10 Ways to Navigate Turbulence
Catastrophe is one decision away during turbulence. Reacting makes you look like a fool, eventually.
Wise leaders respond to turbulence; fools react. Reactions are passionate but uninformed. How many times have decisions outrun information? Ouch! That hurts.
Successful leaders respond; failures react.
“Make it go away,” reflects self-serving reaction. “What caused this,” begins organization-serving response. Circumstances control reactionary leaders; they feel pushed around. Principles guide responsive leaders; they face into the wind.
Establish direction before solving issues.
10 Ways to respond to turbulence:
- Define smooth sailing. Is smooth sailing an option?
- Predict duration. Is this a squall?
- Explore intensity. Is this a hurricane?
- Examine history. How long has this been brewing?
- Who or what is at the center? People who consistently cause turbulence won’t solve it.
- What behaviors, attitudes, or circumstances instigated turbulence? Should they stop or continue?
- Describe the best next step? Forget perfection.
- Are you navigating by the stars or controlled by the wind?
- What new turbulence does the next step create?
- Is public response warranted?
Bonus: Identify, support, authorize, and follow champions who lead through turbulence.
Hard truth:
Sometimes the ship should sink.
Any organization determined to save itself has lost sight of its mission. It’s not worth saving. Think of all the bureaucratic organizations bailing water to stay afloat.
Turbulence purifies and clarifies. Every response to turbulence clarifies the value you bring and how to bring it best. If you don’t bring value you deserve to sink.
“… In a free market the only way to do well is to do well for others.” Gary Hamel
How can leaders navigate turbulence?
Navigating through turbulence takes a couple of key elements.
The first is to know yourself well, know your own skill-set well.
Others that I would add are:
– know your people well
– train your people well
– pay attention to what’s going on around you, keep an eye on everything, especially what lies immediately ahead
– step into the current, don’t fight it. Move in the direction of the flow, and use it to your advantage as much as possible.
– applaud and celebrate those people who step up to help “save the day”
– prepare better for the next round
Tips from business and whitewater rafting 😉
Martina
Great stuff Martina.
I’ve found that knowing what I’m about as a person is a guiding constellation on my leadership journey. Thanks for adding that to this discussion.
If we listen, turbulence helps us know ourselves.
Keep those tips coming.
“People who consistently cause turbulence won’t solve it.” — That’s a great quote.
Thank you.
Thanks, Dan, for this very timely post. Martina, your comments are super. I’m in a squall which will be remedied today. I’ll be clipping this and keeping it on my desktop for future reference.
Thanks for the good word and best wishes with that squall.
There’s deep wisdom in the hard truth, that sometimes the ship should sink. That line alone is enough to ponder on….
Thanks Dan.
Thanks Robert…it’s a bit unnerving.. The problem is escalating commitment when our strengths and abilities can be better utilized.
I agree, that one caused me to stop and think about it for a minute. Long enough to forward to my boss to consider…great post as always Dan.
I also stepped back a bit when I saw this one as well. Sometimes there is nothing wrong with the ship guys and what we need to do is throw overboard the “bad” cargo. Organizations are not inherently bad, and it is difficult sometimes to throw people off the bus. How many times have we had turbulence that we could have predicted and resolved earlier had we the stomach to do what needs to be done. Been there and done that and hopefully
have become a better captain because of it.
KaPow! Thanks Al
That statement reminds me of the talk about the banks and auto industry being “too big to fail.” I wonder how things might have turned out if we let them “fail” and reorganize. Sure, there would have been pain in the short-run, but I suspect we would have seen positives over the long run
Dear Dan,
I appreciate the points suggested to navigate turbulence. I like the point number 5- who is in the center. It has major influence on causing turbulence. Generally we tend to think that it is the leader who is in the center, but it may not be always true. There could be some group of people, some customs, some norms, some cultural practices or people of like interest etc. One important thing to note during respond to turbulence is know the pattern. Pattern of turbulence provide frequency so that you can make out suitable strategy.
Navigating turbulence does not have definite answer. How can leaders navigate turbulence, depends. It depends on the impact. There are turbulence which do not impact but disturb in short term. There are turbulence which actually challenges the leadership capability. Kind and impact of turbulence decides strategy. And overall its impact on the situation or system.
Hi Ajay, I’m so glad you expanded #5. You rightly observe that it may be internal or external (as in customers). It may be caused by negativity or by trying to make things better. Great Add!
