Why Leaders Should Respond Instead of React When Things Go Wrong

When something unplanned happens in your business, do you respond or react?

As leaders, we know that our actions set the tone of how things happen within our teams and organizations. Our actions effect the tempo and quality of work being done along with the way team members interact with each other, with people on other teams within our organization and with people outside of our organization. While going through the day-to-day grind, all teams will face things that are unplanned and have the potential to create roadblocks. And guess what, the actions of our teams in these situations are also effected by the way we as leaders handle unforeseen circumstances.

When a customer complains, a part is made incorrectly, a project deliverable gets delayed, a supply chain partner suddenly goes out of business; do you respond or react? Successful leaders know that a well-executed response will carry much more weight than an off-the-cuff reaction. A timely, but controlled response to an unforeseen situation shows that you, the leader, have an understanding of the issue or you are trying to gain an understanding in order to determine the best course of action. However, off-the-cuff reactions to these type of situations conveys the opposite message and shows that you are not in control; and often does not lead to the best outcome of achieving success in the face of adversity.

What is the difference between responding and reacting to an unplanned event?

Responding is deliberately addressing the situation and understanding the impact it has on your overall plan prior to taking direct action. Responding to a situation initially focuses on gathering information to understand what is happening, what has caused it to happen, the severity of what is happening, and the impact(s) the situation will have on your business. Once you have gathered all of the relevant information and have a very clear understanding of the how, what, where and why of the situation, you then look at any contingencies built into your plan that would best address how to move forward. If contingencies are not in place that address the situation at hand, you need to quickly develop a plan for moving forward. This may take the form of an initial stop-gap measure while a long term solution is fleshed out depending on the severity of the situation. Once your plan is in place, you can give clear and concise directions that your team will use to move forward and become part of the knowledge base in your organization.

Reacting can be seen as both good or bad. A positive reaction is immediate action that is taken based on training and past experience. A negative reaction is an impulse due to not having a plan or lack of control over your behavior.

For example: If someone begins to choke and you react by administering the Heimlich maneuver because you have that training, you could save someone’s life. Good reaction. On the other hand, if you learn that supplies you need are out of stock for another week and you go into panic mode trying to come up with a solution, you could make poor decisions. Bad reaction.

To become more response driven, get better with the three P’s – Process, Planning and Practice.

Process - Is how your organization does things and shares that information internally. I’m a fan of simplicity and studies of great companies show this to be true as well. Great companies have, on average, 9 core processes that drive their business model. Processes are prescriptive methods of executing the operations of your business.

Planning - Is looking forward to where you want to be in the next three to five years and working backwards to determine what needs to be done to reach that end goal. Planning and communicating those plans throughout your organization will help you to properly address unplanned situations and determine how they will impact your ability to reach your goals.

Practice - Is getting yourself into the habit of extracting pertinent information in order to come up with the simplest solution. When an unplanned situation arises, getting into the habit of starting with questions about the who, what, where, when, why and how, will give you the baseline information to use moving forward.

Once your facts have been gathered, you start to look for solutions that are already in place in your processes and understand how to apply the solutions to stay on track with your long term plans. Once you have mastered the behaviors of Process, Planning and Practice, you will be in a much better position to be response driven when the time comes.