Address Anxiety by Upping Urgency
Despite signs that the economy is improving. Anxiety over layoffs, declining profits, and questionable futures still plagues most workplaces. Instead of ignoring anxiety altogether, or – even worse – soothing people into a false sense of complacency, great leaders figure out how to transform anxiety into energy.
John Kotter, Harvard professor and change expert, uses the term “A Sense of Urgency” to describe how critical energy is for any change to succeed. In a recent, Inc. article, he gave an example of how one leader communicated with his staff to address the recession and to build energy for moving forward.
One of my executive students gave me a two-page letter that his CEO had sent out in November. Part One said, “We’re in a mess. Denial doesn’t help. Here are some statistics to show it.” Part Two said, “It is useful to look at history. Thirty years ago, this company was in a worse mess. Look at us now. We’re 10 times bigger. The U.S. economy had deeper recessions every 20 years in the 19th century. And here we are — the most powerful nation on earth.” Part Three said, “We’ve got to link arms and address this thing, and it’s going to start with me. I’m going to try my damnedest to figure out 1. how this doesn’t hurt us and 2. how we can find opportunities in this. Because there are opportunities.” The last part was, “Here’s what I’m going to do, and here’s what I need your help with.” The final note was hopeful but not naive. That’s great urgent leadership.
Check out the Inc. article by clicking here.
For more on the topic, check out Kotter’s book, A Sense of Urgency.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment