Do you know where your leaders are?

May 2020

As the world continues to reel and deal with the catastrophic effects of the global pandemic, there is a greater need than ever for executives and managers at every level to proactively and fully communicate; be visible and accessible; and lead from the front.

Yet, it’s interesting how many leaders go underground in times of trouble … seemingly for days or weeks at a time … as they grapple with the financial impacts of unanticipated bombshells and evaluate, in war-game fashion, alternative courses of action.  It’s almost as though they expect the staff to simply keep humming along at full throttle while those in leadership are hunkered down, out of sight.

Certainly, financial impacts must be dealt with and contingency planning must be conducted, but not to the exclusion of team communications. More than ever, teams crave direction and encouragement during difficult times. They must be assured of where and how their leaders are.

One of the heartfelt leaders highlighted in both my books, The WOW Factor Workplace and Heartfelt Leadership, is Garry Ridge, Chairman and CEO of the San Diego, California based WD-40 Company. Garry shared this story in Heartfelt Leadership:

When we were going through the global financial crisis in 2008, I observed people in the company as I’d wander around this office or any of our other offices around the world. People were asking me more often, “How are you?”

It dawned on me—they weren’t asking me how I was; they were asking me how they were, through me. Now my answer to them could have been, “Oh, things are…ugh,” or “Hey, let’s not waste a good crisis. We’re going to get through this. This, too, will end.”

I realized they were looking to me, in their time of uncertainty and fear, to give them that little bit of security to carry them through. Leaders need to make sure in times of war, and in times of trouble, they are visible.

At the same time, I lived downtown and went on a tour of the historic WWII aircraft carrier turned museum, the USS Midway. I found my way on to the bridge of the Midway. The tour guide was talking about the behavior of the captain on that boat. The captain has two residences on the ship. He has one below deck, which is a little larger area where he hangs out. Then right up on the bridge, there is a bunk. In times of battle, he never leaves the bridge.

That taught me in hard times, as a leader, you need to be more visible than ever before. But how many leaders go underground in hard times?

That’s why my people were asking me, “How am I?” (they weren’t…they were asking me how they were). However, if I wasn’t out there and visible, they’d say, “Hey, we’re going through hard times. Where’s our leader when we need him? We may want to ask him. We may want to engage with him.”

Yes, especially during times of trouble, leaders at every level must be out front and visible. Rather than staying locked away out of sight, leaders must make it a top priority to stay connected in order to keep team members inspired, encouraged, and engaged.

It’s difficult for employees to get excited about their work if they don’t know the organization’s mission, vision and objectives. In good times and in bad, leaders must ensure the organizational strategy and objectives to be achieved are clearly understood and supported by everyone.

Not understanding the intent of the mission or why things are being done is a big de-motivator. Team members need to be reminded about the why of the mission and the intended outcome of action plans … especially if the mission has changed, albeit temporarily. A leadership failure to communicate such things will surely cause a failure to perform by those reporting to them.

I met the CEO/Chairman of one company, where I worked for nearly a decade, on the first day of new leadership orientation. He had a special way of making everyone instantly feel like a cherished member of his family. His passion for the company and its mission was immediately obvious. He made it clear to each of us that his mission, and our mission as managers, was to instill that same kind of passion for the company’s mission, vision and objectives in everyone who worked there. It was a great place to work.

A few years later, there was a falling out between the CEO/Chairman and the rest of the board. Our beloved leader was suddenly replaced with an outsider. The new CEO instantly set about reorganizing the firm, for no apparent reason to anyone outside the C-suite. The only thing the new CEO made clear was that this was a business, not a family.

This news had a jarring and demotivating effect on everyone. The purpose and meaning, that had for so long inspired thousands of employees, quickly disintegrated. Quarterly results plummeted. Employee turnover increased.

When the company conducted its annual Employee Satisfaction survey the following year, ratings came in at an all-time low. The survey item that received the lowest rating of all was “I understand the vision and objectives of the company and I understand how I, in my role, can help the company get there”.

The write-in comments included, “Maybe the folks in the C-suite have a vision, but they aren’t telling us what it is”.  The result of employees no longer having a clear sense of the vision and mission of the organization had a serious detrimental impact on the business, worldwide, for some time to come.

Whatever it takes, leaders at every level must keep team members well-informed about what is going on, why certain decisions have been made, where the firm is headed, what’s expected of team members, and what team members can expect of their leaders.