Some organizations underestimated the impact, failed to prepare, and struggled immensely in the face of crises like COVID 19—loss of revenue and top talent and a diminished ability to adapt as a result. Don’t let your company be a sitting duck during the current crisis coming from south of the border. Take charge now.
Five things every C-suite leader must do to navigate these challenging times:
1. Decide what you stand for—and stick to it
- Revise your mission, vision, purpose, and values
- Use them as a compass for all strategic decisions
- Stay consistent—employees and stakeholders need clarity
2. Establish a think tank to leverage collective intelligence
- Don’t rely on the executive team alone
- Assemble your best minds across departments
- Encourage diverse perspectives—innovation happens through debate
- Turn it into a problem-solving hub—task the group with identifying risks and finding actionable solutions before challenges escalate
3. Focus your leadership team
- Set 3–5 priorities that are simultaneously linked to current challenges and future risks
- Define how leadership should communicate and collaborate
- Hold your leaders accountable with insights from your think tank
4. Take the lead—communicate with courage
- Employees are looking to you for stability
- Share updates often—even the tough ones Turn uncertainty into confidence—be transparent, predictable, and confident
- Model the behaviour you expect from your leaders
- Stay informed—the more you know, the better your decisions will be
5. Keep your workforce engaged—because productivity depends on it
- Proactively prevent and reduce collective anxiety, a major barrier to performance
- Give your leaders the tools they need to foster a culture of trust and inclusion
- Partner with HR strategically to make well-being central to performance
Uncertainty isn’t going away anytime soon—strong leadership is what makes the difference. How is your organization staying proactive in these uncertain times? Drop your thoughts below and share!
