Let me try to take an example of a difficult situation that I have seen through, try to observe what we did well and not so well and then try and come up with a framework that you can take away. One such situation is from the 2000s when we were in the early stages of entrepreneurship at EBprovider, which later became Induslogic and then GlobalLogic. We had had a really good year as far as entrepreneurship went.

We had assembled a fantastic engineering team here in India, raised venture money even as the market crashed. The space we were in at the time – B2B integration — was red hot and everything seemed to be going for us. However, the second half of 2001 really pulled the rug from under us. We spent too much money in building the product for which there were no takers, we were running out of money, venture funding had completely dried up and then 9/11 happened. We had the following tasks in front of us:

Cut the costs to a bare minimum to stretch our waning resources

Find a new strategy/new business to pursue for some cashflow

Find some bridge funding to see us through

Bolster our team with more market-facing people

As it turned out, during those months, we did all this, found a great CEO, found bridge funding, found a new business which then grew solidly from there. Most importantly, we survived! By January, we were a different company. Here is what I think we did well:

We moved quickly and decisively: I was heading our team in India and we had to reduce costs. I remember we did it swiftly within a team. Whatever pain we had to swallow, we did it quickly.

We worked well as a team: We took the whole company into confidence and I recall several employees took deep cuts to support the company. We also worked well as a team between US and India where everyone did their bit.

We capitalised on new opportunities quickly: We were interviewing a new CEO candidate and we brought him on board. There are probably many things that we didn’t do well but my sense is that we got the important ones right.

Keep a positive, forward-looking spirit: You cannot lead through a difficult situation if you get into blame games and post-mortems. That is for later. The key is to focus on “what you can do today”.

Face up to the situation and move swiftly: We all like to avoid a difficult situation. We procrastinate. However, if you let the cavity be, it will go from requiring a filling to requiring a root canal to an extraction! Swift and decisive action will not only help you but all the stakeholders involved.

Work as a team: You can’t be second-guessing each other. Working with all the stakeholders is critical. This requires intent, planning and communication. Over-communication in these situations is often better than under-communication.

Embrace Change: Often as you come out of a difficult situation, a new reality and a new state of affairs ensue. This may require you to write off old investments, and move forward with a new order.

It’s critical that as you spot this new order, you embrace it and make it your own. You can’t think of sunk costs here, you have to think of opportunities going forward. I think the silver lining in leading through a difficult situation is that you discover yourself more as a leader and grow as a result. It provides an unparalleled opportunity in that regard.

The writer is Director, Sunstone Business School

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