I wrote a post a few months ago about how the best leaders and teams leverage economic downturns to strengthen their business.  Surviving an economic downturn is one thing, surviving while your company is in the process of slowly imploding offers a completely different set of challenges.  Especially if your vantage point is from the middle of the management ranks. 

(Blog Coverage Note: I heard from quite a few people about my post, Leadership by Jane, Managing Effectively from the Middle, so I plan on directing content on a regular basis to this important and challenged audience.  Top leaders will benefit as well from remembering what it was like to deal with the brunt of the work without most of the power as many middle managers do.) 

I’ve heard from a number of former colleagues who have described situations that sound hopeless and hapless. They described direction-less and in some cases leaderless organizations, people frozen in place out of fear for their futures, and raging work environment stress and depression. 

I lived through one of these early in my career, and while thankfully, our memories block out many painful events in life, I can still recall the over-riding sense of dread developing as I watched otherwise productive and previously motivated people withdraw and wait for the end to come.  It’s an awful situation.  My advice if you are living through one of these in my best screaming comic voice: WAKE-UP! SHAKE IT OFF!  GET MOVING!

OK, now that I got that out of my system, here’s my guidance for people in these lousy situations:

  • You may not be able to save the organization, BUT, while you are there, you need to do everything within your faculties to try.  If nothing else, this is a remarkable career development opportunity for you, and believe it or not, you will benefit down the road from what you learn in a bad situation.
  • Top leaders in crisis situations ironically, are often nowhere to be found, so quit waiting for the wisdom from on high.  The only chance your business has is to continue serving customers, and seeking opportunities to focus energies on the right activities.  It’s up to you and your colleagues to figure out what those "right" activities are, so put on your strategy hat and work with your colleagues to get it done.  Identifying the right mix of survival tactics while serving and even cultivating new clients is difficult but doable from the middle.  You and your peers likely know what needs to be done.  Again, don’t wait for permission.
  • In floundering companies, communications systems tend to breakdown or disappear.  A good turnaround leader will focus immediately on re-establishing communications channels and you and your peers can do the same.  Instead of endless sidebar and hallway discussions about how bad things are, start the dialogue moving on what to do, how to improve, what to cut, what to emphasize etc.  Again, the ability to communicate is within your purview.
  • If there is any top management left, start pulling them into the discussion by describing what is being done (not asking what to do) and give them discrete tasks (help with funding, communicate to the board, visit these customers or prospects etc.).  It seems counterintuitive, but even some executives in crisis scenarios need a push to restart. 
  • Did I indicate that you need to constantly communicate?  Focus on opening up the lines with your team members.  Keep them apprised of progress.  Let them know where to focus.  Don’t sugarcoat the severity of the situation, but work hard to create a common belief that individual and team actions can make a difference.  Your communications efforts in this situation will go a long way to helping shake off the collective malaise that has everyone running in place.
  • Celebrate progress, small victories and individual and team accomplishments.  These informal celebrations are more important now than during the good times.
  • On a personal note, update your resume, encourage and help your associates update their resumes and spend some time reconnecting with your professional network.  You don’t need to emphasize to network contacts how dire the scenario is, but you do want to make certain your contacts are warm should you need to identify a new opportunity.   
  • Keep things in context.  If you are feeling sorry for yourself, pick up a newspaper and scan the lead articles.  Things could be worse.  Much, much worse.

The bottom-line:

There are no magic answers for taking a horrible company situation and suddenly making it better.  There are also no guarantees that your heroic efforts will save the day.  However, as a professional and an emerging leader, these are the situations that test your skills, that challenge you to mature and that give you the tools to succeed the rest of your career. 

If you plan on walking in the door in the morning, show up prepared to fight for your firm.  And when you walk out the door at night, remember the wise words of a good friend: "Family and health count, all the rest of this stuff is just politics and money."  Keep it in context.