For leaders to earn trust and thus be effective during the difficult and challenging times of crisis, we recommend the following key leadership strengths:

Communication

The successful crisis leader doesn’t need to have all of the answers to these questions as a party of one

 Perhaps the most effective tool available to a successful ‘crisis’ leader is the willingness and ability to authentically communicate and in so doing build a foundation for surviving and even thriving during a crisis period.

Being a crisis leader usually, but not always, means being the internal and/or external spokesperson for the organization. A crisis leader must therefore possess the ability to deliver news, updates and constant communication to all target audiences. The leader must also use two-way communication, which means listening and responding to questions, concerns and feedback.

Effectively communicating as leader carries with it an opportunity to build a stronger sense of positivity within the ‘team’.  In that all are going through the ‘crisis’ at the same time, we tend to gather personal strength and resolve to ‘win’ when we are able to see our ‘teammates’ as being committed to the same thing.  The strength in numbers reality is one that will be fostered and enhanced with the willing, frequent and trustworthy communication put forth by the leader.

Big Picture Focus

In a ‘normal’ work environment days are filled with what is often a large array of smaller and more detailed tasks and projected related to what each person is doing in carrying our their respective jobs.  During a ‘crisis’ period it is both critical and invaluable to the ongoing health of the organization that all are refocused on the
BIG picture for the organization.  Why is the company in business?  What is the overall vision for it?  Even if some of the focus within various divisions or departments will change as an outcome of the ‘crisis’ what remains the same in terms of the company’s overriding vision?

The effective crisis leader is the one who can bring the groups focus back to this ‘high level’ agenda and in so doing, create a greater sense of a solid foundation and the security that goes with it.

Seeing the Threat as an Opportunity that it Can Be

Often, a crisis in an organization carries with it grand opportunities that will not only live beyond the end of the crisis but will help to chart the course of the organization into its’ future.  With the need to reinvent our product line or with the need to totally alter our approach, how has our ‘history’ helped to inform us about our future?  Or … with the demise of at least some of our previous endeavors, what opportunities are now open for us to create our own ‘next generation’ of products for which we believe there is or will be an emerging market?

Here again, strong and effective ‘crisis’ leadership skills promote the spirit and environment that fosters innovation and creativity.  Allowing the team to be involved in creating the future can and will do wonders for soothing the concerns and fears.  In fact, the focus on the future in this most positive way provides added strength and resolve for doing whatever is required to get through the shorter term crisis.

Communication

No, we haven’t made a mistake in that we’re duplicating a key ingredient previously addressed above.  We’re intentionally repeating this as a key ingredient necessary for effective leadership in times of crisis because it IS critical.  We have met and worked with numerous leaders who did a very admirable job in facilitating, motivating and rallying their troops in such a way as to lead the organization to great heights of accomplishment and success.  And … we have witnessed some of these same leaders lose their effectiveness when finding themselves as leader during times of crisis.  Above all, it is their ability and willingness to be a communicator and a listener that has been the underlying success factor in reaching the other side of the storm in a whole and healthy manner. 

As such, it behooves the leader to ask themselves the following questions:

• In what ways can I ramp up my active listening so that all feel heard and understood?
• What content and in what manner can I keep all informed about what is occurring and what the company intends to and is doing about it?
• In what way should I again bring focus to the overriding and driving ‘big picture’ intent for our organization and how can I involve others in doing so?
• What are the opportunities that we have as a result of today’s crisis situation and how will they make us even stronger and more successful as a company in the future?
• What is the learning from today’s crisis?  In what ways can we make this an ally so that we take steps to be prepared for such a situation in the future?

The successful crisis leader doesn’t need to have all of the answers to these questions as a party of one.  Rather, by addressing the questions, they will lead to the involvement of others in finding the answers and the result is that one has led the company team to a big picture focus and visions of a successful future once again – just on the other side of the current crisis.