Here we are again

What a week! Hi, it’s Wednesday. Yikes.?

Whether or not you were directly involved in the banking collapse at the end of last week, you’re certainly feeling the ripple effects. Last week I wrote about change, and here it is, coming at us full steam. Add to that uncertainty, fear, and chaos.

Bottom line: your people don’t know what’s coming next, but they’re hoping you do. You don’t though (spoiler: no one does). This moment is nothing if unpredictable.?

So what should you do? At the end of last year, Kunik expert Chris Dyer led a Kunik Insights session about ‘Leading Through a Recession’. Chris leaned into what he learned as a CEO in 2008. At the time, we had no idea we’d be witnessing another bank collapse a few months later. But here we are.?

I’ve been reminded of his advice in the last few days - all of it highly applicable right now. Nothing quite like lessons of the (recent) past to help us lead through the future!

What resonates here? What else are you focused on right now? Would love to hear what’s on your mind & share what else we’re seeing at other orgs!?

Leading in a Recession: Top Take-Aways

• Transparency is more important than ever
• No one cares if you’re wrong. Share the most information you have at the time, update as you go?
• If you hold onto information trying to get it right, it makes it impossible for people to make choices & take action: they’re acting in a void
• Show how the sausage gets made?
• When you give people information & tools, you empower them to come up with the best solutions?
• People will get creative - and get behind you - when you give them visibility into what’s going on (the good, bad and ugly)
• If all information and decisions are kept at C-Suite & above, you won’t get the same breadth of answers. Odds are, you’ll get less innovation too
• Information is your sword
• Don’t make assumptions - especially in challenging times?
• Avoid listening only to information that supports your view
• “I don’t know” are the three most powerful words you can say, don’t be afraid to use them. You don’t know what you don’t know
• Start with the bad news
• People don’t like guessing or waiting in uncertainty?
• Avoid the ‘sandwich’: aka don’t go ‘bad, good, bad’
• People remember how you end. Start with bad, get it in the open, move to the good?
• Focus on the humans & building relationships
• Remember to always, always pause and lead with empathy?
• Reskill/Upskill managers - this is not the time to cut back on manager support?
• Focus on supporting your people - they are the ones who will get you through this, treat them with respect and trust and provide everything you can?
• Build in the positive?
• What talent might you be able to hire now that you couldn’t otherwise?
• What projects have been lying dormant and can get a reboot / boost now?
• Take meetings of the calendar. Free up space & encourage your people to build in thinking time: innovation comes from free space and minds - enable and encourage that?

Join Us!

• Kunik Insights: 'Leading Amid Change' Register
• Vegas, Baby! Are you/peers headed to HR Transform? Let us know! Join us for dinner & Culture + Coladas welcome party Register?
• ERG Roundtable: 'How to Drive Engagement' ?Register Here

What we’re reading:

• The new offsite?
• I can read your mind
• Great Resignation wasn’t so great
• Why build a strengths based culture?
• The surprising effects of remote work?
• Career switch: more subtle, less sudden
• How long COVID is impacting disability at work?
• More Americans are self employed than you think
• How leaders can get the feedback they need to grow
• 5 things women wants to see gone from business in 2023
• Stop wasting your most precious resource: middle managers
• Don’t layoff the people who can get your through a recession
• Real talk: we’re more worried about a culture change than a layoff