What crisis leadership looks like during Coronavirus and after
I don’t know about you, but my inbox has been deluged withwell-meaning, useless Coronavirus advice. If one more person sends meinformation on how to wash my hands or socially distance myself or engage withmy team, I’m going to say a bad word. As a result, I have been avoiding sending out advice of my own.
And then amid all the noise I got a PowerPoint deck from mycolleague Nancy Picard, one of the smartest people I know. Her deck was full of useful guidance about how to lead right now — useful enough that I was moved toshare it with you.
A guide to crisis leadership thinking
She recommends that leaders focus on three points:
Even though you may be feeling helpless rightnow, you are in fact more powerful than ever. Your power resides on others’ willingness to follow you, and right now people are looking for guidance anddirection.
You must convey calm. That means simultaneouslymastering your own anxieties and helping others to master theirs. This isreally hard.
Be very clear about what to do and what not todo. Set priorities and boundaries. This is a key focus of my new book, Curating Your Life, and Nancy emphasizes its importance in the current crisis.
How to lead during a crisis
Those three points are the “what.” Here are her keys to the“how”:
Be available. Think about when you’re sitting onan airplane on the tarmac and it’s not going anywhere. If there’s noinformation from the cockpit for a long time, the passengers quickly becomeirritable and agitated. But if the pilot gets on the intercom every 10 minutesor so and provides an update, people cope much better. In this crisis, you arethe pilot.
Don’t overcommunicate. Yes, you need to keeppeople informed. But right now, most people are taking in so much informationthat we’re drowning. Be thoughtful about what information is going to behelpful, when.
Take care of yourself. You are an extremelyimportant asset to your company at this time. Besides looking after yourphysical health, take care of your emotional wellbeing as well. This is anexhausting time and most of us are stressed and running on fumes. Be good toyourself, and find the activities and people who give you energy.
Be personal. Ask about people’s families. Sharesome information about yourself and how you’re feeling. That will build thesense of community that everyone needs so badly right now.
Nancy’s advice reminds me of that famous quote from MayaAngelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
You can read Nancy’s deck here.If you’d like help with how to lead effectively in your role right now, contactus at ggolden@gailgoldenconsulting.com.
