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Anyone can lead a team when things are going well. The mark of a great leader is how they lead when things are not going well.
It’s been said leaders work for free when times are good and they get paid double when times are tough.
The question we need to ask is what happens to the leadership and what does the organization see when times are tough? The actions of the leader are on display at all times, and I believe when times are tough, the leader’s actions are magnified.
When the leader can display the same consistent behavior when times are bad as when they are good, the organization is far more likely to remain calm. The leader who has two radically different styles is the leader who becomes harder to read and harder to understand, resulting in the organization being less steady.
When times are tough, consistent leadership allows for clearer thinking and a greater ability for everyone to remain focused on the longer-term picture, versus the immediacy of the challenge they face.
We see examples of this all the time in the sports world. The calm consistent coach is able to rally his players back from a big loss to win a key game.
The emotional coach, on the other hand, allows panic to set in due to one or two bad plays, and quickly the panic spirals out of control. It’s more difficult for a team to recover in that situation.
The ability to demonstrate consistent leadership in the business world is something I believe is not given enough attention. I see it as one of the easiest tools a leader can use to navigate a team through difficult times.
Copyright 2016, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
