Building and leading teams are largely fun and exciting. Leadership during the “tech-boom” in the market was all about growth – be it the compensation, role, responsibilities they were all in abundance. The beginning of last year with the crazy hiring that was going on, what was needed from a leader was speed & impatience. Hockey stick growth everywhere, valuations soaring through the roofs and we were riding high on the bull run. Cut to 2023 – It’s a different story. You have got ported from a fairytale to a war zone. Leaders are at the centre of all the battles and the blood-shed. Worse for few their team has not moved with them from the fairy land. Welcome to the world of technology, these cycles are here to say. Leadership in this world is about keeping the cool whether you are riding the high tide or withstanding the rough waves. For many in leadership, this may be the first time they are seeing the tough weather. They need to brace themselves for this change and take their people through these times

There is a lot to be learnt during these adverse times. And there are lessons to be taught to the wider team by demonstrating extreme focus, resilience and courage. The market needs those leaders who could thrive in good and bad times. Leadership amidst adversity is less spoken about but that’s what is needed at these moments of crisis.

The Need:

Leadership during adverse times is a much needed skill and it has to be practiced and learnt. I am listing few reasons, why it is an important skill to learn

• Tech Cycles are here to stay: Even if we map tech recessions from dot com days of the 90’s, there are 3-4 cycles so far we have experienced. Any economic recession impacts technology the fastest. The current one has hit technology the deepest. The layoffs and the pay-cuts have been the maximum in technology than other industries. We will come out of this cycle and there will be another one post that. It is going to be cyclical and hence being prepared for these cycles is the right thing to do than wishing them away

• Fair Weather Leaders (FWT):  Pretty much like “Fair weather friends”, those leaders who enjoy building only during good times are quickly eliminated. The FWT are good leaders, they can get the team together achieve during a period of abundance when resources are unlimited.However they easily get frustrated when constraints prop up. Suddenly when there are limitations in people and resources, they are not able to think freely and feel suffocated. They let the organization, their team and themselves down too fast. A great leader during these times, reflects, pauses and guides the team in the right direction. She can alter the strategy and switch to a leadership mode that gets the best from the constraints

• Opportunity to Innovate: Constraints are the best time to innovate. When there are less people available or we have constrained infrastructure (cloud cost for instance) there are plenty of opportunities to discover new ways of doing things. Be it through automation or optimizing architecture there  is a necessity to do more with less and then build an innovative culture in the teams. These are also the best times that bring out the best in the team. You would see some true “heroes” rising to the occasion and supporting at the critical time

• Professional Learning Curves: Times of crises are time to invest in learning. Many organizations (even those doing layoffs) increase their L&D budget precisely for the same reason. These are times to invest in individual growth. Using these times to build & develop skill sets will help the individual, the team and the organization greatly. Spend time with the team to understand the career needs and as a leader chart out the plans for their growth

• Personal growth : “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors; it is the withering storms that test their mettle.” – African proverb . It is during tough times that we get an opportunity to become stronger and emotionally more mature. These tough times are also great times of learning personally as well. Most companies are facing turbulence – there are changes everywhere from org structure to goals to way of operation. Going through this phase, will teach you patience & emotional stability and you emerge with a better version of yourself

Behaviors that help during adversity:

• Immense Empathy:  Lot of times in organizations we are dealing with individuals with different priorities. Each person has their sense of priorities and most conflicts arise because of the lack of clarity on each other’s priorities. It’s rarely to do with the person itself. During adverse times, these conflicts surface many notches higher. If we exercise empathy during these times, leaders could solve the situation way differently than they would have if they just go by process. Empathy is about being intelligent and trying to understand the situation and the person more than what is getting presented. Empathy helps you to “get” the person despite disagreements. A much needed trait in today’s leaders and it will help simply cut through all issues and build better bonds. No amount of process and protocols will help as much as empathy helps. One thing to remember is exercise Empathy in all directions – Downwards, Upwards & Sidewards

• Resilience:  One of the instant reactions when things are not as favorable to you as it was, is to quit. We need to remember during tough times anywhere – there are going to be plenty of bad days and too little good days. People are going to be less accessible, there are going to be more demands, the expectations are going to be more and the rewards less. These sudden changes can cause frustrations and thought on the top of mind – would be to leave and find a better environment. But if you take a step back and reflect – the path gets clear. You would know where to focus. You would rather “navigate” certain issues and spend time to solve only deeper problems. Even if the problems are overwhelming to start with, just staying at it and actively thinking about it will help you win over the problems. Most early-stage entrepreneurs and founders have resilience as “muscle memory”. At early stages, they are generally hearing disproportionate negatives than positives about their company across the board and the only thing that keeps them going is immense trust in what they do and the hope that they can do it.

• Be Grateful: Possibly the rarely invoked emotion in a career is of gratefulness. With so many things going as not expected and dynamics of different people, we often only see the negatives. However behind all these issues are opportunities to build something, to serve people, to define new processes and to crack new problems. Purpose is often underestimated and when that comes alive, we will do better if we are thankful for the same. Gratitude also feeds into humility, grounds you to reality helps you reflect and solve a problem rather than complaining about it

• Inspire People:  When adversity strikes, there is instant refusal of the reality and then a fury of why this happens and a blame of slew of people around.. However once the acceptance kicks in, it’s time to pull up the socks and guide the team to navigate the situation. Adversity is a time where inspirational leadership is needed the most. Like how teaching also helps in learning for the teacher, inspiring people helps you motivate yourself. Find that purpose that can inspire people – it is not just words, but the gap & the new problems that leaders can identify to inspire the team to new heights of  professional learning. Connecting with the aforesaid point of gratitude, is indeed an opportunity to be of service to others and hence use that to the best of your ability to help your team see the bigger picture.

Life is not meant to be happy always, but it’s meant to be lived to the fullest. Expect adversity and don’t run away from it, navigate and conquer for yourself and for those who lookup to you. Life will have a new meaning then.

This article is written by a member of the AIM Leaders Council. AIM Leaders Council is an invitation-only forum of senior executives in the Data Science and Analytics industry. To check if you are eligible for a membership, please fill out the form here.

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