When leaders take this time to be clear, you provide your team with a stronger feeling of control – they know what to do and what success looks like.
If could use more advice on how to lead your feed or grain business through the noise and uncertainty, don’t forget to use our bat signal! Submit your questions — any question at all — to me directly at [email protected], and you might just see yours end up in a future blog!
The endless swirl of information — down markets, recession, inflation, higher inputs, drought — is all around us, wherever we look.
When we talk with clients, they hear these same things and find themselves with the same questions: What does it mean for me? What does it mean for our business? Should I continue with my plan to hire staff?
As a leader, there’s already pressure to ensure your business remains profitable, that you stay competitive. In a world of additional noise and uncertainty, it’s tough to know what path to take.
Leaders shouldn’t hide from ‘noise’
The noise can lead to a feeling of pressure on your shoulders, a feeling of helplessness — that there’s nothing you can do to impact. Too often, when things get challenging and uncertain, we see leaders go inward because they don’t feel certain about what might be happening, or how it might impact their business. They prefer to just say nothing at all.
Here's the thing: In times of uncertainty, it is even more critical to be communicating with your team members and setting a clear path forward for them.
Unsure what you’d say? This is the time to be extremely clear on goals and objectives and giving feedback that supports them. You can do this AND acknowledge that it might feel shaky right now.
Talking through uncertainty
We’ve outlined some talking points to get you started. Here’s what you can say:
- I recognize there’s a lot going on right now, and it feels uncertain. I feel it, too.
- Right now, I can’t predict what the impact will be on our business.
- The best thing we can do is stay focused on the things we can control, and that is making sure we’re focused on our objective to... (increase ticket count, increase add-on sales, reduce shrink).
- Here are some of my ideas.
- I'd love to have you share more of your ideas, as well. What suggestions do you have?
