A few months ago a good friend of mine had a business that went into administration. It was only three years ago we celebrated over lunch that he had 35 employees and impressive revenue and profit. Then, the perfect storm happened. Poor strategic execution and decreased sales saw his business decimated in a tough industry. Underlying all of the obvious issues was a CFO who fraudulently stole $1 million dollars. Together, it brought the company down and it not longer exists in its previous form.
In the pressure cooker business world we live in, change and uncertainty have become commonplace. No longer can organisations rest on their laurels. Plans must be put together quickly, decisions made and deadlines met.
With a rapidly changing world, the need for high-performance teams to solve difficult problems is more important than ever before. The good news is that humans are wired to want to work together on a goal that is bigger than what can be achieved individually.
Michael is the Group General Manager of an industrial company with a division of 250 people. Due to the company winning a new contract interstate, he has been travelling more frequently than normal over the last four months. The contract is not going well, so he is spending most of his time putting out fires.
Over the last five years, nearly every single Australian workplace has experienced significant change at some level. Whether that’s a merger, new CEO or executive team, different business model, updated premises or even redundancies.
In last week’s post, we talked about fostering psychological safety in your team to improve performance. But it’s only one component.
According to a Canadian research firm, trust between a manager and employee, is the most important predictor of employee engagement.
In today’s pressure-cooker of a business world, the ability to handle constant change is the difference between success and failure. When situations are uncertain and risky for people and organisations, trust issues bubble to the surface, often unbeknownst to leaders.
Today’s tricky business challenges requires leaders with increasingly sophisticated skills around fostering innovation, inspiring others, and collaboration. These competencies all require being able to build trust first.