“Crisis is a low-probability but high-impact event that threatens the viability of an organization and is characterized by ambiguity of cause, effect, and means of resolution, as well as by a belief that decisions must be made swiftly” (Lussier & Achua, 2018, p. 430). We have all seen major crisis in our lifetimes and it seems more often than ever. It is often a delicate situation because it involves a group of people. I can only imagine the decisions that have to be made in a blink following events like 9/11. Being prepared and having a plan in place is crisis leadership (Lussier & Achua, 2018). It can be very hard to plan for every crisis from violence to natural disasters. It is easy to be caught off guard. Making sure you have a plan for when something happens is crucial because it helps in decision making along with knowing what to do. To often, leaders are caught off guard and have no plan set for when something happens. These are the leaders that make mistakes in decision making because they haven’t prepared for it. A leader has to be able to provide direction in a timely manner without being hurried (Baldoni, 2011). I believe that when leaders are unprepared for a crisis, they can lose the leadership and control of the situation. This will cause more chaos and can be a very bad look for a leader. Throughout the crisis event a leader should act calm and in control to help keep others calm.

            Communication is and ongoing topic for us throughout the semester and if it hasn’t set in by now how important it is, it may never. Communication is vital for a crisis situation because people have to understand their roles and what to do to make it through as safe as possible. It takes great communication from a leader to keep people calm. When a crisis occurs, the news is now instantaneous to the event, often being broadcasted live, so communication must be quick and concise. It is also important to communicate before a crisis. For example, communicating what to do in the occurrence of a tornado or shooting.

            The most important step in crisis planning is anticipation. A leader and organization must be willing to anticipate different crisis before they plan for them. Understanding the different things that can happening, followed by the plan and communication.  I think there is a way to plan for many crisis situations, but they usually catch you by surprise and some are hard to prepare for. When this happens its important you know what the steps are for getting through it. For example, 9/11 was a surprise, but the fire fighters, police and many others acted immediately as if they knew exactly what to do. Even though it was chaos they were able to save a lot of lives and assist many. A crisis like that, you hope that people are prepared from the White House down to the people in NYC. This is much different from an office being prepared for a natural disaster.

            I think that people are much more cautious than before 9/11 and the recent mass shootings over the years, but I think you have to be. Having a proper plan and practicing that plan is vital for the people within the organization. If you’re being proactive than you may see ways to prevent crisis (Bernstein, 2019). Companies have to look to prevention first and foremost which can cause delays during the workday, but it’s for their own safety.

Lussier, R.N., & Achua, C.F. (2018). Leadership theory, application and skill development.

(6 ed.). Cengage Learning.

Bernstein, J. (2019). The 10 steps of crisis communications. Bernstein Crisis Management.

Retrieved from: https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/the-10-steps-of-crisis-communications/

Breeding, B. 2017 November, 6. Pre-crisis planning vs. post-crisis planning: confronting

            Life’s unknowns. Accessed on June 18, 2019. Retrieved from:

Pre-Crisis vs. Post-Crisis Planning: Confronting Life’s Unknowns

            A company that has some major culture issues is Kraft Heinz. Kraft Heinz was formed in 2015 when Kraft Food Group merged with Heinz (Raath, 2018). After reading and seeing the videos on GE and especially Apple one can see that their culture is awesome. Along with that, Apple has great diversity and ethics. After Kraft and Heinze merged as one company the leadership saw the challenge of bringing the two companies together. Two major companies merging like this can create challenges such as, maintaining a good culture, employee retention and leadership. When the article was written their stock was down 30%, while many of the employees were and are not happy with the culture within the company. I originally found nestle to be a company with a poor culture because only 70% of employees would recommend a friend to work there. The staggering statistic is that only 29% of reviewers on Glassdoor.com would recommend a friend to work at Kraft Heinz, and that is based off over 2,500 reviews (Raath, 2018). When you see that statistic is really makes you wonder what the issues are within the company. Kraft Heinz has even rejected to showcase the numbers on employee retention, so you know that it’s high. The stock is now down more than 40% over the past 12 months according to an article in April 2019 (Sun, 2019). Not to mention, that in our day and age of healthier foods, Kraft Heinz is behind the ball because they haven’t started developing them.

            One of the glaring issues is that they have tried and succeeded in cutting cost of the company’s dollars. I looked up some reviews from past and current employees that stated the culture is in turmoil. Many employees seem to be displeased with the termination of great leaders and upper management and then the hiring of incompetent ones. I know from our readings that having quality leaders at the fore front of any company is important. The culture created at the top trickles down to the lower level employees and can make or break a company. They have issues regarding worker rights. According to Joanna Long, workers rights are underdeveloped with little detail through it’s “Supplier Guiding Principles” (Long, 2019). The policies regarding discrimination and child labor laws are particularly indistinct (Long, 2019). This is alarming because those two principles for any company should be at the top of any policy guidelines and severely goes against any good culture or ethics.