Would add to the negative spin that, failures react, seeking to blame rather than seeking a remedy.
Know that turbulence will occur (could substitute change for turbulence) and with that knowledge, plan for it, identify the extremes of turbulence so that you know the outside parameters, determine the likelihood of the various extremes occurring and then practice responses to see how/if they work. How you practice is how you will do in the real event.
And learn from others experiences. It is up the the leaders to connect those real world learnings to their own shop. We learned very deep lessons from hurricane Sandy and Katrina before. With Sandy, who would have thought that fires would be an issue in hurricane rains and wind, yet we lost hundreds of homes to fire.
Hey Doc I am with you on the “Blame Game.” The thrust of our “lean management program” which we are in the midst of is to create “safe” space, not assign blame but examine it, and not ask who did it but what happened. Creating a blameless culture is difficult to achieve but who is “to blame for that.” 🙂
I love “the ship should sink”! So many people do not consider that as a valid option. Dav
It’s too awkward… Take note that Al, above, posits that organizations aren’t bad but perhaps some of the cargo should be jettisoned.
Reblogged this on David A. Vudragovich.
Or as more people know it, keep throwing good money after bad.
You’re making me think. It seems that turbulence and threats to our progress or existence are best served by getting to the essential stuff. Addressing turbulence involves driving the shades of gray from the black and white. Black and white are the values and reasons we exist – how and why we serve; and the essential skills we apply to get things done – leading, following, working together, executing skillfully. The gray that has to be driven out is the self serving interests and needs for power that emerge in all organizations. These are inevitable and important, but can overwhelm the black and white if they become dominant. They cause turbulence. Focusing on the black and white sets the gray aside and allows “facing into the wind.” Failure happens when the black and white are lost because grays dominate the behavior of people in the organization.
Seems to apply to lots of things today. Good post.
Beautifully said, Glenn. As I wrote today’s post I began thinking about the purifying effect of turbulence. You nailed it with your gray/black/white analogy. Bingo!
In a world where perseverance, endurance, and ‘keep going when the going gets tough’ are far more highly prized ‘ideals’ then knowing when to ‘jump ship’… It can be a very hard truth.
Yes, sometimes the ship should sink. It’s knowing when it’s time that is the discerning challenge. 🙂
Thanks for sharing another great post, Dan.
Love that metaphor of turbulence.
A while back, I put together a Coaching Situational Difficulty Rating form (and did the same thing for the idea of facilitation of a group) using the Whitewater I – VI ratings for rapids, using some of the metaphors about scouting and maneuvering that are required to be successful.
The “i’s” are the really easy ones and the “VI’s” are for experts only, with pretty-much required safety / rescue set-ups and a lot of planning plus skills.
Turbulence can be FUN and interesting — a lot more engaging than simply floating on the lake. But it also needs some skills and preparation to stay right-side-up in all the chaos!
ALL the turbulence can basically be run. But floating over Niagara Falls in a barrel is not the same kind of experience as running the Big Hole at Chrystal or running Lava Falls (both on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon).
Guess it is kind of a decision-making framework. You can find it downloadable on this page:
http://www.performancemanagementcompany.com/category_s/105.htm
For the FUN of It!
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“For get perfection.” Perhaps the best advice ever given! Thanks again for being such a constant source of sound advice and common (yet uncommon) sense.
Great post Dan. Being a lover of the sea no. 8 was my “winner.” “Are you navigating by the stars or controlled by the wind?” How about if I say a little of both. Using the wind strategically can jump start you in the right direction if you know where you are going. Leaders need to be proficient at both I would say. Tactics matter and calm seas and a starry sky can still create opportunity for reflection and preparation. Knowing how to set the sails is usually never learned well during the storm and the truth is there is never a similar Hurricane as Doc pointed out regarding Katrina and Sandy. I am not one to point fingers at anyone lest I poke myself in the nose but there was some time with “calm seas” for better preparations to be made for Sandy. And Doc will know this but someone said “If it doesn’t kill you, it can only make you stronger.” I am a big proponent of that philosophy for sure.
F. Nietzsche originally, lately Kelly Clarkson adapted it… 😉
Nietzsche also said ‘without music, life would be a mistake.’
Great post Dan, I love the nautical theme. I think at times the storm is a welcomed event as it can clear the deck of a poorly run vessel.