Few things can be more lonely or more frustrating than owning and running a business. Especially when you are the responsible person in times of trouble. Almost everyone will have an opinion on what you should do and then guess almost every decision you make. It is relatively easy to express these criticisms when you are one of the people present in the audience, rather than being the person on stage in the spotlight.
There have been a lot of troubles lately in the NFL, with some players deciding to kneel while playing the national anthem. Wherever you are on this issue of "kneeling or not kneeling," leadership in this latest crisis, especially among NFL owners, left a lot to be desired. When things get warmer, it's easy as a leader to get caught up in the emotions and do just about anything to make an uncomfortable situation go away.
You probably see it all the time with your small business customers. Many will do everything they can to avoid conflict. Whether it's a potential conflict with their employees, customers or suppliers. They will often let their emotions get the most out of it and make what appears from the outside irrational decisions that are rooted in triggering the potential conflict and avoided at almost any cost.
Leadership tactics
In the case of the NFL owners, there are some basic leadership tactics that should have been used to avoid the current fire storm that will probably not end well for the leaders of the NFL. Industry:
- Stick to your Values: What do you "represent", both literally and figuratively? As a leader of an organization, it is your job to set the tone and culture and to let everyone know what is expected of them as they do it. part of your team or organization. Jerry Jones, of the Dallas Cowboys, has always told his players that he wanted them to be all for the national anthem. But in addition to honoring the American flag, he also supports his players. Before a recent game against Arizona, Mr. Jones joined his team while they were all kneeling before the national anthem in a "declaration for equality and representation of the 39; unit ".
- Communicating Clearly: I imagine that everyone clearly understands what President Trump feels about this kneeling problem and whoever within his organization knows what is wrong with him. We wait for them and what happens if they kneel. It seems like a lot of NFL owners are not so clear in their communication. Admittedly, nobody signed Colin Kaepernick in the offseason – not because he was not one of the top 60 in the world in his work, but because he was They did not want to face a possible backlash from his kneelings. But after these last weekends, each team has knees.
- Forget the political correctness: Nothing has become a bigger cancer in modern culture than political correctness. Almost everyone is so afraid to say something wrong, they usually do not say anything, even when they really should. Something I learned early in life, is that no matter how much I am a friend with someone, we will never agree to mostly. And that's a good thing! But people must be comfortable to be able to express what they think of things and then react to other ways of thinking that they meet or push back. As a business leader, how can anyone change the views and opinions of anyone else if he is not allowed to have some vigorous discussions about what he thinks and why?
- Concentrate on All Your Electors: One of the dangers in business is to focus too much on just one of your constituents and not to take sufficient account of the circumstances. impact on other voters. In the case of the NFL, too much attention was paid to players (employees) and not enough to fans (customers) or police and military personnel (strategic partners).
As a leader of an organization, especially during difficult times, it is helpful to stand back, catch your breath and know how to move forward. Keep the four points above at the top of your list when trying to understand how to handle sensitive situations, especially those that are potentially explosive.
Hand on the left chest Photo via Shutterstock