What Great Leaders Do During a Crisis
Being the leader of a company is not for the faint of heart. While CEOs are lauded for building world-beating companies like Apple and Google, they also face incredible scrutiny when many of those same companies face challenges (See Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook) or due to crushing marketplace conditions resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, the 2008 housing crisis, and many others. While some leaders duck and cover while waiting for the storm to pass, the best leaders proactively focus on strategic, operational, and people related issues to not just weather the storm, but to come out stronger on the other side. Below are some of the things that leaders are doing during the Coronavirus pandemic and other economic downturns.
7 Tips for leaders During a crisis
1. Focus on Keeping the Lights On
First and foremost, CEOs are steadfast in ensuring they have cash flow for operations. Money to pay employees, cover rent, purchase key inputs, and make debt payments. Over the past few months, leaders have scrambled to secure money available via the CARES Act. In other times of crisis, leaders turn to debt, extending lines of credit, or tap into their rainy day fund. The point is to pass through the rough waters and survive.
2. Rethink Business and Delivery Models
The Coronavirus has had an unprecedented impact on product and service delivery models. Supply chains have been constrained for companies manufacturing in hard hit areas that closed factories or largely operated at limited capacity. Entire industries like hospitality, events, and airlines have come to a screeching halt. Even doctors and dentists, professions that were considered recession-proof, faced flat-lining revenues. The best leaders have used this time to rethink their business and delivery models, from derisking supply chains to shifting from in-person to virtual delivery models and a virtual workforce. Instead of sticking their heads in the sand and assuming everything would snapback to January 2020, forward thinking leaders are building plans for this being the new normal while also considering what a “90% economy” would mean to their companies and people. Leaders are also building plans to buttress against future pandemics and other global economic shocks.
3. Revisit Risk Management Strategies
Risk management is sexy again as leaders revisit their strategies and plans to deal with an entirely different risk, one that most leaders (if they answered honestly) hadn’t fathomed prior to 2020. While focused on digging out of the current economic hole, leadership teams are revising their risk management strategies to combat future pandemics, but also are considering what other challenges could present themselves that currently seem impossible or at the very least are not probable.
4. Double Down and Service Existing Customers
Crises like the one we are facing is an opportunity to double down in servicing your current customers. Ensure your sales and delivery teams are focused on providing an even higher level of service to existing customers and encourage leaders to find ways to be of service. Senior leaders should also reach out and engage key customers and use the crisis as a great way to connect both on a human level as well as to lay down plans for future growth opportunities.
5. Express Vulnerability, to an Extent
Leaders are human and need to express that humanity during times of crisis. Fight the urge to act like everything is fine and share your concerns, both personal and professional, with your teams. Sharing your concerns honestly with your teams will forge enduring relationships and also engage them to dig in and double down on their efforts to help get the company back on track. You don’t need to share 100% of the information, but providing a glimpse into the challenges you are facing will allow you to be authentic and gain buy-in on the strategy to survive the crisis.
6. Lean Into Their Teams
Our organizations are only as strong as the internal relationships that make up our teams and crises provide the impetus but also an opportunity to lean into our teams. While there is a need to move fast and double your efforts, be sure to take the time to reach out and connect with members of the team. Go beyond a superficial check-in and ask them how they are doing - how they are really doing. In doing so, be sure to share in kind as to the challenges you are facing, both personally and professionally. In addition to your direct reports, reach out to other people at all levels of the organization and connect in a meaningful way. This is an opportunity to create new connections, rally the troops, and make everyone feel like they are part of an unbeatable team and company.
7. Focus on Self Care
Mindset, especially during a crisis, is critical to a leader’s ability to show up and motivate their team members while also staying sharp to make key decisions that impact the ongoing viability of the company. Be sure to take time to exercise and practice mindfulness, whether that is prayer, meditation or some other way to stay calm, during trying times. This crisis has been unique in forcing people to work from home, and that has provided the challenge but also the opportunity to connect with family members and friends. While the natural tendency is to work 14 to 16 hour days to grind through it, taking time out will help you recenter, recharge, and refocus so that you can deal with the stress of the current situation. Use this time to develop positive habits that you can carry forward when we get back to good times.
Crises are trying times and offer a true test of a leader’s mettle. The best leaders are focused on the items above to survive the crisis and thrive in an increasingly volatile and uncertain future. Hang in there, but put in the hard work, invest in your team, and adapt to survive this crisis and be prepared for those that will occur in the future. Change is a given and being prepared is critical to our future success.