            Well I believe that culture starts at the top, therefore the change needs to begin there. Bernard Hees is their current CEO, but he has announced he will be stepping down on June 30, 2019. I believe this is a good first step. They need to get someone into that role who is willing to spend money, time and efforts in fixing the company culture. Ethics is and issue and should be addressed in company policies. Once they get a new CEO it would be wise to bring people in with a proven track record of business morals, ethics and culture. A CEO is only as good as the people surrounding them, so that is where they need to begin.

References:

Raath, R. 2018 April, 19. Kraft Heinz’s culture crisis. Forbes. Retrieved from:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2018/04/19/kraft-heinzs-culture-crisis/#7d3861ad250d

Sun, L. 2019 April, 24. 3 tough task for the Kraft Heinz’s new CEO. The Motley Fool.

Retrieved from: https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/04/24/3-tough-tasks-for-kraft-heinzs-new-ceo.aspx

Long, J. 2017 April, 21. Spotlight on the Kraft Heinz company. Ethical Consumer. Retrieved

            From: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/spotlight-kraft-heinz-company

Finstein, R. 2017 April, 2017. The importance of company culture. [Company Culture].

Retrieved from: https://www.commpartners.com/the-importance-of-company-culture/

            The attention spans of many people these days are short. Many people (millennials especially) want to get the information they need now. I have sat through some meetings where it’s “death by PowerPoint” and it’s hard to pay attention. It’s much better to be more interactive in my mind. Neil Hartman of Forbes says, the seven criteria for an affective meeting are 1. Make your objective clear, 2. Consider who is invited, 3. Stick to your schedule, 4. Take no hostages (don’t allow people to derail the objective), 5. Start and end on time, 6. Ban technology (don’t allow people to be on their phones), and 7. Follow-up (send an email highlighting the meeting) (Hartman, 2014). It’s important to invite the people that the discussion topic effects.

            I have been in meetings where the entire team was invited and expected to be there, but the topics discussed only affects one account manager. This can be a huge waste of time for others. Others and I sat there wondering why we were even included because our time could be spent more effectively elsewhere. It happens often in the electrical distribution world. We used to have weekly conference calls to discuss events the previous week and then we would have meetings every two weeks discussing the same topics. The meetings just became boring because it was about topics we had already discussed. We would get frustrated because our jobs were to sell, yet here we are stuck in the office all day. In the end the meeting was ineffective and a waste of time. Employees would talk and ask why do we have these? This leads to a loss of faith in management. The meeting could have more effective if the material discussed was more relevant and not already discussed on phone conferences. Making sure the information is of value is important. I have only used skype a handful of times for meetings and it’s a great tool to have when working remotely. Many more people are being given the choice to work remotely, so google and skype has really helped with access with each other. Discussing relevant material through a video conference is much better than over the phone because you can read body language. I have used conference calls for years and it’s also very effective, but it’s always better to have the most important meetings in person.

            It is important to stay on target during a meeting because it’s so easy to get off task. Sometimes meetings end and everyone goes on their way, but it’s crucial for everyone to understand the next steps. At the end of the meeting there should be discussion between everyone, so they all understand what’s next. For example, if the meeting is about any issues than it’s important for everyone to know moving forward what’s to be done to solve it. This should also be the main highlight of the follow-up.

Hartman, N. 2014 February, 5. Seven steps to running the most effective meeting possible.

Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2014/02/05/seven-steps-to-running-the-most-effective-meeting-possible/#21d1c5677a61

Ineffective-meetings. 2005-2019. Retrieved from: https://www.pmchamp.com/beat-the-meeting-mania/ineffective-meetings/

            Our book defines followership as, “the behavior of followers that result from the leader-follower mutual influencing relationship” (Lussier & Achua, 2018, p. 240). To me this doesn’t mean that as a follower, you just blindly follow the leader. It means that you make the decision to follow the leader because they have created a good relationship and understanding with you, the follower. It takes a lot to be a good leader; you’re most likely balancing many different relationships while trying to be a good influence on your followers/employees. Having great communication daily is vital for a leader, especially one who oversees a business. I think to have a strong followership one of the behaviors is to be assertive. I think that being aggressive could be an example as well but may be too strong. Being assertive with a leader is a good thing. I think challenging the status quo or what is assumed correct is something of value to a good leader. I was told at the beginning of my coaching career to never be a “me, me, me” coach. In other words, don’t always assume you’re right and if you think you are than challenge yourself by placing people around you who are smarter and will challenge you. I don’t think being passive is bad, but I would want someone to tell me if they think somethings is wrong. Another good behavior quality is optimism. No matter the situation it is always good to have someone around who is optimistic. Optimism can help solve many situations. It helps us learn from failures and to pick up the pieces and keep going (Cutler, 2015).

