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There are always factors beyond the control of leaders. A post-Covid hangover means the world is inundated with problems we didn’t create and can’t solve, but that affect us directly: supply chain tightness, staff shortages and punitive inflation, to name a few.
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While the external challenges are frustrating, it’s not the biggest frustrations that leaders express to me. Their biggest frustration comes from within: their team’s inability to adapt to these external challenges.
Related: 7 Strategies to Grow Your Business When Supply Chain Disruptions Are Everywhere
Have you recently said something that sounds like “Yes (fill in) is a huge problem, but there are still so many things we can’t do that we could do”? If this sounds like your situation, you already know that your team needs to move beyond feeling hopeless and go beyond their current standard procedures. However, you also know that you won’t get anywhere if you simply ask them to do this.
So, what’s the best way to move forward? Tackle this challenge on two levels: macro support and micro ownership.
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Macro support
Let’s start with macro support. Before asking frontline teams to bear the weight of these additional challenges, determine what you can do at your level to clear the path for those closest to work.
Macro support can mean additional investment in people or equipment, pushing the boundaries of the organization, or removing work that may now be considered non-essential. Here you show that the organization is putting its skin in the game.
For example, a Fortune 200 food producer I worked with recently was fraught with supply chain issues. However, they were also aware that many of these problems could have been mitigated or even solved if employees within the company had been willing to work across organizational boundaries, take more initiative or anticipate potential problems. Their current standard working method fell short.
What did macro support look like in this situation? The head of operation began by organizing a senior level team with the express purpose of helping anyone who had a challenge that crossed organizational boundaries. The members of this team were hand-picked leaders with a reputation for solving problems. Any employee who anticipated a supply chain problem now had a way to raise the flag and gather all the resources needed to meet customer needs.
Related: How Your Business Can Get Through the Labor Shortage
Micro-ownership
Micro-ownership starts when each team identifies a target. Essentially, an outcome that could directly influence the team (besides their day-to-day job) would have the greatest impact on the overall challenge.
Think of this as sitting on a leaking boat soaking up water. If a team’s normal day job takes the water out of the boat, this team’s micro-ownership goal can close a gap. Will fixing just one hole in a leaky boat make a meaningful difference? My decades of work in strategic execution has shown that it is the cumulative impact of these small victories that precedes the biggest breakthroughs.
This result for one team could be at a food production plant focused on reducing shrink to offset increased food costs, a sales team focusing on prospecting within a critical segment, or a production team looking to increase the number of shifts with full crews while dealing with staff shortages.
At first, some people inevitably think, “Hey boss, if we knew how to do that, don’t you think we would already do it? We won’t let you down!” But it usually doesn’t take long for a team to see areas where significant gains can be made with some focus and consistency, especially if you’re only asking for one result in addition to day-to-day work.
Management pioneer Peter Drucker taught that the most important (and most difficult) shift people can make is to move from thinking about their work in terms of activities to thinking about their work in terms of results! Ask someone about their work. Most people will describe the activities they perform, not the results they produce.
The best way to move a culture toward a results-oriented mindset is to start with a single outcome that they can influence. Establishing macro-support and micro-ownership will not solve all supply chain, employee, or inflation problems. But it will prevent uncontrollable circumstances from holding you and the organization back.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.