Effective Leadership in a Crisis

The Role of Effective Leadership in a Crisis

As the world continues to battle with the health and economic crisis, organisations have to continue to adjust their sails and stay afloat. In these tough times, leaders play an important role in coping and adapting to the ‘new normal’. Below are some of my thoughts on effective leadership in a crisis.

Managing a crisis vs. Leading in a crisis

We all have encountered a circular traffic jam every now and then while driving, a jam where you are suddenly surrounded by many cars criss-crossing in different directions with no easy way to exit.

In order to get out of the jam, you have to carefully manoeuvre your vehicle in the right direction, ask the car in front or behind to move a bit and after a lot of precision and patience you can find that small opening to exit the jam. This to me is akin to managing a crisis.

Invariably in such a jam, a random bloke will get out of the car, see the big picture, understand where the bottlenecks are, where the quick wins are and accordingly direct the cars to move and manoeuvre and get the whole jam cleared. That to me is leading in a crisis.

The scale, the purpose, the value, the inspiration take a big leap when one leads in a crisis as versus when one simply manages a crisis.

Top 5 important things for effective leadership in a crisis

Here is what I think is important while effectively leading a team, organisation or even yourself through a crisis. My list of top 5 things for effective leadership in a crisis:

1) Optimism

I do believe in every crisis, lies an opportunity. Opportunities to grow, learn, adapt and sometimes even turn the tide in your favour. However, one cannot see the opportunities without being positive.

Optimism is an important ingredient for resilience as it helps us see the bigger picture and spot opportunities. And let’s face it; no leader ever inspired us if he wasn’t an optimist.

2) Agility

As they say opportunities will never knock on your door. But if they do, they sure as hell will not wait. So being agile and learning to adapt quickly to the change gives you an edge over competition. Being flexible and having the courage to build the road as you go along helps when the future is uncertain.

As a leader, building agility within the organisation helps to improve the reaction time and gives you a head start that sometimes differentiates between success and me-too products.

3) Communication Communication Communication

A crisis usually comes with uncertainty and uncertainty comes with anxiety. Our brain is not wired to deal with uncertainty. It likes to predict everything and when it cannot predict, it becomes uncomfortable, anxious and even panics. So managing emotions of fear and anxiety in self and team members during this time becomes a necessary part of leadership.

The only mantra to reduce the fear of uncertainty amongst employees is through constant communication. Communicate your plans, communicate your fears, communicate your vulnerabilities, and communicate your strengths. There is no such thing as over-communication. Sometimes bad news is better than no news.

4) Managing paradoxes

A crisis is a time where you have to worry about your company’s bottom-line as well as worry about the wellbeing of your people. A time where you need to listen to your head and heart. Work with optimism at the same time be watchful of pitfalls. Innovate at the same time be mindful of risks. Be enforcing and compassionate.

An effective captain is the one that can handle these contradicting traits seamlessly while handling the storm.

5) Energising

You may have all of the above, but if you do not have the ability to energise your workforce to see the opportunity, to believe in the bigger purpose or vision, to rally around your plan, to collaborate while executing, you would be a one-man army. And honestly, that would work only in a boxing ring.

Resisting change comes to human beings a lot more easily than embracing change. A leader’s ability to inspire and influence the resistance to change can make the difference between getting by and success.

Effective leadership in a crisis in an organisation

An organisation’s ability to deal with a crisis is a reflection of the strength of its culture.

What are the beliefs that govern the organisation? What stories are told? What are the unsaid norms which employees follow? What are the values that are non-negotiable? What does it take to be a success in the organisation?

All these and many more such answers usually define an organisation’s culture. And in many cases, it is very different from the posters put up on the walls.

In these tough times, leaders play an important role in coping and adapting to the ‘new normal’. Effective leadership in a crisis is one that has worked tirelessly in building a culture that does not just survive, but one that thrives.

About The Author

Hamsaz Wadhwani has a passion for people interventions that have a high impact on business performance & culture. She has over two decades of experience across diverse fields of Human Resources, P&L Management, Quality & Process Management & Well-being.

Hamsaz holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management from NMIMS Institute and a Masters in Experimental Psychology from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. She is a certified Coach from ACTP and International Coach Federation.