About a year ago, the chief operating officer of a large public company that was going through a significant downsizing, scoffed at the concept of layoff survivor sickness.  Despite hard survey and interview data that showed employees were demoralized, depressed, and unwilling to take risks, he thought spending time and money to help get them back on track was unnecessary and a waste.

 Since then, the company has continued to downsize, profits have disappeared, and the remaining workforce is traumatized.  The chief operating officer has, himself, been laid off and his replacement is now asking for help.  If this organization had taken action a year ago their may have been a better prognosis for the patient.  There is a merger in the wind and that might help bail the firm out.  Unfortunately there are a couple of other remaining executives in this company who still feel helping heal the survivors is a waste of money.  So, even though the firm asked for help, I declined.  I prefer to work with optimistic firms where the top management is not in denial.  

 This is not an unusual situation.  I have found that there is a hierarchical denial phenomenon in many organizations.  Many concerned managers and HR executives have to work very hard to convince their top managers that there is a problem.  It is somewhat like “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” because almost always when the top managers themselves are laid off, they receive a conceptual wake-up call and understand the problem for those who remain. 

 Much of my consulting practice these days involves finding ways to get the attention of top managers.  I have found the best way to do this is to show them the horrible effects on productivity and profits if they ignore the problem.

What does it take to be an effective leader in today’s world?  It involves something significantly more fundamental than mere technique or skills. In the final analysis, it is much more difficult. What is required is the courage to face our fear, anger, and anxiety, move beyond them, and help make things better. Here are four dimensions of the necessary leadership courage for today’s world:

• The courage to resist cynicism. In our current environment, it is easy to succumb to anger, blaming, and cynicism. Effective leaders are able to face their frustrations and anxieties, still maintain a positive perspective, and work to find answers. The worse leaders are those who allow their cynicism and anger to affect their followers. They not only don’t help make things better, but pass on their own anger and cynicism to those they are attempting to lead. 
• The courage to help others. The old adage is profound and simple: If you feel bad about yourself, find someone who feels worse, help him, you will feel better and he gets helped! In times of stress and confusion, leaders who make a difference have the grit to deal with their own issues, put them aside, and make themselves available to others. A person who is struggling with fear and an uncertain future doesn’t need a leader who is too caught up in her own issues to focus on others’ problems. She needs someone who has had the courage to face her problems and has the focus to be present for others.
• The courage to engage.  One response to the problems we face today is to hunker down in the trenches, avoid risk, and hope things improve. Given the magnitude of the problems going on around us it is easy to understand why many leaders end up just going through the motions, limping through each day, not being of much use to themselves or to those they are attempting to lead.  Courageous leaders get up in the morning and choose to engage. They feel the fear and anxiety and choose to make a difference anyway. They don’t add to the problems. They choose to help solve them.
• The courage to look in the mirror. Courageous leaders are made, not born. They have the ability to learn from their mistakes and from feedback. If they discover themselves becoming cynical, blaming, and withdrawing from optimistic engagement, they have the fortitude to change. Lots of people get feedback, but not everyone has the ability to hear it and the courage to take action. Leaders who make a difference have the ability to look in the mirror and the bravery to do something about what they see.

    There is no magic formula for developing courage. It comes down to a matter of choice. Those who have the courage to help make things better make a conscious decision not let their frustrations and fears disable them. They choose to rebuild, not accept defeat. The bravery of the leaders we desperately need to help us through these uncertain times is not found in flashy speeches, but is discovered in their steady, quiet, and unrelenting efforts to make things better. These are the kind of people we need to rebuild our organizations, our nation, and our world.

Courage is not a trait that is found in most performance appraisal forms or taught in executive development programs.  I’ve found that courage is, however, a key ingredient in what it takes for leaders to make a difference, turn around downsized organizations, and re-recruit layoff survivors.  There seem to be two types of courage that are key,

 The first type of courage is the courage to resist cynicism.  It’s easy to get down and, sometimes fun, to engage in dark humor or slam the organization.  What leaders don’t realize is that no one likes a cynical boss and, although they may laugh at leaders’ cynical jokes and comments, followers don’t respect cynical bosses.

 The second type of courage is the courage to engage.  Again, it is easy to drop out, go through the motions, and not fully engage your human spirit and energy.  The most effective leaders I know have the courage to get up in the morning, realistically assess the challenges in front of them, feel the pain, and move beyond it and try to make a difference.

 In order to heal the wounds of layoffs and revitalize downsized organizations leaders need to find a way to muster up the courage to resist cynicism and truly engage the issues in the workplace.  If they don’t they will just be going through the motions and not be of value to themselves or their organizations.