Lead Them Through the Transition

David Foote-Cofounder and managing partner, Foote Partners.

When I talk with executives, one of the first references I use is Charles Darwin, who said:"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

Change is the easy part; changes are situational, external. Transition is the response to change. Transitions are psychological, internal, focused on an ending. People don't like endings. A transition is the end of something but also the beginning of something. But in-between is scary. Employees are focusing on what we're losing - that's happening big time right now. They know that life is not going be the same, but they don't know what that's going to be like. It's a transition to an unknown.

What you have to do for employees is create temporary systems to get through it. You need to strengthen connections [between employees]. It's interesting how people are using intranets to get through this. People are on the road or working from home; the workforce isn't all together in many organisations. What has happened is they've been taking these bland corporate intranets and turning them into boards where employees can talk to each other. They post what they're feeling where others can see it and respond. It's a great example of a temporary system.

You want to help people define the transition. You do this by defining what's over and what's not. Not everything is over. Right now a lot of conventions and events are being cancelled. Some travel is curtailed, some projects are cancelled - but a lot of things are just being pushed out. You know, a lot of people measure their careers by their projects. Tell them:"We haven't cancelled that project." Layoffs are still on people's minds. That was happening before September 11. Now, even people who aren't being laid off are saying:"Maybe I should circulate my rA©sumA©." Tell them:"There will be no layoffs; we're not cancelling projects." Or:"Here's who's being laid off: them, but not you." Or:"We're cancelling one thing but nothing else." Don't lose people over this.

Executives need to change the metaphors to lead employees into the next phase. Leading by metaphor is about redefining things. Executives need to talk about what their companies stand for instead of just what they do.

This is where real leadership comes in. A lot of executives who are dealing with this really aren't leaders - they're managers. Strong leaders are showing their stuff right now. Their companies are the ones that were talking with employees and customers right away.