Progress

The point is how to integrate different points of view, harness changes, and accelerate the speed of progress.

Change is part of the new normal. Leading change while being "beset on all sides" involves navigating a complex landscape where leaders face multiple challenges and competing interests. This situation is particularly evident in crisis management, including technical and social dimensions. 

Leaders must address critical challenges: sense making, decision making, meaning making, terminating, and learning.

Sense Making: Leaders need to quickly understand and interpret the situation amidst a flood of information, including reports, rumors, and images. This requires distilling raw data into a coherent understanding of the crisis.

Decision Making: Once leaders have made sense of the situation, they must make strategic decisions. These decisions need to be communicated effectively to ensure they are understood and respected by others.

Meaning Making: Leaders must frame the crisis in a way that others can accept. This involves crafting a narrative that explains what is happening and why, as well as what actions are necessary. However, this narrative competes with alternative perspectives from other stakeholders, which can constrain leaders' ability to act.

Solution Making: To deal with complex problems at the strategic level, business leaders need to check around: Which solutions represent the best business value in terms of achievement of the business strategy to bring up the great outcomes? What solution options are available that will meet the business need, and which option is the best option from a strategic perspective to solve a multi-set of problems? Etc.

Progress Making: After the crisis, leaders must evaluate what happened to learn from the experience and improve future responses. Communicating accurate, clear, and actionable information to the public is crucial. This is challenging due to the heightened emotions and potential distrust of associates among those affected by the crisis.

In such scenarios, leaders must balance these challenges while managing the expectations and emotions of various stakeholders, all of whom may have differing views and interests. The point is how to integrate different points of view, harness changes, and accelerate the speed of progress.

Posted in: Change Management,Decision Making,Digitalization