The DOW Jones Industrial average closed at a record high this week since its previous record in October 2007. This is great news, but not so long ago, (September 2008), we were lamenting the DOW slumping 778 points in the biggest single day point loss ever. We dipped into recession status and all of us were affected in some way or the other.
Many leaders had to re-prioritize projects and initiatives that were already in play. In today’s challenging economy, changing priority over competing initiatives can have a significant impact on your team if the change isn’t managed carefully. We’ve all heard the horror stories from friends and colleagues of companies that did a poor job of shifting gears in turbulent times. Try to incorporate some of these steps focused on maintaining your teams’ morale to reassess if changes are needed for your teams’ projects:
- Work with your team to review a complete list of all projects. A large de-motivator is a leader who looks at initiatives in a piece-meal fashion, making decisions too late because they weren’t looking at everything. Large projects should be broken down to see what areas can be eliminated or reworked.
- Keep aligned with the company’s direction during this change. Stay ahead of the curve by keeping ready your list of what will be rationalized, eliminated or reprioritized should your boss come knocking. It sounds basic but quantify these decisions against your yearly goals vs. this month or this quarter.
Managing changing priorities also means managing your team through the changes:
- Be transparent – Make sure your entire team understands what priorities are changing and why. You need their buy-in especially if shifting priorities means eliminating their project and/or resources
- Leverage – your strong relationships with other departments’ key influencers to show evidence that change is occurring everywhere and everyone is on board
- Keep morale motivators top-of-mind – one of the first things your team will ask is ‘how will this affect my bonus?’ Make sure you’ve proactively reviewed this and have found creative ways to ensure their key motivators (besides you) are addressed. For your team, their compensation is a priority and there is no denying the link to productivity
Major shifts in strategic direction will always have a significant impact on the priorities you’ve set with your team. The key to being a successful leader during this time is to ensure that your plan of action to re-prioritize along with your related communication are 100% aligned and focused with your team first in mind.
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