© 2025 James Hardie – Course Correction Consulting Ltd. The EASE Framework™ is a proprietary model developed by James Hardie to support the creation of psychologically safe, empowered, and strategically aligned teams. All rights reserved.
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Perfect is the enemy of good enough but this also means imperfect and adaptable is going to have to be acceptable enough at times. Even with the best preparation and intent, people in leadership face setbacks that test their belief, their approach and emotional resilience. When that happens, what matters most is not perfection, it is proactive and critical thinking, grounded in clarity and trust.
"Mastering the Art of Leading with EASE" delves deep into the strategies and mindset shifts you need to realign your goals and reclaim your growth path, with EASE. This week, we explore how leaders can respond when things go wrong. Because even the best plans do not survive first contact with reality.
Plans are worthless, but planning is essential. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
We live in unpredictable times. Plans fail. People leave. Systems break. So what can you do?
Perfect is the enemy of good enough but this also means imperfect and adaptable is going to have to be acceptable enough at times. Even with the best preparation and intent, people in leadership face setbacks that test their belief, their approach and emotional resilience. When that happens, what matters most is not perfection, it is proactive and critical thinking, grounded in clarity and trust.
This is when the EASE Framework proves its deeper value as a compass for navigating uncertainty and thinking effectively with your team.
In aviation, when something goes wrong, an instrument failure, an Air Traffic delay, or a loss of communication, pilots are trained not to panic. The priority is simple:
Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.
This means:
The same principles apply in leadership. Your first task is to stay calm and focused, to “fly the aircraft.” Remembering that as a person in leadership you are always being observed and judged.
The consistent and reliable work you have done to elicit good teamwork in the past will come to the fore when you must quickly reorient the team, not by pretending everything is fine, but by facing reality with discipline and perspective. When it comes to giving any order your past performance and trust building is critical to what happens next.
A broken plan is not a failed mission, yet. It is a chance to lead, a chance to shine. A demonstration of adaptability and capacity to deal with difficulty, to be resilient.
At moments like these, team members look for psychological cues that elicit their input:
What you do and what you have done determines the trajectory of performance and trust.
If you have always been authoritarian in your approach then you had better be right every time.
Your capacity to take on new information, consider alternatives and deal with setbacks are all part of why you are where you are, but have you isolated yourself? In all probability you are where you are because you are the best placed person to deal with the problem. And if you are not then refer to the person who has the information
Here is how to use the four elements of the EASE Framework in response to disruption:
Take a breath and change the feeling of time. What is actually happening? What are we assuming? What data do we have? What emotions are shaping the room?
Use Boyd’s OODA Loop: Observe → Orient → Decide → Act.
What is happening here? What will happen next?
Share a new picture of reality and check in with team mates. Create a moment of re-brief. Clarify roles, expectations, and purpose again, even if the goal has changed. Reaffirm the commander’s intent and its continued validity. Consider alternatives and try to avoid binary decisions between a good options and a clearly bad one, which is no option at all.
What constraints must we comply with?
Support each other. Name the pressure and vulnerabilities that you can see, acknowledge genuine concerns and try to set aside those things that are beyond your control. Invite honesty. Reinforce psychological safety by normalising questions and concerns. Use failures as fuel for deeper resilience.
Threat x Vulnerability = Risk. General McCrystal
Trust the team to make decisions. Ask what they see, what they recommend. Help them learn from the disruption, not freeze in fear of it.
“What’s the best action we can take next, based on what we now know?” Who? What? When?
Shortly after a disruption or missed milestone, facilitate a 15–20 minute review using three questions:
Keep it safe. Keep it constructive. Keep it honest. Document any decisions and learning points. Change any procedures that must be changed to prevent it occuring again and promulgate the decision
This reinforces a culture where performance and learning are never at odds with each other.
Too many people say, "We must learn from our mistakes," and then promptly do nothing to learn anything. The corporate memory is short and disjointed.
Plans fail. However, that is not a leadership failure. Failing to explore, align, support, and empower in response, that is where the damage begins to get out of control.
When leaders default to silence, control, or blame, the team contracts, support is lost. Then you will fail. However, when leadership uses a disruption to invite clarity, trust, and shared accountability, the team grows stronger and more resilient. Problems are solved and self confidence builds toward success in even greater challenges,
This is what it means to lead with EASE. Proactively, not perfect. Increasing self-efficacy effects in the team, outperforming the competition at every level, to be successful despite setbacks.
If this edition gave you something to reflect on, please share it or tag someone navigating a challenge right now. You do not need the perfect plan. You just need a steady hand, a clear mind, and the courage to keep flying.
#Leadership #CrisisLeadership #LeadWithEASE #OrganisationalPsychology #ProactiveWorkplaces #PsychologicalSafety