In these times of chaos and confusion, how do you communicate with clarity and confidence? It’s not easy. But here is a strategy that works:  
 
You have to shift your focus from explaining the numbers—which may not be pretty—to talking about your business’s beauty. 
 
You could show your declining numbers by region, by product, even by salesperson – but when you focus on delivering bad numbers, you trigger fear. Do you want your sales to go into a panic paralysis? From decades of experience coaching leaders in times of crisis, from the 2008 meltdown to 9/11 to the burst of the dot-com bubble, coaching my clients to navigate forward in choppy seas of change, my advice is to talk about the possibilities for the future. You must demonstrate that you are thinking forward—not blaming and shaming the past. 

A Real Story: 

I was coaching a financial leader of a big Detroit auto company in the 1980s, during the Savings and Loans Crisis. I was at my client’s office, where his bookshelf was lined with model cars. He was a car guy. 

He asked me, “How do I keep my board focused on our business’s big success and not get sidetracked by these few billion-dollar problems?” 

My advice:  

“Take one of your model cars – not your favorite – and put a scratch on the door. Then, when you stand up to begin your presentation to your board, put the car with the scratch on the door on the boardroom table in front of you and say: “We have a beautiful business. Yes, there is a scratch on the door, but we have a beautiful business.”” 

A week later, he sent me a framed photo of him holding the car with a scratch on the door. He was beaming. So, as you communicate with all of your stakeholders in these times of chaos and confusion, remember: Your focus is not on the numbers that demonstrate decline, not the scratch on the door. Your focus is on your resilience — on your beautiful business. 

Find out why leaders from 62 Fortune 100 companies have come to me for coaching, particularly in times of change.  To check out other blogs, click here.

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