How will you lead your team through change? Given the seriousness of the current situation, this is not the time to learn leadership by trial and error. Having led large organizations and having coached and developed top professionals, here’s what leaders should be doing now:

1. Identify the problem (or outcome you are trying to achieve) …Listen & Communicate – Go talk to your people. Find out what their greatest concerns are. What challenges they are facing? What do they need from you and those that you supervise in their organization? Tell your people why you are asking (you’re asking so that you can know best how to help them succeed…that’s your job). It’s critical to truly get to the right problem you need to be solving. Do not trust that you, as the leader know what the problem is. Unless you are walking the halls and have candid-trusting relationships with every level of employee in each area of your firm on a regular basis, you will have a limited perspective.
2. Gather information and resources for the top problems – Once you know the problems and constraints your team is facing, begin gathering the information and resources you need to understand and provide possible solutions and resources to address the challenges. If you have multiple problems to solve you will have to identify and prioritize the most critical. Again, talk to your team. They have valuable information to share. During this time communicate that you are gathering information to your team and when they should expect the next communication.
3. Identify possible courses of action – Have an answer, but you don’t have to have all the answers. Bring your team together and discuss the problem, communicate why you need to solve it (gain buy-in), ask for their thoughts and if they agree on the priority (if you find that you aren’t solving the right problem, go back to step 1). Ask your team and others about possible courses of action. They’re thinking about this too and will have insights to share.
4. Select a course of action – Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Your team will have questions they aren’t saying out loud. Why are we doing “this”? How did we decide on it? Who was involved in the decision? How does it impact me? Ensure your leaders are listening and communicating. What do their team members think of the plan? What’s their reaction? You as the leader get out and talk to people. Be visible. If you’re not physically present with your team, meet virtually or pick up the phone! Ask how members are doing personally and professionally. Share what was decided and why. Ask and listen for their feedback.
5. Implement the decision – Managing change is tough. Don’t stop communicating now! People generally don’t like change and grumble about the things that aren’t working or feel awkward. Keep the goal and anticipated outcome in-front of your team. Help and require leaders to communicate where you’re at in the process, what the results have been thus far, what they should expect next, and why this is beneficial. Get in-front of all levels of your people (either in person or virtually) and solicit their concerns and feedback. Their vantage point will be different, and that can save you from costly and time-consuming errors.
6. Evaluate and adjust – Keep focused on the outcomes you’re trying to achieve or the problem you’re trying to solve. Have you accomplished what was needed? If not, what do you need to change (back to step 1)? Perhaps you didn’t fully integrate the solution. Perhaps the solution only solved a portion of the problem. If you correctly identified the problem initially, you will likely be able to adjust and improve vs. starting from scratch.

It’s critical to ensure you understand the problem or goal, communicate, gather feedback, and manage change during the entire process. You cannot be the only person communicating, and communication should be shared in a variety of ways. Use all your resources to communicate internally effectively – leaders, marketers, managers, thought leaders, the person who knows everyone and all the happenings, internal messaging boards and newsletters. How you get through challenging times is not dependent on you having all the answers. It’s having the humility to acknowledge that you don’t have the answers and the willingness to learn and listen.