By Glenn Yonemitsu, Managing Director, High-Impact Firms, BDC Advisory Services and Rob LaJoie, Executive Advisor, High-Impact Firms, BDC Advisory Services
We have “survived” living and working under unprecedented restrictions for the past year. While many individuals and companies have been impacted, a great number have seized opportunities, succeeded and thrived. Along with success comes confidence and with confidence, comes a false sense of security.
The one thing that COVID-19 has taught us is that we should never treat it lightly, and we should never let our guard down. The recent Covid variants that have emerged just as we were welcoming vaccines, should be taken as a warning that we are not yet out of the woods.
Being resilient means you can respond to issues as they present themselves. So, the changing nature of Covid should encourage business leaders to take care and be resilient leaders, who ensure their team is constantly scanning the environment, ready to triage, ready to make decisions, and ready to act….especially in uncertain times, when the situation is always changing.
Be fast and good
Resilient leaders should strive to be “fast and good”. Being fast and good is what appears on the surface, but it is actually the result of being prepared.
To ensure you have the best chance to be fast and good (star), you need to anticipate and have a high action-orientation. Use your radar to scan the future, never letting your guard down - as whatever you expect, you can prepare for, and a better plan will be the result. Then, once you have anticipated what might be, you have to ensure you and your team can make a decision in a timely fashion, and execute quickly.
As the percentage of the population who have been vaccinated increases, it is easy for your team to have a false sense of security. Relaxing Covid precautions and not constantly scanning the environment may lower your anticipation. As a leader, despite seeing green lights for the economy ahead, don’t forget to set the tone, encourage your team to keep their spidey senses on high alert, and ensure you remain aware of your resilient toolbox.
Make sure you work on the “right” issues
To be resilient and effective, you have to work on the “right” issues, and not the issues that won’t kill you. Especially when you are in an unfamiliar environment, faced with challenges/issues that you haven’t seen before, many leaders succumb to the belief they need to deal with everything and anything.
Leaders have to resist this urge.
Similar to an emergency room in a hospital, not every patient gets to see the doctor immediately. Leaders have to act like a triage nurse and determine if an issue needs to be prioritized, when it needs to be addressed, who needs to deal with it, and how many resources should be devoted to it. Simply put, you have to work on the “right” issue, with the “right” person, at the “right” time, and apply the “right” resources.
If you triage properly, you will delegate the “simple” and “complicated” problems to others, and you and your leadership team will have more time and resources to work on the “complex” issues – the issues that can hurt you.
Then use your decision-making framework
Once you have triaged and know you are dealing with the issues that matter, the resilient leader needs to have a proven decision-making framework. This will accelerate your action-orientation. Once you are in the midst of the crisis, it is too late to develop the process. Not being able to make a decision, or executing slowly, all lead to a low action-orientation. Develop a framework now, so you are prepared.
While we encourage leadership teams to have their own decision-making framework, there is a great one to consider, in the US military’s OODA loop.
Developed by Colonel John “Forty second” Boyd, who started with the USAF as a fighter pilot in the Korean War, and who became one of the most influential voices in shaping modern warfare, the OODA loop is a decision-making framework that helps encourage a decision, knowing there will be imperfect information, by using:
Ø Observe: Constant scanning of the environment,
Ø Orient: Analyze the information, and develop options,
Ø Decide: Decide which option is best, and develop the plan for action, and
Ø Act: implement with a bias for action.
Observe: This step includes observing the external environment by gathering information, reviewing outcomes from previous decisions, and keeping an open mind.
Orient: Analyze the information, knowing that you will never have perfect information, and determine your options for response. OODA is great for a competitive situation, as this mirrors how the fighter pilot considers how your enemy would respond.
Decide: Make a decision on the best course forward, never forgetting what the objective is, and taking into account the information that you have synthesized. While making a decision, remain aware of the impact of your decision, as this can then be used, as you iterate and return back to the observe step.
Act: This may sound simple, but we all know some companies/organizations who even once they have made a decision, have difficulty in executing. Taking the decision and acting upon it – by aligning your team, corralling your resources, monitoring implementation, and reviewing the results, again, so you can address it, when you iterate and get back to the observe step.
For a fighter pilot, knowing that the risk is never one and done, continuing to repeat and loop through this process, helps to ensure you are always prepared. This is no different than when using the OODA loop in business. The constant scanning ensures you can adjust strategies quickly. This is how Boyd got his nickname, as when he was an instructor at the USAF’s fighter weapons school, he used to bet anyone that he can “win” any dogfight within forty seconds, by using the decision-making principles in the OODA loop.
The OODA loop’s principles have been successfully applied to business applications to encourage speedy decision-making and should be considered as a key tool in your resilience toolbox.
Example
In the leisure boating industry, marine assets cost thousands, if not millions on dollars. At the outset of the Covid restrictions and societal lockdown, given the length of time to fulfil orders, boat dealers were initially worried about whether their customer deposits would convert to sales, and whether their inventory would be relieved or stranded. Those dealers who were quick to arrange emergency financing, were able to survive and withstand this unanticipated drag on working capital.
But, after this initial shock, smart dealers, rather than wallow in their problems, were constantly reviewing the situation and realized, as the summer approached, that boating actually offered a safe escape to families who couldn’t otherwise socialize.
The OODA loop’s constant updating would encourage this quick pivot, to keep pace with an evolving environment. Those dealers who anticipated this change, had first mover advantage, and were able to move their inventory.
Another example
During Covid public health measures have been dynamic and constantly changing. Recently, as restrictions have been relaxed over the past few months, many businesses in the hospitality and restaurant industry, were getting back to business, reaching out to their customer base, rehiring staff, and ordering supplies.
But yesterday, one region that was experiencing an uptick in cases, reversed their course, and returned to a lockdown mode. Businesses who were not constantly scanning the environment, and remaining flexible, might be caught unawares and may have ordered lots of perishable supplies, all to be put at risk, because of the return to lockdown.
If they had been using the OODA loop and constantly scanning the environment, they would have noticed the increase in cases over the past week, and they may have made the necessary adjustments to their business plans.
Summary
To ensure you are a resilient leader means you and your team can respond to issues as they present themselves. And, even though we are moving in the right direction with the Covid situation, you need to remember some key principles in the resilient toolbox.
You can be “fast and good”. A star anticipates the future, prepares, and executes in a timely fashion.
You can do this, by being “right”. You can’t deal with every issue, so triage, like an emergency room, and make sure you deal with the “right” issue, at the “right” time, with the “right” person, and using the “right” resources.
Use a decision-making framework like OODA, to encourage better, more timely, and more consistent decisions.
The OODA loop can help you make the best decision you can, in the face of uncertainty. The best problem-solving or decision-making frameworks, are iterative. Repeating the cycle, observing the results, measuring effectiveness, making adjustments, and moving to the next iteration, all help ensure you constantly adjust your response.
Be a resilient leader and ensure your team is ready for the next situation.
For more information on BDC Advisory Services, please visit https://www.bdc.ca/en/consulting.