Conscious Leadership

Avoiding Mistakes in Managing Crisis Change

For anybody leading change in their organization, here's a blog post well worth reading by Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter: 13 Unlucky Mistakes in Managing Traumatic Change - and How to Avoid Them. 

She lists 13 common mistakes made when leading change in a crisis, and some useful guidelines for avoiding them. Kanter notes that these actions are common during "traumatic" change; we'd argue that they are business-as-usual actions today in many private and most public sector organizations.

Our experience shows that executives who master leading strategic change while managing through the immediate crisis can avoid the traps Kanter outlines:

1. Pressure to act quickly undermines values and culture.
2. Management exercises too much control.
3. Urgent tasks divert leaders' attention from the mood of the organization.
4. Communication is haphazard, erratic and uneven.
5. Uncertainty creates anxiety.
6. Employees hear it from the media first.
7. There is no outlet for emotions.
8. Key stakeholders are neglected.
9. It seems easier to cut than redeploy.
10. Casualties dominate attention.
11. Changes are expedient, not strategic.
12. Leaders lose credibility.
13. Gloom and doom fill the air.

2010 Copyright © Moore & Associates

Performance Management: The Right Thing for Leaders To Do

Ironically, after a downsizing or restructuring, or navigating difficult economic conditions, the tendency for leaders is to not manage performance better. In actuality, with fear, uncertainty, and low trust running rampant in many organizations, implementing a robust performance management process is not only good business, it's the humane thing to do for staff at all levels. Here's why:

1. People want to know how they can contribute to the success of the organization - for their own job security and stability, sure, but also genuinely wanting their company to do well. Leaders have everyone's attention right now in this economy - so tell people what you need from them and why, coach them to get there, and eliminate obstacles in their way.
2. Performance management simply helps everyone do better by focusing attention on specific goals and behaviors. And who doesn't want to know the "rules of the game" where they work?
3. Paradoxically, it's a company's best people who most want their performance managed, measured, and rewarded. Winners lose morale when there are no consequences for sub-par performance. These folks will be the first to leave when the job market turns around.
4. In this economy, can anyone argue that individual, team, and overall organizational performance doesn't matter, or that there shouldn't be consequences for poor performance? (regardless of your politics, the uproar over bank bailouts, Wall Street pay, health care reform, and government budget deficits indicate a new-found interest in accountability for performance).
5. Uncertainty breeds doubt and a lack of confidence and trust. Employees want more control over their destiny. Seeing how their work contributes to the company's bottom or top line gives them that control. Tell people what they need to do to be successful. Give employees real power to innovate. Have meaningful and actionable conversations about what win/win performance looks like (for employees and for the organization).
6. Performance management is a critical component of a talent management strategy that will ensure a pipeline of people in the right jobs, doing work that matters.

Engage your people today and determine together what performance matters in your organization, and which behaviors, attitudes, and actions will drive those specific results. Make clear how everyone can and will contribute. Then help them be successful. Because when it comes to managing performance at all levels, the status quo is no longer an option. Besides, as a leader, managing performance is just about the most humane thing you can do right now.

2010 Copyright © Moore & Associates