Chance & Responsibility: How smart managers act in uncertain Corona times – 10 tips for everyday work
Foto: Pixabay
Accept the crisis
You cannot move the river, only row the boat. In other words: the corona effects are now here and we have to accept them. While the pandemic will cause the world economy to rebalance itself, it will survive the pandemic.
Stay calm and concentrated
Now it`s all about staying calm in your daily business, and to convey the feeling that you have the situation under control. Prudent and clear expression gives authority in uncertain hours. Develop a clear action plan and proceed step by step in a focused and courageous way.
Convey stability and orientation
Consider consciously which employee can cope which information, and communicate your own uncertainties only selectively. Every crisis should be faced with honesty. Say clearly what you know and what you do not know. If you do not know something, say when it is likely to chance. Communication is a catalyst that can work against you or for you.
Be visible and responsive
Telephone conferences can help in this extraordinary situation, but they can do little to compensate for the direct encounters Signalize availability and individual support.
Listen to….
Create an open climate for questions about short time work and worries about the future. If you do not provide such an environment, it can feed fears in your team.
….but stay tast-oriented!
Make sure that your open ear for your employees´ fears is not misunderstood. Uncertainty and concerns are not acceptable excuses for doing less from now on.
Do not suppress your employees´ fears, but keep your reactions to them objective and rather scarce. Draw the team´s attention back to the common tasks with concrete action plans, clear priorities and calm progress monitoring.
Lead yourself
Pay attention to your personal well-being and protect yourself as well as your employees. If you are stressed and irritated, it do not help anyone.
Lead others
The biggest challenge for you as a manager is not to „defeat“ the virus. Your core task is still to keep in focus the joint success of your team. Help your employees to focus on the things they can control and influence.
Acknowledge (partial) successes. Inform your team about what is going well. In uncertain times, we often lose sight of what has already been achieved. Pessimism has a strong pulling effect and spreads often as fast as a pandemic itself.
Lead your management circle
How much consensus oriented participation and how much authority is needed now to react efficiently? How much ambiguity can you allow in your management team? Who are you now listening to and who could now dissuade you? How long do you need to make decisions?
Action is the order of the day
Stand by the measures you have taken. Better a wrong decision than no decision at all.
Convey optimism
As is well known, the Chinese have the same character for crisis and opportunity. And we know: If there were no crisis, there would be no progress. Aren`t we concentrating on essential and important things right now? Corona chance instead of corona crisis? The good news is: Every crisis ends.
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