"Who ya gonna call?" The Ghostbusters are long gone. There must be somebody out there with a better and different approach. Actually, we bet there is somebody in there. There are people in your company ideally suited not just to manage this crisis, but to solve it. It's too bad you haven't already identified them and prepared them for this.
Who are they? They are people with a high "Change Leadership Quotient" or "CLQ." They are only a little smarter than the average rising management-bound employees, but they are more disciplined, creative and ambitious. And they are chafing under the leadership of their current managers. These Change Leaders are probably a year or so away from bolting from your company to start their own. Meanwhile, they just might be able to turn this ugly situation around.
Change Leaders: That's the category of companies and leaders we identified years ago in our work with Steven Jobs and Mike Murray at Apple.
Today, change itself is changing: In fact, change is in control of the dialogue in your markets and probably in your company. Leading change is the best and only way to win. That's why this model is so ripe and relevant. And that's why Change Leaders do well in today's crises. They are:
Win-oriented: They want unequivocal results, not just results. All their lives, they have resented plastic participation trophies.
Difference-focused: These people care less about performance reviews than they do about results and breakthroughs. They want to make a difference.
Future-driven: They don't focus on heritage or expect the best strategy to come from last year's crisis management manual. They are vision-driven, working toward a better-world goal.They want to be a part of something great.
Informal and Heretical: To these people, corporate bureaucracy provides nothing but an unending colonoscopy.
Change-focused: They love it. Others fear it. To others, change is threatening, so they fear it and fight against it. But, to Change Leaders, change means opportunity. And they know every crisis presents opportunity for somebody.
The crisis war room is kind of like the safe place where these people mentally go to calm their nerves. In chaos, they can create control. They are the most important unrealized assets your company has. Oh, sure, they're part of your future leadership; you already know that. They perform. But they could do a lot more, and do it now.
Here's what you should do:
EHS Today is an IndustryWeek companion site within Penton's Manufacturing & Supply Chain Group.
