Failure is a natural part of life. If you look back on your own life, there are probably a few situations you can look back on and deem them as failures. Truthfully, a failure isn’t a completely negative thing because it highlights what didn’t work. In fact, failure can often serve as a great lesson for the future. It’s only negative if you don’t learn from it. While leadership has its benefits, one of the challenges involves the fear and pressure surrounding failure. When a CEO fails the company in a significant way and you’re left to fill the role, there’s usually a significant level of trepidation and uncertainty. As the leader, it’s your job to put the company back on the right path and lead them to success. While the road to success may not be smooth sailing, you can do a thorough job and repairing the damage and reviving new life into the company through the following steps.
- Company Intel
Collect information on the employees, the company culture and the overall morale. A good leader doesn’t make major moves within the first few months to a year of arrival. This is because it can take a while to understand the company’s needs and execute in a way that’s effective. Knowing this, it’s best to become intentional about sitting down with the employees and getting to know them. Understand what their needs are and how you can serve them best as their leader. It may sound like a menial job, but the best leaders understand the power of being a servant first.
- Company Input
As you work to improve the company, it’s good to gather input from your employees. It’s one thing to get advice from other CEOs and advisors on the best moves to make. It’s another thing to actually hear from the people who will be directly impacted by the changes you make. Plus, when employees feel like their voices matter, they’re more likely to get engaged in the process and see that your goal is to see the company succeed. If you’ve ever worked on a group project, it’s clear that one person calling all the shots doesn’t work. The input of the whole group will go a long way. This isn’t to say that you can’t use your title to make an executive decision, but try to always run major decisions past a board. When you make moves on your own, you’ll be viewed as a dictator and people will jump ship. No one wants to work for a dictator.
- Company Communication
In most cases, conflicts happen because there’s usually a breakdown in communication. When it comes to producing great work, most people are incredibly passionate and want that to come across. When procedures and new protocols happen that potentially affect a person’s job, tensions can flare. No matter what happens on the job, always keep your door open to your employees. If they have a matter that they need discuss, make sure the proper channels are available for them to express their concern. Discourage the use of email in place of face-to-face communication. This one step will eliminate a significant amount of conflict and confusion.
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