An education from experience, Fran Hoey

There are many great theories that have been developed to support organisations through a crisis, but you don’t ever truly expect the proper outlier risks to fully come into play. But clearly they can, and now they have.

I’ve learned this lesson from a particular previous experience I had and for which, in hindsight, there were things that I probably would have done differently. I thought I would share this experience in the hope that it could provide you with some useful insight and potentially help you avoid some mistakes.  

In a previous role in the welfare-to-work sector, I inherited a situation where the organisation had suffered severe reputational damage from an alleged case of fraud. The region in which I was Director was at the heart of this accusation.

At the time, we had no idea how widespread the issue was, what the impact to the contracts we were managing would be, nor how our customers would react. This was further compounded by a largely negative perception of the sector at the time, wherein private companies were considered to be profiteering.

From that time, I have four simple pieces of advice to give to surviving a crisis and come out the other side (relatively) unscathed.

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1. Set your priorities, agree what needs to be delivered and plan accordingly

My priorities were to:

• Ensure that my teams were operating ethically
• Maintain performance levels
• Keep contractual relationships as positive as possible

We needed to deliver positive audit results, keep staff focused on delivering a great service and ultimate keep our contracts. We pulled together a set of tactical actions aimed at achieving each of these and rigorously monitored progress. 

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2. Get the best information possible to inform decisions

It goes without saying that decisions should be made based on reliable and insightful intelligence. In this case we invested a lot of time into analysing the data. We focussed on any anomalies or weaknesses in performance and set up campaigns to address each. We also modelled detailed scenarios to understand the potential impact of the crisis and where we would have to point additional support. 

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3. Lead with integrity and invest time in your frontline managers

An organisation in crisis, more than at any other time, needs its leaders to set the standard for what is expected of everyone. While I’m sure I made mistakes along the way (and believe me, you will make mistakes), I tried to set the right tone through my actions and by engaging with as many staff as possible.

We focused as much where we could on the real drivers of the business – the managers of the frontline teams – to support them to empower their staff and maintain a motivated team to deliver a positive service and achieve its performance levels.  

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4. Communicate openly and clearly

People would much rather be told the truth and helped to understand what that means for them. Many organisations will be afraid to talk about financial challenges and risks for the future, but when they are so obvious, it is best not to avoid the topic completely. While you don’t need to share every detail, it is better to admit that there will be some challenging decisions ahead, but that you are doing everything you can to overcome them. 

I’m a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” Abraham Lincoln

Fran Hoey has spent several years in senior operational roles across different sectors and has been acting as Operations and Change Lead with 4OC for almost 5 years. In that time, he has successfully combined this operational experience with an acumen for designing and delivering change, and using an open, honest and engaging personality to support our clients through complex change.