Leadership During Crisis

One of my best friends was a long time athletic trainer for an NBA sports team. One day he was telling me and a few buddies his approach for when players get injured. The story stuck with me because, like with many sports analogies, they carry non-sports relevance. 

He said “one thing he was trained to do, was no matter how serious the injury, not to react... but rather to respond. A guy could have a bone sticking out of his leg or may never walk again... you have to stay calm. You have to give them something to mirror and early calm promotes better healing no matter what the injury is.” 

In essence, that’s what leadership in crisis is, the ability to stay calm even under the most grave situations and to be reassuring that those suffering are safe, help is on the way and that together we’ll get through this. 

You may be saying “Ghee, if a guy has a bone sticking out his leg, I may lose it” and my response is of course you would, which is why you don’t work in sports medicine or any medicine for that matter. People who take up those professions, do it because they have a special make up that allows them to push past crisis to proceed with healing. However, I believe we all have that quality but it shows up in different areas of our lives. 

For some, it’s nurturing your children after they suffer a major disappointment. For others, it’s reassuring the team after collectively facing a catastrophe. Today’s environment is not short of crises. In the pandemic, most of us are all facing something we have not experienced in our lifetime. And when faced with crises, there is always a need for authentic and inspiring leadership. I’ve composed a few essential steps any leader can take to serve their people when they need it most. 

Listen 

I believe this is one of the most critical actions a leader can take when things go awry. In crisis, people tend to let all kinds of ideas enter their mind which are usually worst case scenarios and unless they get answers and unpack some of those ideas, things are likely to spiral and do more harm than good. 

As a leader, you must show up, open your door, take the questions and if you don’t have answers, tell them you’ll do your best to find out. If things are going to get worst, tell them and then share the plan of how to help make it better. But importantly, listen. Listen to their fears, listen to their confusion, listen for problems you can solve. Listen. 

Act. 

This is where you get your hands dirty. This is where you make sacrifices so that others can see the light ahead. I remember a restructure was announced at a company I worked for and we needed to meet with the agency for one of our largest clients. The agency had worked with my predecessor as well as recently departed leaders and I knew would be a tough meeting. This agency didn’t pull any punches and there was no way I would send my people in alone. 

We went to lunch, it started amicably but once I was about halfway through my Caesar salad the tough questions came. “Where is this company headed?!” “How can I trust your organization when I’ve seen so many people I trust leave the organization?” “How can I justify my spend when your organization is...???” It was tough. But their questions were fair and my job was to listen and to answer honestly and to help them understand the value of where we’re going as much as where we’ve been. This was not a time of giving direction, I had to act. The business actually saw an uptick that year but more importantly, in crisis, we seized the opportunity to deepen relationships and provide clarity. 

Communicate

Regardless of where you are in your strategy and execution, don’t keep your people in the dark. Tell them why you’re doing what you’re doing, tell them the expected results and how you’re measuring progress and tell them specifically the role they play in bringing the plan to fruition. This level of communication not only fosters buy in, it inspires focus and resilience. 

Adapt 

What worked before may not be the solution for today and tomorrow, and you won’t know without a laser focus on how you measure progress moving forward. Are you achieving the goals you set out to accomplish? Were you solving for a challenge that is no longer a priority? Have you found a blindspot in the original plan that threatens long term success? 

Pivoting isn’t leadership indecision, it’s an acknowledgement of learnings. It’s an acknowledgement that things have changed since you first drafted your plan and you intend to succeed in spite of those changes. Anyone who’s ever done any gardening will tell you that you seldom get the same weeds year after year. Some years you have crab grass, other years you have dandelions. You have to pivot in order to solve the problems of the day.

I believe these are just a few steps, but they are essential leadership functions in times of crisis or otherwise and if followed, will help any leader stay in front of their challenges, rather than overtaken by them. 

-TG