Leaders Perception Magazine is currently running an interview series called – Leadership in Times of Crisis
Today, we had the opportunity to interview Sasha Laghonh who is a Founder, Sasha Talksat Sasha Talks.
Discover the valuable insights and experiences of Sasha Laghonh, Founder of Sasha Talks, as she shares her journey from contributing to various industries to establishing an educational and entertainment platform. With a focus on niche business consulting services, Sasha Talks aims to bring individuals and organizations together to elevate their performance in life. In this interview, Sasha reflects on a challenging project where she helped manage a merger between two satellite offices, highlighting the importance of human resources and transparent communication in organizational transitions.
Interviewee Name: Sasha Laghonh
Company: Sasha Talks
Sasha Laghonh’s favourite quote: Honesty has a power that very few people can handle. – Steven Aitchison
The Interview
Thank you so much for joining us today! Tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your backstory?
Sasha Laghonh : I’ve contributed to commercial spaces where I’ve leveraged opportunities to learn new skill sets which can transfer to niche roles and the entrepreneurial space over time. The inception of Sasha Talks was an organic progression as I continued contributing to different industries serving individual clients and organizations. It evolved into an educational and entertainment platform, aside its core niche business consulting services, to bring audiences together who want to level up their performance in life.
Could you please share a specific crisis situation you’ve faced as a leader and walk us through the strategies you employed to navigate through it successfully? What were the key decisions and actions you took, and what were the outcomes or lessons learned from that experience?
Sasha Laghonh : One of my professional clients had brought me on board to manage a merger of two satellite offices as they were strengthening their market space in their respective industry. The client was naive to think that simply bringing their headcount together from two regional spaces into one new location would be a seamless task. They had overlooked the human resources and operational aspect of this transition which would impact at least half of those roles because not every role delivered a viable ROI to retain headcount as well employees weren’t well versed with how these alleged changes would impact their work arrangement and provisions moving forward.
I believed if this entity had a competent in-house human resources, or even a legal counsel, such oversights could’ve been prevented. Instead they found themselves working with a tight deadline to resolve these avoidable complications. Assuming that employees will automatically accept these changes can yield more personnel complications while attracting labor and legal issues in the process. Clear education and transparency was needed to communicate these changes to all affected employees so they could make the right decision for their careers and livelihood.
Making assumptions is the worst thing leaders can do especially when they lack sensible business acumen. Because people hold certain titles, it doesn’t mean that they are automatically qualified to honor their responsibilities with grace. I worked closely with their leadership to craft a transition plan while coordinating next steps with their respective states’ workforce point of contacts. This entity did off board about 23% of their headcount from those two satellite offices before their move to their desired market location. These changes were implemented in a dignified manner which permitted everyone to make the right decision for themselves. A slipshod decision with no detailed execution plan can result in costing an organization more money because ideas that appear holistic on paper can actually drive an entity out of business.
From your observations, what common mistakes or pitfalls have you seen leaders fall into during a crisis?
Sasha Laghonh : Some leaders that host more experience working as individual contributors rather than working among a leadership team can host a degree of myopia that creates a challenge when engaging in significant organizational decisions because they aren’t able to easily connect the dots across the board. It’s a mental silo that exists within them which breeds more liability with the type of decisions they want to execute on a wider scale and scope. It’s recommended they self-evaluate their blind spots by partnering with professionals who hold the expertise to assist their goals. These professionals should be able to speak up to address any red flags that surface in the process. When these leaders are surrounded by ‘yes men’ all day, these oversights start to swim in an incestuous pool of bad ideas leading to an organization’s decline. Self-awareness is key when making decisions and executing them in a sensible manner. Unfortunately, leaders that operate from a place of ego and overconfidence will attract more problems, it’s only a matter of time.
Leaders Perception would like to thank Sasha Laghonh and Sasha Talks for the time dedicated to completing this interview and sharing their valuable insights with our readers!
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