Resolve | In a crisis, the ability to execute and make a chosen decision the right one matters more than finding the correct decision.
Resolve
What gets a company through a crisis is not a perfect, correct decision, but rather
the resolve to make a chosen decision the right one within the reality of the situation.
Many executives try to find the correct decision.
They do not want to make mistakes.
They do not want to regret it later.
They want to choose a path they can explain both inside and outside the company.
I understand that feeling well.
However, in crisis management, a clean, correct answer is rarely available from the start.
Information is lacking.
There is no time.
The front lines are wavering.
The market is also moving.
What is needed in such times is not waiting for the correct answer, but
the ability to see a decision through after it has been made, accepting the pain, making adjustments, and steering it toward the right outcome.
This applies to withdrawals.
It applies to selection.
It applies to resource allocation.
It applies to executive personnel decisions.
In none of these cases does the battle end the moment a decision is made.
In fact, the burden is heavier after the decision is made.
In crisis management, the final question is not just about judgment, but
the resolve to fully bear the weight of that judgment. The theme of this article is that
resolve.
In my previous article, I wrote that an executive's loneliness stems not from a lack of talented people, but from a lack of executives who can discuss management.
Click here for the previous article.
In a company where the president carries everything alone, both policy and execution become heavy.
Therefore, executives are required to be a layer that takes on management responsibilities, not just heads of their own departments.
This is absolutely true.
However, even if you have executives and a right-hand person, there is something that remains at the end.
That is resolve.
Cutting businesses that should be cut.
Directing resources to customers who should be protected.
Stopping hiring.
Limiting exceptions.
Changing the roles of executives.
Such decisions are supported by structure.
But in the end, it is not just structure that carries them through.
Someone will be unhappy.
The numbers will look bad temporarily.
There will be pushback from the front lines.
The atmosphere within the company will become heavy.
Can you refrain from turning back then?
Can you accept that weight?
That is where resolve is needed.
In crisis management, knowing what is right is not enough.
You must carry out what you believe to be right, even while accepting the pain.
Situation
There is a common scene in companies.
The company's numbers are difficult.
Gross profit is falling.
There is no room in the cash flow.
The enthusiasm of existing customers is also cooling.
At this point, the president makes a major decision.
Shut down one low-profit business.
Tighten new investments for a time.
Focus resources on top priority customers.
Stop hiring.
Reduce interruptive tasks.
As a decision, it is correct.
At the very least, it is a necessary decision in this situation.
Even in executive meetings, the logic holds up.
It can also be explained with numbers.
But the problem is what comes after.
The person in charge of the business slated for closure sinks.
The hiring freeze makes department managers anxious.
When support for non-priority customers is thinned out, sales staff fear lost opportunities.
When interruptive tasks are stopped, pressure comes from customers.
In the short term, sales might drop a little.
An atmosphere of 'Are we really going this far?' flows through the company.
At that time, various voices enter the manager's head.
Wouldn't it be better to loosen it a little?
Wouldn't it be okay to make an exception just for this month?
Shouldn't we proceed a little more gently?
Was my decision too strong?
They think.
Here, they waver.
And as a result of wavering, they pull back a little.
They make a few exceptions.
They show a little consideration.
They loosen things a little.
As a result, what happens?
The backbone of the policy breaks.
The staff learns that 'in the end, they won't go all the way.'
The hard-won decision becomes nothing more than a temporary mood.
Whether or not a company makes it through a crisis
is often decided at this very moment.
It is not when you decide.
It is whether or not you waver after you have decided.It is that.
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Problem
Many managers think that resolve is a matter of emotion.
A strong heart.
An unbreakable spirit.
Grit.
Of course, I am not saying that such aspects are zero.
But the resolve we speak of in management is something much more practical.
It is to take on the pain that a decided decision creates, after the fact.It is that.
If you decide to withdraw, accept the pain that comes with it.
If you decide to freeze hiring, accept the anxiety that comes with it.
If you decide to focus on key clients, accept the opportunity cost of the projects you abandoned.
If you decide to limit interruptions, accept the dissatisfaction from some quarters.
A common mistake here is thinking that "if a decision is correct, it will naturally take hold."
That is not the case.
The more correct a decision is, the more likely it is to involve pain in the short term.
That is why you waver along the way.
Because you waver, exceptions are made.
Because exceptions are made, the front lines never truly change.
In an organization without resolve, the following things happen:
Once a decision is made, it is immediately shaken.
If the numbers are slightly bad, you revert.
If there is pushback from the front lines, you loosen the rules.
A single exception causes the whole thing to collapse.
When the president starts to waver, the executives and the front lines waver at the same time.
