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It was very good advice for me
(… and it might be good for you, too!)
by Ellen C. Davis
For all the good articles “out there” on managing during a downturn,
I haven’t seen one that has spoken to me
personally any better than
a very short article in Harvard Business Review from last
December. Perhaps you saw it? “Give me the Ball” was a blog response
by Tamara Erickson to an HBR inquiry of a group of readers to
provide “Unconventional Wisdom in a Downturn.”
Here’s a quote: “What leaders frequently forget in the heat of a
crisis is … instead of hogging the ball, they ought to tap the ideas
and energy of the entire organization.” Good advice for leaders at
every level and size of organization! Yet, what do most of us do? We
hunker down, feel the weight of the world on our shoulders, and
proceed to try to take care of everything – and everybody – pretty
much on our own.
As the author of this little article suggests, it might be far
better to open up even more than we would during “normal” times. The
author proposes:
“Ask great questions.”
“Build trust across the
organization.”
“Challenge the status
quo.”
Twenty five years ago I was on the leadership team of a plant that
was ultimately closed during the 1983 economic downturn. In the
months leading up to the decision to close, the leadership team
thought we were communicating with everyone in the plant – and we
were pretty good at informing, at telling others what was going on.
But we were lousy at engaging them or asking for their help and
ideas. And we certainly didn’t lean on them for personal support –
after all, we thought we were there to hold everyone else up! One
day in the midst of the crisis, my Training Department team of Cindy
and Jim asked me to go to supper with them. Over dinner they
reminded me that we were a team, and that they really could
lend a hand in many ways, if only I would let them in. It was a wake
up call I still remember well.
No, it didn’t change the outcome – the plant was still closed some
months later. And, certainly, there were still confidential matters
I could not disclose to them. But it changed me and my approach to
that crisis. We got back to having regular team meetings; we
refocused our work so they could
help with some of the crisis activities. They felt better – not
worse – for being engaged, even though the situation was dire and
now they were even better informed about that. As for me – I had our
team back – good,
creative work got done and things
were much more bearable personally.
So, if you too find yourself tempted to “take the ball” by yourself
during this crisis period, please think again.
To read the HBR
article in its entirety: “Give me the Ball” by Tamara J. Erickson,
Harvard Business Review, December 2008, pp. 30 – 31.