Optimism in the Face of Crisis
The Crisis
In the summer of 2018, the CEO of a prominent construction company in BC was confronted with the devastating news of a worker fatality at a project site. In an industry filled with heavy machinery and high opportunity cost, the need for safety has always been paramount. It was the key responsibility of management to ensure a safe working environment and this news dealt a heavy blow to the management team and the morale of the entire company.
In addition to the chaos caused by the fatality, company ownership had recently decided to sell. This intent to sell led to an influx of events from the owners and the management team in the pursuit of making the company more attractive. These events were not all roses, including many false starts in the pursuit of expansion into new markets.
The sale of the company was in jeopardy along with the morale of the organization; everything seemed to be in a downward spiral and management didn’t see a clear path forward. The CEO knew that with the right actions she could keep the team intact and complete the sale. But it was not going to be easy, and she needed her management team to share her optimism.
Demonstrating Optimism
The CEO shared her vision with the management team while demonstrating optimism and trust in the team. The team rallied behind her and her plan for a transformational change. Within a month, the management team brought in Ignite to help turn the company around.
The goal of the engagement was to rally the entire organization with a clear vision, strengthen the foundation, and achieve the financial targets for the sale process. And above all, to shift morale by actively demonstrating care for the team; something that had been lacking.
Instead of dwelling in self-doubt or focusing on everything that was going wrong, the CEO and the management team continued to demonstrate that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that they cared for their people. With Ignite’s support, they interviewed all the employees to assess the current state. Then, they created a clear vision with strategic imperatives based on the question “what would give you hope, six months from now.” This plan was then cascaded to each operational team, which created optimism across the company.
Within six months of engaging Ignite, the company completed the sales process, and they were successful in their pursuit of no further safety incidents, a significant shift in morale, and a return to profitability.
