Every company, no matter the industry, deals with difficult problems and issues each day. Starbucks’ issue of racial profiling in one of their stores; Southwest’s emergency landing resulting in the death of a passenger; countless produce companies having issues with E. coli and Chili’s data breach, to name a few. No industry or organization is free from the risk of a crisis. So what should corporate leaders do when something goes wrong? 

There’s clearly no shortage of strategies for helping your organization grow and succeed today – innovation, transformation, strategy models, marketing, customer insights, and on and on. We all know the list.   

Yet I remain a big believer in effective communication as the best – and often most overlooked – way to ensure strategic success. Without effective communication, all the strategic levers in the world won’t succeed because employees, clients and customers don’t understand and embrace the company story and path forward.  

A friend of mine is working on shedding some pounds. It’s a weighty challenge, even he’ll acknowledge (forgive the pun). He’s read every book and can describe a ton of strategies that work. That said, he’s struggling to put those strategies into practice. He’s not alone. While knowledge is power, or empowerment, it’s putting that knowledge into action that matters most. Easier said than done. 

As leaders, we can take charge of change, or we can let change happen to us. We can view change as bad and negative, or as an opportunity. We can fight it, or embrace the learning and development opportunities inherent in every change. 

In times of change or uncertainty, organizations need leadership more than ever. That means the quality and amount of communications need to increase.

I used to work for a manager who said, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” Times of change are a litmus test for leadership, which means sharing with employees what we know and what we don’t know. This is the time for courageous conversations and straightforward communication. This is the time to talk about how our organizations are well positioned for the future and/or how we’re making changes to set ourselves up for future success. Most important, this is the time to share with employees what we need from them. 

Change of any kind in a company can bring uncertainty. And when things feel uncertain, it’s more important than ever to be proactive in communicating. Everyone will have lots of questions about the future, and it’s important not to ignore these questions or pretend no one’s asking them.

For many of us, the words “I don’t know” are like kryptonite: a sign of weakness. 

In reality, the ability to say “I don’t know” can be a hidden strength. Particularly during times of change, we need to be honest, straightforward and timely in sharing what we know—even when there are open issues and/or there’s much that’s still hasn’t been decided.

A colleague of mine, Les Landes, shared the following wisdom with me recently.

See how you might fill in this blank:

It’s not that people resist change.  People resist _________________________.

People resist being forced to change without their involvement.  They don’t like change forced down their throats.  People naturally resist being controlled and being uninvolved in decisions that affect them.