When we get a team together for an EOS® Quarterly session, the first thing we do is debrief on the last 90 days. How did we do? How accountable were we? What did we learn that will help us build a better plan for the next 90 days and do a better job of executing it?
As you might imagine, right now those debriefs include a lot of reflection on how the team responded to the COVID-19 shutdown. Crises pressure-test everything. As one team member said recently, “You see everyone’s true colors.”
We didn’t know what to expect when we got together with Mary and her team for their recent Quarterly. They’re a relatively new client, and they’re in a business that you would expect to be hurt the by the shutdown, certainly not helped by it. So it was a pleasant surprise when they reported that they’d just finished one of their best quarters ever.
In her debrief, Mary said something simple yet powerful about the Leadership Team’s impact:
“We were calm. And because we were calm, everyone else was calm.”
We often say that “as goes the Leadership Team, so goes the company.” Part of this behavioral. If you’re not modeling the behaviors you want to see in the company, there’s no way you’ll get them. But it’s also emotional.
Neuroscience has shown that emotions are contagious. We pick up on how people around us are feeling, and we start to mirror them. If you’re around someone who’s upbeat and optimistic, you’re likely to move in that direction. If they’re downcast and depressed, same thing.
Mary and her team didn’t sugarcoat anything. They were very clear with their people about the challenges facing the company and how much they didn’t know. But as they addressed those challenges and uncertainties, they weren’t just acting calm. They were calm. They exuded a genuine attitude of “We’ll figure this out together and it’s all going to be OK.” Their people picked up on this attitude, gathered up their things, went home and started getting work done.
The result – one of their best quarters ever at a time when no one would have expected it.
When we first met Mary and her team, “calm” was not a word that came to mind. What changed is that in a few short months, with a little help from us, they put in place a reliable process for making sure that the Leadership Team was clear and aligned, was communicating well, and knew how to come together to set priorities, assign accountability and make sure important things were getting done. They didn’t have to stop and figure out how to make those foundations work. They had a system for it.
In an email shortly after the shutdown began, here’s what another team member had to say:
“Mary and I have had the conversation that we are so lucky that we started working with you and implementing EOS® process before this happened. It adds order to this craziness.”
If you’re ready to have a little of that “luck” in your business, let us know. We’re here to help.
I’m Ready!
