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Defining Moments: 4 Things Every CEO Should Know About Pivots

One guarantee in business is that your company will eventually have to pivot. And when the time comes, here are four things to keep in mind.

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It’s better to be transparent. Explain that you’re making a shift because you see the marketplace moving in a certain direction and the change will improve long-term operations. With this approach, people may still feel jerked around, particularly if they’ve never been in a startup environment before, but they can’t fault your reasoning. Giving your team insight into the strategy and share how you have their job security in mind. When employees are confident that you’re considering their needs it will garner consideration for yours in return.

3. Consider opinions – within reason.

If you’ve done your due diligence and examined every angle of your decision, it’s unlikely that you will have overlooked important details. But hearing arguments against your new direction can often help strengthen your resolve and tactical maneuvering. The more explaining you have to do to others, the more clarifying you’ll do for yourself.

However, there are limits. There are two sets of people who have opinions on what startups are doing: 1) those who have the experience of working in a startup, and 2) everyone else. This second group of armchair quarterbacks can be deadly to your momentum. These are the people who will insinuate you wouldn’t know a good idea if it hit you in the face. If you listened to them, you’d never pivot and you’d go out of business. Be careful who you let in your head.

4. Manage the poison in your well.

Those armchair quarterbacks are good at hinting that a company doesn’t have its shit together. Worse are the influencers who work in your company, or did in the past. Cynicism is a disease; once one person comes down with it, it will quickly become an epidemic. If you have a cynic in your midst, you have to remove him like a cancer. If he stays very long, he’ll develop stronger relationships and ruin morale.

My leadership team once hired a guy, years ago, who was responsible for 50% of our attrition. He was disgruntled with the new direction we were taking, and he was very vocal about it. After we let him go, he continued to do everything he could to convince people still working here to leave. We knew it was a problem from the beginning, but we tolerated him because he was talented. His sabotage had a much bigger impact on the company than his talent ever did.

Pivots are inevitable, but success isn’t guaranteed. In order to make your shifts successful, keep these considerations in mind as you guide your team through the transition. You’re much more likely to come out the other side intact – and with the willingness to make the next pivot.

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Photo Credit: Lacoste

John Hall is the CEO of Digital Talent Agents, an online PR company that helps experts build their personal and company brands through producing high-quality content for reputable publications. 

 

 

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