New shock is normal, and they are not pleasant. For some people this strategy has a tremendous impact, this strategy relies not directly into the hearts of view of who it will get very great surprise, and not easy to get lost.
We have enough to deal with in terms of financial crises, currency fluctuations, technology interfere with, the restructuring of work, shortage of essential drugs, a populist revolt, the pandemic might be, and terrorist threats without adding the devastating earthquake in 2010 and exceptional weather events. Et tu, Mother Nature?
Coping with the unexpected is essential leadership. In any business, the ability to recover quickly separate the winners from the losers, whether they react to fumbles in a game of sports or curve ball thrown by external events. I summarize the challenges of managing volatility in a simple equation: MTBs = or MTBs are the mean time between surprises, which shrinks. MTMD is the mean time to make decisions, which should be fast.
Here are four strategies to expedite response and minimize the impact of interference.
• Reserves. Leaders must know the benefits of alternatives. Even if Plan B is not always able to be trained and ready to go, mental flexibility can prevent rigid specifications and expectations of the bottlenecks for quick redirection. Great innovators are often pursuing a parallel path of development. Great stress the efficiency of the company but to build in slack and cross-train their people, such as Cemex not. Although the trend of the recession-push during this recession is to walk a tight, some overlap and redundancy makes it easier to react quickly.
• Communication. Information must flow quickly and spread virally, whether by email or phone chain, twitter alerts, or buddy system. Social networks in which people feel responsible to adjust the action quickly. Collection and dissemination of data in a short cycle also improves the ability to change quickly.
• Collaboration. human relationships, commitment and resilience helped the company quickly recovered. When people care about each other, have common goals, and feel empowered to act, they can competently and maintain high performance volatility. In a major power outage that shut down airports in the Northeast United States in 2003 (up to volcanic ash, the second worst disasters to hit airlines since the 2001 terrorist attacks), Continental Airlines employees dedicated to their destination on time of arrival and empowering them to conduct almost anything except the safety risk to achieve it. They develop many creative solutions to keep their aircraft flying while their competitors are hundreds of flights were canceled.
• The values and principles. clear standards and values can serve as a guidance system to direct decisions without bureaucratic slowness. People know the right thing to do without being told and without waiting for permission. Of P & G is the first organization to evacuate employees (and their families) from Lebanon after the military action, the general manager of a particular area that the costs will be supported, because P & G values.
Similar strategies to help deal with my colleagues in the fall volcanic ash. When I arrived at the honcho for a global health summit about my canceled flight, a team in Europe has been in high security mode set up Plan B and C. He said, "The crisis like this shows how we can be innovative and creative. This also allows us to show our character in the service of our partners and constituents Maybe we can adjust the schedule and opened to a larger audience .." They did.