How should you be leading your organization in the midst of these tough and unstable times? Here are the 4 powerful things effective leaders are doing right now in their organizations to stay on track...

They are: Perception, Proficiency, Positioning, Phase-Out

1. Perception: Many top leaders understand that more than ever, it is vitally important to stay focused on the company's vision. This vision, is your road-map to your desired future. Know that any time there is economic turbulence, it will always make business markets unstable, but the company's vision is your solid foundation. Ensure that your vision is sound, and that you have mission, values, and strategies are stable, then work to continually communicate them to your people.

2. Proficiency: It is important to understand that we are currently in a knowledge economy, and the thing that really separates the winners from the losers is how well they manage the knowledge base inside their company. A strong knowledge management system is important for capturing, processing, disseminating, and leverage your unique wealth of information. Work to improve your knowledge management system or, develop it if you don't have one already.

3. Positioning: The way you differentiate yourself from your competitors by leveraging the systems in your organization, be they product development, personal service, distribution, marketing, customer service, market knowledge etc, it important to helping your increase your competitive advantage in today's economy. Take the time to examine and sharpen your advantage (or core competency). If what you are currently doing is not working, or if you don't have proper positioning, then begin working with your team to build one.

4. Phase-Out: Many effective leaders are pushing to eliminate things in their organizations that have no real value. Now more than ever is the time to get rid of those reports that never lead to action, to re-evaluate and change your systems & processes, and to ruthlessly eliminate anything wasteful.

So let's recap - those 4 powerful things effective leaders are doing right now to lead their organizations in these tough unstable times are 1.Perception, 2.Proficiency, 3. Positioning, 4.Phase-Out