Leadership in times of Crisis
By: Judge Renée Cardwell Hughes(Ret.), CEO, The Hughes Group
April, 2018 copyrighted
“There can not be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” Henry Kissinger
It will happen. Stuff happens! It will not be scheduled and it will not be convenient. Every business will experience crisis in one form or another. The critical question is: are you prepared? Can your business withstand a disaster?
When asked to define a crisis most people think of natural disasters. Natural disasters can be a crisis and may impact your ability to deliver services. Disasters, however, come in all forms. A crisis arises from events that may affect an organization’s operations, finances, legal status or reputation.
Disasters are by definition unpredictable. Or are they?
Leaders can prepare for, respond to and mitigate the impact of any disaster. Failing to do so will make the inevitable crisis worse. Poor decisions or the inability to make a decision make a crisis worse.
Leaders can master the skill of crisis management. The following ten (10) actions and/or processes will equip leaders with a framework for managing any crisis.
1. Early Recognition
While some events are in fact foreseeable, this skill does not require foreseeability but rather requires a recognition by leadership that a threat has emerged or is imminent. Leaders must have a depth of knowledge of the processes and operations to be equipped to recognize deviations from the norm. This high wire, this tight rope balances the need to know and understand the operations without micromanaging. The awareness and continuous vigilance necessary to recognize impending crisis must be cultivated throughout the organization. Leaders must encourage open communication and be willing to act on faint signals. Likewise, there must be a willingness to tolerate and learn from false alarms and errors.
2. Awareness
Having an awareness of the potential threats and dangers to your organization requires a collective understanding of the characteristics, potential scope and effects of the threat. A practical approach to developing awareness is to develop, rehearse and practice the response to predictable threats.
In developing such exercises, identify who should have and who should receive information. What tasks are Mission critical and who is responsible for ensuring that that they are executed. What should the Board, clients and donors be told and by whom? Who is authorized to speak for the organization to the media, to the government and other vested interests. Who will update the social media platforms and respond to inquiries for information. These are merely some of the issues that should be addressed during a crisis. Timing is essential to a successful response. Your response must be effective and quick. Practicing your organization’s response to the most likely threats will build muscle memory in your leadership team. Thus allowing for a prompt and appropriate response. Inaction is a costly as the wrong action.
3. Critical Decisions
The goal of crisis response is to adapt, improvise and overcome the threat. Leaders must balance between micromanaging and being strategic. To determine the difference between being strategic and operational isolate the critical decisions. Critical decisions will focus on core institutional values.
4. Orchestrating Vertical and Horizontal Coordination
To ensure that the team is functioning properly requires a leader to operate on a continuum moving between persuasion and command and control. If the team is operating effectively, a more persuasive posture will be most effective. Step back and ask how you can be supportive. If however, the response to the threat is ineffective, a more directive approach is required. A leader must have an intimate knowledge of the core operations to ensure that the appropriate balance is maintained.
Vertical and horizontal coordination also extends to external partners, peer organizations and agencies with which the organization must work.
5. Coupling and Decoupling
Examine the organizational processes to determine where the connections exist and identify which systems can be isolated. Coupling is the process of linking systems to maximize operations while decoupling seeks to wall off the threat. The process of decoupling is most effective with cyber threats or a financial crisis. While coupling may be
internal or external. External partnerships may be necessary to ensure continued viability. Once again the Leader’s deep understanding of the organization’s operations and dynamics are critical to assessing which actions will help the organization weather the storm.
6. Messaging
During times of crisis Leaders must provide authentic hope and exhibit confidence. It is important to place the threat and its events into context or framework that relate to the core values of the organization. Actions taken to address the threat must relate to core values.
7. Communications
The communications plan is as critical as the ability to make sound decisions. It must address each constituency: Staff, Board, Donors, Clients, Community Partners and Leaders. Leadership must move quickly to put forward a clear, concise explanation of the events giving rise to the crisis or threat. The explanation must be available across all platforms: web site, email, social media, television, radio and newspapers. A communications plan will address who speaks for the organization, and to which audience. It is important to regularly update the communication. Keeping your team and constituents informed ensures that everyone remains calm and focused on the tasks at hand
8. Accountability
Not everything will go right in a crisis response. Leaders must be prepared to and willing to be held accountable for that which went well and that which went wrong. An honest, balanced approach and response to missteps or mistakes are vital to maintain credibility.
9. Learning
A crisis is a unique opportunity to improvise, discover, experiment and grow. