The importance of communicating with stakeholders and the need to maintain focus on long-term objectives are among leadership lessons that port directors have learned in managing the current economic crisis, according to interviews conducted with a sampling of Western Hemisphere port directors.
These and other insights emerged from anonymous interviews with 15 port directors from the United States, Canada and the Caribbean conducted following an e-mail invitation in March to leaders of American Association of Port Authorities member ports.
The "lesson learned" most frequently cited by respondents involved the importance of communicating with stakeholders during times of crisis. A second leadership lesson frequently cited was avoiding complacency and being prepared for contingencies by continually challenging core assumptions. The third-most-cited critical lesson was the need to stay focused on long-term future growth and avoid becoming overly concerned with short-term developments.
The exploratory study was conducted in recognition of the fact that, while seaports serve as a critical element in the global economy and are therefore on the front line in terms of fallout from the current economic crisis, as well as playing an integral role in the recovery from the recession, little of what has been written about leadership has specifically focused on the unique challenges of the maritime industry.
A preliminary analysis of the interview data associated with how leaders recognize, frame and respond to the economic meltdown provides numerous valuable insights.
In order for leaders to effectively respond to any crisis, they must first detect it. Participants detected the economic crisis from information within their own port, trends observed in other ports, and trends communicated or observed from sources outside the seaport industry.
Participants also described how they framed the unfolding crisis: Opportunity, threat or challenge. Among the opportunities identified were increase loyalty of port staff, an opportunity to strategically rethink port priorities and reduced development costs. Threats included the loss of revenue and the potential for staff reductions.
Study participants shared actions they took as leaders to address the challenges created by the crisis and identify strategic opportunities. These actions ranged from embracing a positive leadership mindset toward the crisis, assessment and planning, communication and management team engagement. The study identified five primary ways through which participants identified and developed strategic opportunities:
- Assessing the needs of customers;
- Optimizing existing port services;
- Innovating new services;
- Changing their organizations to respond to customer needs; and
- Partnering with external stakeholders to better respond to needs of current or future customers.
One port director commented, "This is a heck of an opportunity to take one step back and catch our breath here... Have we matched up with the right business partners? Are we on the right course?"
Another significant finding from the study related to how port directors engaged and solicited input from their management teams to respond to the crisis. Four themes identified were: Empowering managers through accountability and delegation; challenging managers to stretch beyond their comfort zones in identifying ways to increase revenue or reduce expenses; conducting management retreats to explore the crisis, its implications and opportunities; and meeting more frequently to share information and test future scenarios.
In an effort to help his senior staff members think more strategically about the crisis, one port director explained: "While people will have titles and will have direct responsibilities as it relates to strategic planning, they have to broaden themselves and look at it from several different perspectives - just as I do."
