How to lead through a crisis

The crisis we are experiencing right now is not normal. Typically, when a leader faces a crisis in their business, it is contained within the business. While the crisis likely impacts a handful of employees, a few suppliers and maybe even customers, the rest of the world moves on.

The COVID-19-induced crisis is different. In a matter of weeks, almost everything about how people live and work changed. For most business, the demand for products and services evaporated. At the same time, a few employers began experiencing skyrocketing demand and struggled to keep up. And while increased demand is usually a good thing, off-the-scale demand is still a crisis that needs to be managed.

The uncertainty the pandemic is causing is not going to go away any time soon — nobody knows what tomorrow is going to look like. Experts around the world are all saying there is no going back to “normal.”

We are living in historic times and, because the way people live and work is going to be different forever, we need to act now to plan and create a new future.

Routine, change and opportunity
Routine is a business’s worst enemy. Unfortunately, humans find comfort in routine because it is supposed to lower uncertainty and discomfort. While 20 or 30 years ago, routine didn’t get people into too much trouble, in today’s economy, an employer that is steeped in routine is usually falling behind the competition and is in some sort of crisis — whether it knows it or not.

The solution for leaders and employers to get out of this crisis — or any crisis — is to promote a corporate culture that expects change and is focused on thriving and growing. This is not a sentence to be taken lightly. It means most leaders must change how they run their business — starting now — and keep that up into the future.

If there is anything good about this particular disaster, it’s that it is impacting nearly all businesses and, therefore, creating a somewhat even playing field and opportunity for some smaller organizations. The employers and leaders most likely to survive are the ones that act quickly.

Adaptive, cohesive teams
An adaptive, cohesive team that embraces change doesn’t happen by itself — it needs a leader to commit to championing team communication and motivation and to manage everyone’s expectations. This change in corporate culture means the leader must focus their attention on building a dynamic team that can innovate, collaborate and make smart decisions — forever.

Gone are the days when a leader focuses on being a boss, making every decision and solving every problem. Changing a corporate culture means building a team that trusts each other, stays engaged and is cohesive even though they may be working remotely.

One of the first steps in creating a corporate culture that can survive a crisis is to help employees get used to the idea that change is “the new normal” and the routine they were once used to will not be returning. Instead of having familiar, routine tasks, successful leaders help their team find comfort in working together to create a familiar approach to move forward. This is where agile project management can be exactly the support a leader needs to provide a way forward.

Agile project management
Because agile project management breaks large projects into smaller projects and moves them through very short development cycles called “sprints,” it’s a great solution when employers need to be ultra-responsive to customer needs or the economy. And while an agile corporate culture allows projects and decisions to move more quickly, each project must still be part of a larger development plan or vision.

To begin this transformation, leaders must be project champions, organizational ambassadors and employee mentors. They must also demonstrate an unrelentless commitment to establishing clear expectations for themselves and the team and empower each employee to grow, gain new experience and to do their best work.

The key elements of an agile corporate culture are: communication, respect and collaboration; recognition of effort, trust in the process and in our team members; improvement and learning; pride in ownership and accomplishment; a focus on delivering value; and the ability to adapt to change.

Your corporate vision, mission and values are more important than almost anything when faced with crisis. They are also a key foundation for an agile corporate culture, especially in times of chaos. When everyone is looking through the same lens, it allows teams and businesses to seek excellence and be highly responsive and collaborative — no matter where they are working.

Even as employees work remotely, organizations can experience a sense of unity and cohesiveness when they line up behind a shared vision, shared goals and a crystal-clear understanding of why their work is important. And, in times of crisis, an employer’s vision, mission and values empower the best and brightest to make decisions and get very creative very quickly.

Fight against natural tendencies
Be careful of your natural tendencies. When in crisis, a natural instinct is to override values such as collaboration, inclusion and transparency and to restrict decision-making to ourselves or a small group of people in the name of perceived efficiency. In addition, when people feel uncertainty, they usually go to where they think their strengths are — and often overplay them to the point where they become weaknesses.

In reality, almost every crisis benefits from many minds and the whole experience of your team is going to find the best solution. Great leaders help their team stay focused on the corporate vision, mission and values and empower to make informed decisions.

Conclusion
Crisis often forces important decisions and accelerates change. As leaders move forward over the next weeks, months and even years, they should adopt the mindset that, whatever decisions are made, they may need to continually refine them and even abandon them if they become obsolete.

Leaders will know they are doing a great job of leading through a crisis when they see their team building supportive relationships and trusting each other, and when the leader can be out of touch for a day or two and, for the most part, all work continues.

And, as the speed of change continues to accelerate, be mindful that how we lead through crisis and how we lead through “normal” times will continue to look and feel more and more alike. Keeping a team focused on their corporate vision, mission and values, and then being the most inspirational leader, can help them do their best work.

Bruce Mayhew is an executive coach and corporate trainer based in Toronto. He can be reached at (416) 617-0462 or [email protected].

DEALING WITH CRISIS A COMMON OCCURRENCE

7 in 10
Number of leaders who have experienced at least one corporate crisis in the last five years — with the average being three

26%
Number of leaders at large companies who say cybercrime is the most common crisis, followed by natural disaster (22%), leadership (17%) or ethical misconduct (16%)

3 in 10
Number of employers that have no staff dedicated to crisis preparedness or response while 74% have sought outside help

42%
Number of employers “in a better place” after a crisis (while 36% were in a similar position and 19% were in a worse place)

Source: PwC