Let’s get honest for a minute — there is a LOT going on in the world right now, most of those things being completely out of our hands.
As a business leader, your first step when addressing this is to be open and transparent because the reality is, we cannot ignore what is going on. We must be flexible and empathetic to how these different events are affecting our team and clients while also realizing that we can only control what we can control.
You obviously can’t control what’s going on in the media, the economy, or other things external to the organization. However, you CAN control how your firm is responding every single day, and you can refocus around that response.
I like to look at it from the standpoint of a first responder. When a disaster or a crisis strikes, a first responder always knows what to do. You should play the same role within your business.
There is a lot of uncertainty in the world, and many people are fearful and panicking. Chances are, many of your clients are included in that school of thought.
What you can do as a first responder within your organization is step up to meet your clients’ needs, communicate with them, and provide an extra level of support to make things even just a little bit easier.
The same goes for your team — put your efforts towards over-delivering and taking care of what is in your control.
The bottom line is, we can’t ignore the outside world. It’s just not realistic.
Honestly, the more you resist acknowledging it, the more friction you will see. So, your job is to empathize with it, accept it, but then refocus efforts on, “Here’s what we can do as an organization,” and you’ll see that it is a much more productive way to go about it.
If you agree or disagree with anything Michael said here, he wants to know about it. Text him at 404-531-7691 to share your thoughts.
