Leading in a Time of Crisis

Gordon Tredgold posted an interesting article on LinkedIn about leading in times of crisis.
There are many roles that leaders are asked to perform from creating a vision, inspiring people, driving change, building momentum and leading their people to success.
One of the hardest roles is leading people in grimes of crisis and we are seeing this now as the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic becomes greater.
Often times in crisis, there is fear and uncertainty, and if leadership doesn’t look to bring some certainty and calm, then this can lead to full-blown panic.

Here are 5 things you can do as a leader to help people through the crisis:

1. Be Honest
– If there are things that are not known, don’t lie or make up facts, because people see through this, and then they wonder what else you are keeping from them.
It’s okay to say we don’t know yet, but let people know it is being worked on and give a timeframe for when more information will be available.

2. Provide Direction
– Fear and uncertainty comes from people feeling powerless, so by giving people some direction empowers them to take some action, and this will help reduce these feelings of powerlessness.

3. Be Consistent
– Consistency breeds certainty, so we need to be consistent in our messages and actions. If things change and this causes us to make a change then we need to explain why we have had this change of direction.

4. Be Calm and Confident
– When leadership is calm and confident this will help everyone else remain calm and confident.
Confidence is a force multiplier.

5. Be Decisive
– You can deliberate, but you have to make decisions, you have to be decisive. Make sure you get the right input, but once you have that, pick a path and communicate it.

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