Leading in Crisis

“Is it really any different than leading in good time?”

-Nathan Jamail, Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author

I recently was asked by a publisher if I would write a book on leading through crisis.  Although I don’t know what the outcome of this book idea will be, I thought I would share some thoughts with you on what it takes to “Lead in Crisis”.  

It is safe to say that many leaders and organizations are trying to figure this out right now, yet the issue is- when the crisis is happening- it may be too late to figure it out.  The real question we have to answer is, “Is leading in crisis any different than leading in good times?”.  The short answer is: the principles and beliefs of leading in crisis are no different than leading in good times- but the behaviors and the impact is significantly different.  The consequences of weak coaching and leadership principles are more visible in a crisis and the consequences are 10 times more devastating.  

Let’s break this into four sections: 

1. The basis of leadership and coaching principles. 
2. How they are similar and vary in the two times of leadership (normal business, crisis business).  
3. The impact and consequences of good leadership vs standard leadership
4. What you can do about it right now

The principles of leading and coaching  

I believe the greatest leaders in business today are also the greatest coaches.  They lead by developing their teams and making them better at their jobs and their skills to exceed at their job’s expectations. They are engaged with their team via practice, awareness and development, but they are not engaged by doing the job for their team or micromanaging them.  Their behaviors follow three key principles: 

• They ensure that all employees and leaders on their team have the right attitude and belief.  
• They don’t allow any non-believers and bad attitudes to remain on the team.  
• They practice and develop their employees no matter their experience or current success, because they believe that no matter how good or effective a person or leader is, they can alway grow and get better. 

How is leading in a crisis are similar and differ in the two times of leadership

The coaching principles don’t change based on the environment, they stay consistent regardless of crisis or good times.  The struggle for most leaders is during a crisis the number of distractions and barriers are very high causing some of the greatest leaders to lose focus on growth and employee development.  Leaders find themselves reacting to issues causing them to get into a ‘survive’ mode versus a thrive mode.  

The impact & consequences during crisis business

Here are a couple of examples of good and bad behaviors and the impacts of those behaviors when operating in a state of crisis business: 

Standard Leadership Behavior: If a leader is a “hands off” leader, that only gets involved when there is an issue or problem.

Negative Impact: Leaders find themselves overly engaged in a crisis period because they have not prepared their people with strong leadership principles and practices. When an employee is just told but not taught what to do, they are more timid and frustrated because they might know what needs done, but do not completely know how to do it. Because of this, the leader tends to get overly engaged to respond to the crisis or worse they maintain their hands off approach while their employees become frustrated and overwhelmed. 

The Coaching/Good Leadership Behavior: a leader is constantly engaged and focuses more on teaching employees versus just telling an employee to get it done or doing it themselves; they empower their team members to learn, act and grow. 

Better Impact:  When leaders continue to teach employees how to execute and they stay focused on the employee’s development, the employees in turn feels more confident in taking chances and doing more.  When employees are taught and are continuously challenged and engaging in practice sessions, they are more confident and ultimately more successful. 

Standard Leadership Behavior:  When leaders who struggle with accountability during good/average/regular times.

Negative Impact:  Because the leader assumes “high water covers all rocks” during the good/average/regular times, they find themselves unable to hold people accountable during a crisis.  This happens because accountably is hard and during crisis it can appear as insensitive or harsh.  Thus accountability is non-existent during crisis and many if not most important tasks are not completed or the ball is dropped constantly creating even more uncertainty and upheaval within an organization.

The Coaching/Good Leadership Behavior: Those leaders that have a high level of accountability with the employees in their organization as a principle, and are able to maintain that high level of accountability during a crisis the same as they do during good/normal/average times.   

Better Impact: Leaders are able to achieve consistent accountability during a crisis because accountability is not based merely on one’s results but based on their efforts and contribution.  And with a high level of accountability, even in crisis, tasks and goals will be accomplished leaving room for an environment of success and thriving despite the outside crisis.  

What can I do now: 

As leaders we must start with ourselves.  And ask ourselves: how can I do a better job of teaching and developing my employees?  Which of our employees are believers with the right attitude and which are not?  Lastly- create a plan to engage and start today (no matter the current state of your business) and never stop until you are no longer getting paid to be a leader.  

• Develop a daily communication system for yourself, not a check-in program where we are merely checking in with our employees, rather a true preparation system.   The difference is the intent and format of our video meetings.  
• Have several morning video calls with employees to discuss the previous day’s activities and scrimmage upcoming meetings or appointments.  Of course do these in person if you are at the office or once you are allowed to do so based on your state/county/country guidelines.  
• Share your expectations and the importance of your expectations with those that are not meeting them.  Let them know the negative impact their choices have on them, their team members and the overall success of the company.  
• Lastly make sure you are consistent in your coaching and accountability.  When you are leading with powerful coaching principles, the environment, whether good times or crisis merely become small adjustments versus major changes.

The key is;  It is never too late to implement the right coaching principles, but the sooner a leader can implement these principles the sooner the positive impacts will follow.