Leadership in Times of Crisis

We are certainly living in interesting times and my thoughts and prayers reach out to those on the front line in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic – the medical staff, emergency workers, first responders, the researchers working to develop a vaccine or cure and so many more.  

It is also a time for true leadership at Federal, State and Local governments, government agencies, non-profits and business.  We’re all seeing good, mediocre and bad examples of leadership during this time.  So, what can leaders do to step up?

I’ve never dealt with a situation like the one facing us today,  but I was a business leader in Australia (with global operations, including in China and Asia) during the economic downtown in 2001, the Avian Flu and SARS in 2003, and was leading a young startup during the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.  During any crisis, I believe the following principles are important:

• Communicate clearly and often to your stakeholders. Be as open as possible and clearly state what is known and what is unknown, without embellishment, or trying to diminish the real situation.
• Get the best advice possible and be willing to listen carefully to experts and absorb the information they can provide in order to make the best possible decisions on how to deal with the crisis.
• If you must take tough actions in order to produce the best outcome for the greatest number of people or stakeholders, do so decisively, quickly and all at once (rather than multiple smaller actions over time). Again, clearly communicate the rationale, outline the specifics of the actions you’re taking and the associated impact.  Treat affected people compassionately and do as much as possible to help them through the difficulties they undoubtedly will encounter.
• Never lie or mislead people even if that might ease your own situation – any relief will be temporary at best, it will likely lead to great difficulties, and you will lose the trust of the very people you will need to make it through the crisis.
• Learn from the situation – understand what lead up to it, identify how you could have anticipated or recognized the situation more quickly, and determine if and how you could have better responded to the situation.
• Never waste a crisis – work with your team and stakeholders to determine how to make the business more resilient in future and what changes will allow you to prosper or at least make the best of the current situation. Review intelligence gathering, decision making, operational processes and general practices to identify ways to improve effectiveness and efficiency.