Lessons for leaders when you’re ambushed in public

Imagine you were the head of one of our supermarket giants right now.

• Your company’s facing prosecution for price gouging.
• Research is showing customer trust is down down …
• Your leadership team has a bad track record when it comes to fronting the media.

Now, you’re out and about in one of your stores and a cranky consumer confronts you with phone recording switched on. Talk about a bad day,

Your circumstances mightn’t be as controversial as Woolworths or Coles, but every leader needs the skills to communicate well in those unexpected moments.

Perhaps for you it’s an ambush question at an all-staff meeting or a public forum that goes off the rails.

Here are three quick tips when you’re in the spotlight with no time for preparation:

1. Be aware your natural fight-or-flight mechanism will probably kick in. Override it by standing still, breathing deeply and focusing on what the other person needs from you in this moment.
2. Listen deeply so you can get the best understanding possible of what’s going on, even in a rapidly unfolding situation. Don’t nod while you’re listening but make good eye contact and show with your body language that you’re open, not closed off to them.
3. Respond in a way that gives clarity and certainty. You’re not likely to have a definitive answer, but state what’s happening and why, acknowledge the impact it’s having and what you expect to happen next.

The Woolies CEO did a reasonable job of managing a very difficult situation (see my take in Yahoo Finance here). Being less robotic and more human (connection over perfection) would have improved her responses – but at least she didn’t spit the dummy and storm off.

Whether these big business can make genuine change and rebuild trust is another matter. Let’s see how it unfolds.

In the Credible Leader series, Dr Neryl East shares her take on the credibility of leaders in the spotlight. Neryl is a speaker, facilitator and adviser who helps organizations develop credible leaders and connect teams.