Leading in Crisis

Through the point of view of your teams’ need, what’s needed now and immediately necessary? Many leaders are searching for what to do and say TODAY. As leaders, we encourage you to reflect and self-evaluate on how you are doing in these areas.

Think about your new “normal” right now: How are you getting in touch with your teams? Are you letting them know that you care about them? Are you reinforcing key messages? How can you encourage them?

Having the right attitude and behavior in a time of crisis is essential.
As a leader, your attitude and behavior should be:

• Calm: Keep your employees focused on the task at hand and not worried about tomorrow.
• Confident: Be confident in your leadership team, the talent of your associates, and the quality of your products or services.

In addition to staying calm and confident, focus your mindset on these three characteristics:

• Empathy: Be aware of and sensitive to the fact that your people may be fearful. Stay visible, listen to to what your people are thinking and feeling.
• Humility: Leaders must convey a sense of togetherness and belonging. No one is alone in this–you’re all moving forward as a team.
• Encouragement: Be positive. Celebrate small wins. Share good news.

Your team is looking to you for understanding and to find a way to fight through it. Make an effort to communicate in these ways:

• Leverage your technology to be as visible as possible
• Make decisions daily based on what you know right now
• Create touch points with all of your people every day
• Meet with your team weekly
• Listen, listen, listen for deep understanding
• Be intentional about outrunning the rumor mill
• Identify and communicate anything and everything positive
• Be diligent about staying current on the latest CDC guidelines, updates from the President’s Task Force and other changes in the COVID-19 environment and share these things with your team