How Do You Handle Normal When It's Not?
Chip Lutz, Lt. Commander, USN(Ret), MDiv, MS, MA, CSP
Leadership Keynote Speaker and Professional Speaker at UNConventional Leader, LLC
“Business as usual!?” What the heck does that mean?” I asked when my boss told me the orders when they came down.
I found out the next day what that meant when we had a mile long line of cars waiting to get into our Navy base on September 12th, 2001 (as we tried to provide the security required by our own instructions).
That was the case the day after the World Trade Center and Pentagon got attacked. The day after didn’t go down the way we planned. We planned that, after we locked all 6 of our bases in Washington, DC down, people would stay at home. With a “business as usual” order, all 25,000 people came to work. We quickly found ourselves behind the power curve in trying to do our jobs when all of the rules for doing our job had changed.
Sound familiar? I’m sure it does. We all have to deal with changes. Some we can prepare for and some come quick. Although dealing with any change can be difficult, it’s the quick changes that test our leadership abilities the most.
When the rules to the game have changed, you can’t play the same way. You still have a job to do and have to find ways to make the new normal the normal way of doing things. This is what I call “Recalibrating Normal.”
How?
Identify what the new normal is.
Define it. What strategically needs to be done? The nice thing about having a clear view of what the target is, is that it makes decision making really easy. When you’re looking at choices, all you have to do is ask yourself, “Does this support the goal?” If so, do it. If not, don’t. Also ask what the best case/worst case is. This will help minimize worrying about the minutia.
Maximize your strengths.
Make a list of what is going right and what your organizational assets are. For us, it was our team. We had great people with a lot of ideas on how to do things better within the confines of the new game. We also had spent the last year updating all of our equipment. What strengths does your team have?
Minimize your weaknesses.
Again, make a list. For us (within the Federal Government) procedures and beauracracy were the weakness. In essence, our own organizational barriers. Within the new rules, our own old rules encumbered us from taking swift action. We also faced budgetary restrictions. What confines you?
Have a set.
By this, I mean that you have to be bold enough to make decisions. Without decisions, nothing becomes normal and you flounder in chaos. This is where knowing what your strengths and weakness are come into play; so you can leverage them against each other. For instance, we didn’t have the authorization or budget to have bomb sniffing dogs (weakness). One of our team members brought up bringing in his own dog (as a joke) to make it seem like we did (team member idea: strength). I made the decision (having a set) to try it out. It gave outsiders the perception that we were much more secure than we were (remember, there are no bad ideas in brain storming). Not every idea you try out will be a winner. When it’s not, call a mulligan and try something else.
Recalibrating normal is about adapting to the change as quickly as possible so that the new game becomes “the way we do things around here”. In today’s world, change happens fast. The quicker we can adapt and recalibrate to a new normal, the quicker, more efficient and agile we become.
Don’t get stuck in a big puddle of was. Think different, do different, and act different. We adapted quickly and, within a week, had a new normal. No matter what you face, you can too.
Like I previously stated, if the rules have changed, you can’t play the game the same. Recalibrate normal.