Once this state is reached, the problem is no longer the quality of the decision.
The decision loses its weight.It becomes meaningless.
What is scary in a crisis is not just the wrong decision itself.
It is the inability to endure what you have decided, teaching the organization that "it will just waver again anyway."
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Judgment, Management, and Execution
So, how should resolve be built?
First, what is necessary as a judgment is
to first articulate what you are prepared to lose by making this decision.is essential.
The resolve to let sales drop slightly.
The resolve not to capture every single customer.
The resolve to accept internal dissatisfaction.
The resolve to accept that things will look bad in the short term.
If you proceed with "we'll do it because it's correct" without looking at this, you will waver along the way.
Resolve is not "thinking you will succeed."
It is deciding to do it anyway, pain and all.That is what it is.
Next, what is necessary as management is
not to let resolve end as mere moralizing, butto have observation points to support it.is essential.
While you are carrying out the decision, what are you watching?
Which numbers are within the expected range even if they deteriorate?
Which pushbacks are within the expected range?
At what point is it truly a sign that something needs to be corrected?
Without this, you will be swayed by short-term noise.
A single customer reaction.
A week of slowing sales.
The anxiety of one executive.
If you revert every time these happen, it is not resolve, but reaction.
And what is necessary for execution is
to explain the meaning of the decided judgment to the front lines over and over again.
Why are we doing this now?
What are we cutting to protect this?
What are we discarding and what are we keeping?
What will we regain beyond the short-term pain?
A leader with resolve is not someone who endures in silence.
They are someone who puts it into words, repeats it, and sees it through.
If you neglect this, the decision will only look like a 'sudden harsh directive' and will not take root on the front lines.
Strong management is not management that hits the right answer from the start.
It is management that makes the decided path the right one, including the pain.
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Results
In a company with resolve, the weight of policies is different.
Once decided, things do not easily collapse due to short-term fluctuations.
Executives also see it through, including the pain to their own departments.
The front lines also understand that 'this time, things are really changing.'
Exceptions decrease.
Meeting topics become more focused.
Resources are concentrated, and the shape of results begins to change little by little.
Of course, there is pain.
There is also pushback.
Numbers may also look bad temporarily.
However, companies that are aligned in direction will still recover.
This is because the decision does not float in the air, but has turned into actual action.
Conversely, in companies with weak resolve, even if they decide, they revert.
Because they revert, the front lines follow only superficially.
Because they follow superficially, no results are produced.
Because no results are produced, they waver again.
Once you enter this cycle, management's words become increasingly hollow.
What makes the difference in times of crisis is not just knowing the right decision.
It is whether you can see that decision through without succumbing to the pain.
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Structural Explanation
Why is resolve so important? The reason is that the more correct a decision is during a crisis, the more uncomfortable it is in the short term.
People dislike seeing numbers drop in the short term.
They dislike losing customers.
They dislike the atmosphere in the company becoming heavy.
They dislike someone getting hurt by their own decisions.
Therefore, even if they know it is rationally correct, they want to loosen their grip halfway through.
This is where resolve becomes necessary.
Resolve is not about forcing something unreasonable.
It is about comparing short-term discomfort with long-term survival and continuing to choose the latter.
This also connects to the executives mentioned in the previous article.
If executives cannot speak about management, the president must continue to hold resolve while remaining lonely.
It also connects to thoroughness.
Without resolve, what has been decided will not be carried through to the end.
It also connects to exceptions.
The weaker a company's resolve, the more it loses to "just this once."
In other words, while resolve may look like a matter of spirit,
in reality, it is the final foundation that supports standards, thoroughness, exceptions, and executives.
What allows a company to overcome a crisis is not just the decision itself.
It is the power to fully bear the weight of that decision.
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Conclusion
Rather than making the right decision, the executive power to make a decided decision the correct one is what overcomes a crisis.
What is needed in crisis management is not to keep searching for the perfect answer.
It is to decide at the necessary timing, accept the pain, carry it through without wavering, and make it the correct answer while adjusting it to reality.
That is resolve.
If there is resolve, a decision will change the organization.
If there is no resolve, a decision will end up as just another atmosphere.
In other words, resolve is not just spirit.
It is the final power to turn management decisions into reality.
In the next article, I will cover the habits that transform that resolve from temporary spirit into a form that an organization can repeatedly reproduce.
It is the story that strong organizations are moved not by excellent individuals, but by repeatable mechanisms.
If this article resonates with you, please leave a like so you can look back on it later.
In this series, I will verbalize crisis management from the perspective of a "CEO's right-hand person," divided into symptoms, decisions, management, and execution. Please follow me if you want to keep up with the rest.
The word that should remain at the end is resolve.