Crisis Leadership and the Depth To Which It Matters To Your Team

Due to its massive impact, volatile nature and associated ripple effects, the COVID-19 crisis hasn’t left any business unchanged. The COVID-19 crisis adversely affects everyone in a company. Company leaders can and should act to lessen the length of the impact on their organization, soften the impact and prepare for a similar crisis in the future.

A crisis situation includes a high degree of instability and has it the potential for extremely damaging results. It’s a crucial moment that can bring both distress and dramatic transformation. In some ways, a crisis can be seen as a turning point. This perception is important since the effects of COVID-19 will be definitive in the future of both individual employees and the organization as a whole.

Despite the fact that no two crises are exactly the same, most do have some traits in common. For instance, the specific nature of a crisis isn’t generally known from the outset. It usually comes in an unexpected form that can scare and stun the people who are affected. There may have been signs of imminent danger, but while daily operations are handled, the extent of a crisis can be ignored, temporarily dismissed or even wished away. The shock and fear alone of a crisis can be devastating, especially if it contains an aspect of physical danger, as the COVID-19 crisis does.

Taking Action 

There are multiple specific actions that leaders can take upon finding out a crisis is about to hit their organization and their people. Actions and decisions from leaders do anything from reducing anxieties to meeting human needs, such as personal security.

First, leaders must concentrate on fact-finding. As seen during the early days of the pandemic, primary reports on a crisis are almost always inaccurate. This is because the people communicating information have a tendency to overstate or understate the ultimate situation that will play out.

Leaders should also think about connections between emotions and behaviors, so they can tailor a smart response to the crisis. It’s essential to recall that emotions are not negative by nature. If left unchecked, however, feelings can result in pathological, uncharacteristic behaviors. A crucial aspect to crisis leadership is understanding this connection and anticipating the effects of emotions.

To act on this understanding, leaders ought to concentrate on communicating, transparency, company culture and people at all levels of the company. Small steps but effective steps include being available for worried employees, sharing all available information, recognizing those who are rising to the occasion, staying positive and giving employees leeway to handle personal issues associated with the crisis. These steps might seem straightforward, but they aren’t always simple to conduct.

A crisis is emotionally and physically draining on company leaders, but despite how a leader feels in the moment, focusing on personal connections is probably the biggest part of crisis leadership.

We Can Help Your Company in This Difficult Moment 

At SMCI, we are focused on helping our clients transition out of the COVID-19 crisis. Please contact us today to find out how we can help your company.