            Delegating is something we have all been a part of whether it was at work, school, through sports, or life. Our book describes a model for delegating and goes as follows, 1. explain the need for delegating and the reason fom selecting the employee or employees, 2. Set objectives that define responsibility, level of authority, and deadline, 3. Develop a plan, and 4. Establish control checkpoints and hold employees accountable (Lussier & Achua, 2018). These steps will help make sure everything is delegated and people understand their jobs. I think a person should follow the deadline and continue communication with the group that has the delegated work. Having the line of communication and deadlines to meet will keep the flow of work going. Evaluating a person or a project should be an ongoing process. Evaluation is important because it gives quality feedback.

            I think that a leader should have the freedom to have a personal friendship with some members of their workgroup. I think that the “in-group” and “out-group” can be created by the leader or by the followers. I believe there are steps a leader can take to include everyone in the group. I don’t think a leader can have the relationships without creating the perception. I believe it to be something that just happens. Some people are at work to just work, not create any friendships. Others look to see and spend time with others from work. It would most likely hurt the leader-follower relationship with others if the leader is friends with one or two out of a large group, but that doesn’t mean the group can’t be successful. It’s important for the leader and the followers in the “in-group” to understand that at work you must be professional. The best thing for team dysfunction is honesty and communication. When things go un-talked about, it will only get worse. Having open dialogue and honesty may be tough, but I believe it’s the best thing for dysfunction.

Lussier, R.N., & Achua, C.F. (2018). Leadership theory, application and skill development.

(6 ed.). Cengage Learning.

Cutler, Z. 2015 May, 14. The 5 benefits of being optimistic. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246204

            This week we will be discussing Contingency Leadership, which I find to be a popular theory because it’s a lot like businesses today. I am a believer that for a business to be successful it must be willing to adapt to the market, customer and economy. This is very similar to contingency leadership because it’s the theory that leadership styles should vary from situation to situation. The reason they vary is because of the followers, task at hand, and the leader. I think this leadership style has a lot of value in business and any leadership role today. I have coached football for 7 years and when I first started coaching I was authoritative towards all the players because I believed in treating them all the same. What I realized was, while you can do that, it may be more productive for the team if you change your style from player to player. Some people or in this case players react better from different leadership styles. Some people may need you to be more authoritative with them and they’ll be more successful, while others may react better to a different style. A great example of this is John Wooden, former and late coach of the UCLA Bruins basketball team. He won 10 national championships which is still a record today for men’s college basketball. He was never a man that yelled or berated his players. He once said, and I am paraphrasing, “I have 10 players on my team and 10 different coaching styles”. Understanding that not every player or situation can be handled with the same leadership style is important. If you’re a manager of a warehouse and you need a shipment to be pulled immediately for a next day air, your style of leadership would be different for your team compared to something that didn’t have the urgency.

            All three theories (Ohio State, Michigan and Iowa) are essentially the same thing, but with different names for their definitions. The Iowa style uses the terms autocratic and democratic to define their two leadership styles. The autocratic leadership style makes decisions, tells employees what to do, and closely monitors them, while the democratic style encourages participation from workers, works with employees on what decisions to make, and doesn’t closely monitor employees (Lussier & Achua, 2018). These two styles are styles that I have heard of before and I believe are common. The Michigan style has two categories, job-centered and employee centered leadership styles. The job-centered style has the leader closely monitor the employees, they’re very direct with goals, and they will tell employees what and how to do things, while employee-centered style has a leader who is more employee relationship based, they look out for the employees, develop trust, support, and respect (Lussier & Achua, 2018). The Ohio State style has two leadership types, initiating structure behavior and consideration behavior. Lussier and Achua say that the Michigan and Ohio State styles are similar, but I think when you look at the definitions for all three styles, they are very similar. In my opinion I can’t say that one is better than the other because I think they’re all two similar, but I would go with one I like the Iowa theory. The reason I say that, is the Iowa theory uses autocratic and democratic, and I am familiar with those terms in relation to behavior and leadership.

Lussier, R.N., & Achua, C.F. (2018). Leadership theory, application and skill development.

(6 ed.). Cengage Learning.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton