Leader Videoconferencing With Team
The coronavirus pandemic will test every startup leader, and their performance will be graded by those they lead. Should the leader falter, that judgment is likely to be unsparingly harsh.
The test couldn’t be harder: the future is unknowable and the crisis is double-edged. You must keep the business afloat and keep your people safe. You are also likely doing it remotely. And as the knowns and unknowns change—rapidly and unpredictably—your people will suffer great anxiety, especially if they don’t know what their leader is trying to accomplish.
You can help allay that anxiety and set a steady course, despite the unknowns, by creating and communicating a UMO—an Ultimate Minimum Objective. In the case of today’s dual crisis, that’s two UMOs, one for the business and one for the health of your people.
A UMO is the lowest set of objectives the team must accomplish. It does not change for the duration of the crisis. The team’s mission is to achieve the objective; otherwise, they have failed. A UMO is also a rallying point for the team, inviting buy-in and creating alignment in action, which is critical for maximizing productivity and minimizing anxiety.
The business UMO should fit the company’s specific circumstances. For a startup that has lost a great deal of business and is bleeding cash, the baseline is understanding that rebuilding revenues, once society returns to normal, could take many months. The company’s business UMO may be something along the lines of “we will do whatever it takes to maintain a positive bank balance over the next twelve months.” For a retailer, the UMO might be “we will do whatever it takes to preserve our inventory in excellent shape so it can be sold at a profit once the crisis is over.”
Such business UMOs are objective, measurable and easy for the team to comprehend. Every subsequent decision can be set in the context of getting the team closer to achieving the UMO. As new information arrives, new decisions can be made on how to respond in the context of the UMO. The leader won’t appear to flip-flop or behave inconsistently, actions that would cause staff to question their leadership. If, in the case of the company bleeding money, the projections of cash flow show that the UMO cannot be met without furloughs, nobody will question the leader doing what has to be done.
The UMO focused on the well-being of the team needs to be equally clear and objective. For the business that is trying to preserve cash, it could be “we will do whatever it takes to communicate and comply with all state and federal health and safety guidelines.” This UMO implies that the leader has or will create a group that is constantly monitoring the directives of state and federal health organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control or the state’s Department of Health. This group would communicate and update staff on what they learn and then be responsible for implementing any and all new directives on an emergency “whatever it takes” basis. Some leaders will want to set a stronger health UMO, but they must be prepared to fund and staff a health crisis team to be able to deploy and maintain the higher standards.
Many other UMOs are possible and appropriate, as survival means something different for every business and staff. For instance, some businesses are scrambling to keep up with unexpected demand for critical healthcare items. For such businesses, the question is how to respond ethically. Their business UMO could be “we will do whatever it takes to increase deliveries at least fifteen percent per month until all demand of critical healthcare items is met.” This UMO may be easy to meet the first month, but it will get harder each month thereafter as the crisis deepens. But it is a well-defined line in the sand that everyone will understand.
UMOs are not negotiable. They are bottom lines. Everything else is on hold—desires for advancement, opportunities to learn new skills, freedom to pursue pet projects. Leaders who fail to set such steady, consistent expectations—or who set the business UMO too high or the health UMO too low—are likely to lose legitimacy. But if the two UMOs are reasonable, people will follow and you will have given your business a fighting chance to survive and eventually prosper. And you will have passed the toughest test of leadership you are ever likely to face.
