The current round of cost cutting by the new coalition government will require public sector bodies to make tough decisions (see Cuts and Commitment: What Public Sector HR Has to Deliver). In normal situations you would expect leaders to use the rational decision-making model (define problem, identify and weight criteria, generate and rate options, make decision).

However, these are not normal times and the increasing pressure on bosses is likely to push them into behaving irrationally. As Roy Mogg says in his blog Leadership in a Crisis, leaders and leadership qualities are coming under intense scrutiny around the world. We need leaders who can manage a crisis and make decisions in an emergency. But are our leaders up to the job?

Our recent experience provides some alarming evidence.

One huge organisation brought the leadership team together to address its big issues – including a full-scale restructure and redundancies running into thousands. However, those present became so embroiled in how to raise money for a nominated charity, managers spent more than a third of the time trying to out do each other in the philanthropic stakes.

The energy and clarity of thought were there, but totally misdirected. Meanwhile huge business challenges were sidelined. So why the inertia? Is it denial? Or did that senior team seek comfort in the familiar, delaying painful decisions in the process?

A second organisation we know got themselves totally distracted in a board-level argument over a director’s expense claim amounting to 64p. While this was going on they took their eye off the ball and lost a major contract. The drop in turnover has led to widespread cost cutting and redundancies.

So a leader’s inaction can and will lead to a deterioration in an already bad situation. Rather than allowing themselves to become distracted or freeze like rabbits in the headlights, bosses need to get to grips with the situation and act like effective crisis leaders.

The Leadership Trust has outlined three essential ‘grips’ to help in just this situation:

1. Grip oneself to make decisions and take action under stress.
2. Grip the task to clarify and communicate the objective and purpose of the decisions and create strategies to pursue them.
3. Grip the team to empower people to manage the crisis and do what needs to be done.

In these difficult times leaders need robust decision-making skills to handle complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. They also need to be able to evaluate information, and display clarity of thought, judgement and decisiveness under severe pressure. Today’s leaders need perseverance, endurance and tenacity to follow a course and pursue organisational goals – however tempting it may be to do something else instead. Coaching and mentoring can help leaders stay the course and do the right things at the right time – rather than get distracted and retreat into their comfort zone.

Tags: crisis HR, employee engagement, Leadership effectiveness, Public Sector HR
Posted by steve walker
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