In the 19th century in the United States, early settlers from the East Coast traveled by horse-drawn wagons to claim land in the “Wild West”, in territories such as Oklahoma, Kansas and so on. When resting at night, and during the daytime too, these settlers formed a tight circle with their wagons to protect themselves against dangers such as wild animals or the native Americans defending their turf. Ever since, the phrase, “circling the wagons” has come to mean “taking defensive actions to protect against attack”.

In times of hardship and uncertainty such as employee retrenchment and budget cuts, leaders will circle the wagons to protect their teams. Their mindset at these times is essentially in a defensive mode. This is understandable and to be expected.

Great leaders go one step further and ask themselves if the hard decisions they are making are best for themselves or for the organization. When circling the wagons, ask yourself if you have excluded someone who is valuable to the organization but known personally to you for only a year or two.