Marketers and communicators must be careful about how they communicate internally and externally in a time of crisis.

COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus, has caused unease across the globe. Millions of people are on lockdown, travel is being restricted, and markets are responding badly as the virus continues to spread.

It’s a tough time for the broader society, which means it can be a challenging time for marketers and communicators. In crisis management, there’s a saying that goes, “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control what you do about it.”

We live in a different world now, but will it stay that way?

Read the full report from Ogilvy below.

The Naval Special Warfare community is a culture founded on trust and extreme levels of accountability. It is also the perfect example of what new corporate leadership needs to emulate. Here’s why:

During SEAL training, peer reviews are a weekly event. There is a process called “top five, bottom five.”

Every week the top five performers in the class are ranked, as well as the bottom five. Usually, those landing in the bottom five are star performers — from a tactical or physical standpoint. But they have character or ego problems.

These classmates are organically purged. This system roots those issues out before a student ever gets close to graduating. It’s one of the many ways to protect the culture!

It’s A Brave New World
The leadership and management needs of today’s successful companies have changed.

The old hierarchical model that depended mostly on only a few people at the top for leadership simply doesn’t work anymore.

In today’s more volatile and uncertain battlefield, decentralized controls and leadership through networks of people at all levels are essential for success. One person doesn’t have the time or resources to sift through mounds of data about company performance, industry, economic environment or competitors.

Organizations move too quickly for that model to be effective.

The rules of leadership are different now.

Here are some rules for building employee trust, creating a culture that ensures their best performance, and being an effective leader.

BE AUTHENTIC
Be yourself. Think about the attributes you have and use them as an asset to drive your mission.

BUILD RAPPORT WITH YOUR TEAM
Break down barriers. Spend time with your team outside of the office. Get their feedback and show that you value their opinions.

CONNECT YOUR TEAMS TO THE BIGGER PICTURE
Employees feel and perform better when their work serves a purpose. Reconnecting employees with the company’s vision can be a powerful tool for increasing engagement and boosting performance.

LIFT PEOPLE UP
Start by reinforcing your confidence in other people’s abilities. Employees immediately feel more confident and more motivated.

Today’s employees have endless options. They can freelance, contract out their skills to multiple companies, work part-time, and create an online business for next to zero capital. So remember to appreciate your employees as they have many other ways to earn a living!

The next generation of employees expects more from leadership. They want authenticity, connection, and a sense of purpose .

RESOURCES:

Leadership
This is How AI Will Change the Future of Leadership
The New Rules of Effective Leadership
Startups. Founding, funding, and beyond
The Most Important Leadership Skill

The Digital Age has unleashed three powerful forces. Continuous change, pervasive innovation; and global markets, customers and competition.

So new leadership capabilities are required and innovation matters more than ever. Digital transformation is largely enabled by innovation, from building new products and services to leveraging data for more efficient operations.

Going digital, the focus for many companies today continues to demand the attention of leadership teams as they evolve to meet new challenges and expectations.

If innovation is to flourish, leaders must create an entrepreneurial environment in which everyone feels encouraged to experiment and where failure is viewed as something that can be learned from. Real leaders promote diversity, as innovation can come from anyone.

More than 70 percent of senior executives in a recent McKinsey survey say that innovation will be one of the drivers of growth for their companies in the next three to five years. Other executives see innovation as the most important way for companies to accelerate the pace of change in today’s
global business environment.

“Innovation leadership is a philosophy and technique that combines different leadership styles to influence employees to produce creative ideas, products, and services. The key role in the practice of innovation leadership is the innovation leader.”
–Wikipedia

In a recent in-depth study of leaders in the telecommunications industry, the Harvard Business Review isolated 10 distinctive behaviors that set this group apart as innovation leaders. Here are the bullet points:

1. Display excellent strategic vision. The most effective innovation leaders can vividly describe their vision of the future.
2. Possess a strong customer focus. Network with clients and ask incessant questions.
3. Create a climate of reciprocal trust. People are never punished for honest mistakes.
4. Display fearless loyalty to the company and to the project.
5. Trust in a culture that rewards upward communication.
6. Excel at setting goals. These goals require finding new ways to achieve a high goal.
7. Persuade. These individuals are highly effective in getting others to accept good ideas.
8. Emphasize speed. Experiments and rapid prototypes preferred over lengthy studies.
9. Communicate candidly, honestly and even bluntly.
10. Inspire and motivate through action.

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists.
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.”
— Lao Tzu

More On This Topic:

How to become an innovative leader in the digital age
Leadership and Innovation
The Innovation Leader Your Company Needs Today

As someone once said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”!

The everyday happenings in a company’s culture matter and they can play a large role in the success or failure of every company.

Today’s millennials are the generation driving the workplace changes of the near future. They desire a strong company culture more than anything else when deciding who to work for.

Culture has always been important. But today, it’s becoming more than just a buzzword. It sets your company apart from the competition. It attracts the right talent and brings in the right customers.

If you don’t have a strong or appealing company culture, you will lose the recruiting war! Here are seven reasons why culture is essential to the success of your company.

1. Attracts and Retains Talent
   Employees’ skills may get them in the door, but your culture is what will keep them there. Just 36% of employees today are engaged at work, according to Gallup. Of course, employees who are not engaged do not do their best work and are at risk of leaving your company.
   
2. Assists with Onboarding
   Poor fit with the culture is the #1 cause of new hire failure. This is particularly the case with new employees who have put real thought into the type of culture they’re entering into.
   
3. Builds Brand Identity
   Culture is what makes your brand unique and gives it that special edge. The more your audience understands and identifies with your brand, the more they’ll want to buy from you.
   
4. Increases Loyalty Among Employees
   Culture gives employees a driving goal and purpose for what they do. It connects your leadership team with the rest of the employees and binds them with a set of shared beliefs. Your employees’ enthusiasm will be apparent to your customers.
   
5. Builds Community
   Good talent knows other good talent. When your employees are happy with their work, they are more likely to share with others. A strong organizational culture helps you keep your best people
   
6. Transforms Your Company into A Team
   A successful culture brings together the people at your company and keeps them aligned. The culture at your organization sets expectations for how people behave and work together.
   
7. Transforms Employees into Advocates
   Your people want more than a steady paycheck and good benefits. They want to feel like what they do matters. Your employees contribute to your company’s culture and live it internally and externally.
   

“A company’s culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneur’s job is to build the foundation.”
— Brian Chesky, Co-founder, and CEO of Airbnb

“What my team and I learned is that culture is tangible, visible and definable. There are several key lessons our team learned that helped us bounce back from that challenging point in our company’s history.
To avoid making these same mistakes, keep an eye out for the following cultural faux pas and learn how to overcome them with a positive cultural shift.” — How Culture Saved Our Company After Nearly Killing It