Here are parts one and two of this series.
So how can we as managers use ideas from the St. Crispin’s Day speech to better lead our employees through tough times?
One thing we don’t need to do is make flowery or dramatic speeches. That works fine on stage or in a film but in the real world it’s rarely effective and can easily backfire. In reality, King Henry himself was very plain-spoken which was part of what made him such an effective leader. For example, when it came time to lead his soldiers in their seemingly doomed attack on the French army, he initiated the charge by saying, “Fellas, let’s go!”
So let’s see how we can translate Shakespeare’s brilliant oratory and insights into management techniques that are effective in the 21st Century workplace.
Let’s start by grouping together and discussing three points from the previous post:
- Don’t pretend everything’s fine.
- Don’t wish for things to be easier.
- Be a role model of strength and courage.
The single most effective thing you can do in this area is to develop a taste for tough challenges. If you can teach yourself to tackle difficult times with genuine enthusiasm you won’t be tempted to pretend everything’s fine or wish for things to be easier, and it will be natural for you to serve as a role model of strength and courage.
How exactly do you go about developing a taste for tough challenges? Well, that’s a big enough topic that I’ll cover it in greater detail in a future post. But the main thing is you need to make a conscious decision and commitment to become a person who thrives in difficult situations. It worked for me. At this point in my career, I get a little bored and restless when everything’s running smoothly and I really perk up and feel engaged when a big problem comes along. This was not at all the way I felt fifteen years ago; I’ve deliberately changed the way I respond to difficult situations.
You can also develop the habit of using effective words rather than ineffective words when talking about the tough problem you’re facing. Using ineffective words means either minimizing the problem or catastrophizing the problem. Trying to brush off a big problem with minimizing comments like, “it’s nothing” or “don’t worry about it” will only make your employees more worried because they’ll start to think you’re genuinely clueless about how serious the situation really is. On the other hand, catastrophizing phrases like “this is a disaster” or “we’re totally screwed” will undermine your status as a leader and fuel pessimism and panic.
Here are some examples of how to talk about a big problem using effective language that acknowledges the severity of the situation while instilling confidence:
- “This is a tough one, but we’ve tackled bigger problems than this before and we’ll beat this one, too.”
- “We’re facing a serious situation, but I know I can count on every one of you and we’ll get through it together.”
Unless the situation involves an element of tragedy, feel free to inject enthusiasm with comments like, “this is the fun part” or “I really love this kind of thing!” If you truly mean it, this attitude is contagious and can immediately transform the moods of everyone around you. I do this pretty often, because tricky problems get me energized and I tend to share my enthusiasm with those around me. But only say it if that’s the way you truly feel. False enthusiasm rubs everybody the wrong way.
Now let’s address some of the other points from the previous post:
Focus on what you can do rather than dwelling on the problem. If you and your employees keep your attention focused on the huge problem you’re facing or the grim situation you’re experiencing, you won’t get good results because it tends to make people depressed or angry and diminishes motivation. You need to get them refocused on the positive outcome you’re hoping to achieve and what they can do to help achieve it. Here are two key ideas:
- “We can’t change the past so let’s focus on shaping the future.”
- “There’s no sense worrying or complaining about the things we can’t control so let’s focus on the things we can control.”
Earlier in my career, I was a manager during a very difficult situation and was dealing with quite a bit of negativity from some employees. I made a rule that the first ten minutes of meetings would be set aside to focus on the problem under discussion. We’d discuss what was wrong and people were free to complain and get their gripes off their chests. Then I'd announce that the ‘focus on the problem’ part of the meeting was over and that the rest of the meeting would be focused on solutions. After that if someone tried to start complaining or getting negative I’d jump in and remind him that part of the meeting was over. It was a simple rule and worked quite well.
Everyone pulls together in the face of a tough situation. In tough times, you’ll probably feel a strong impulse to withdraw from those around you. It’s a natural reaction. You might find yourself closing your office door more often or spending less time “out on the floor” with your employees.
It’s important to not only resist this impulse but to reverse it. In difficult times you should actually draw your people closer to you and to each other. Spend extra time with your employees and let them know you’re all in it together, whatever may come. This is your greatest opportunity to forge bonds of mutual loyalty and trust. Facing shared hardship and banding together to overcome them can turn a group of people into a real team.
One great way to do that is to tell stories about those shared experiences, which leads us to our final points…
Achievements will be remembered and it’s okay to turn stories into legends. All cultures are defined in part by their legends or folklore. You can build a strong culture in your organization by turning stories of achievement in the face of great difficulty into legends of your own. Stories like these are often referred to “war stories” for a reason. They have the same mythic and nostalgic quality of stories told among old soldiers of their shared hardships, adventures, misadventures, setbacks, and victories. Even while the difficult circumstances are continuing, you can plant the seed by predicting, “someday we’ll look back on all this and remember how we all got through this together.” Once the crisis has passed or the problem has been overcome, you should reminisce and tell tales about employees’ achievements and experiences. Go ahead and exaggerate a bit, help your employees feel like comrades and heroes for what they endured and accomplished.
Just the other day a group of us were in a meeting trying to figure out how to handle a tough new market. This is a big problem for us right now, and we’re struggling. At the end of the meeting I spontaneously turned to a long-time employee, grinned, and said, “Hey, it's just like the old days, isn’t it.” He got a big smile on his face and said, “It sure is.” There was an immediate warm sense of kinship between us and a surge of enthusiasm. We were thinking back to a time years earlier when we were all working together to build the division from nothing, which was a lot like flying an airplane while we were still building it. I’ll sometimes instigate a little session of reminiscing about that time with the employees who were there with me. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t always fun, but we triumphed in the end. Truly, those employees who weren’t there and didn’t go through those difficult days wish they’d been there with us, just as King Henry predicted.
Don’t miss this kind of an opportunity to create a bond of trust and loyalty between you and your employees. When talking about a past time of tribulation, don’t say, “You’re lucky you weren’t there, that sucked!” Instead say, “Man, you should have been there, those were the days; they were tough times but they were great times.” This is the way you can truly turn your staff into “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”
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