conversations. Groeschel explained, “Your desire to hold the fort may lead you to lose the war…. You can make excuses or progress, but you can’t make both.”
It takes courage to say, “No excuses. We are going to achieve transformation this time. Failure is not an option.” Too often, top managers try to blame the organization or the people. But effective leadership requires those at the top to take responsibility for the outcome. Groeschel stated, “Great leaders never cast blame. They take responsibility.”
Have you tried to blame past failures on everyone but yourself and management? How has that helped? Most people are willing to forgive mistakes or failures if the person at the top takes responsibility over the situation and leads through an effort to improve. What we can’t stand is a leader who never takes the responsibility for the outcome. Sometimes, we have to unmake a promise because the situation has changed or we just can’t deliver on it. The big difference between unmaking and breaking a promise is communication, honesty and taking responsibility. The economic realities may no longer cover what you promised in the past.
Groeschel said, “Your boldest declarations in the past could become the greatest limitations to your future” That is when you have to reclarify the expectations and develop new realistic baselines.
The third major recommendation is to obsess over the why. If you want to influence change, you have to know why people change. Usually it relates to one of two forces. It is either desperation when someone is forced to change, or inspiration when someone wants to change. There are three basic reactions to change – critics, bystanders and advocates. And the key to dealing with all three is to give people a reason to change. If you give people the why, you disarm the critics, educate the bystanders and equip the advocates.
The final key is to lead with confidence through uncertainty. A good leader will recognize the dip and work to limit the length and depth of the decline. Groeschel recommended, “You have to feel the fear and lead anyway…The pathway to your greatest success is often straight through your greatest fear.”
Success takes risk. And there is no greater opportunity than when everyone else is uncertain. If you can act decisively, you can make money when prices are low and nobody else is sure of the potential of an idea. The year 2020 has been full of uncertainty, but it also can be a break for those who are willing to boldly lead when others cower in fear.
What do you hope to see happen in 2021? Asking the right questions as you evaluate your experiences from this year, can help you make 2021 your best year yet. Consider the three questions outlined in the sidebar. Also, if you want more information on GLS and its training content, visit www.globalleadership.org.
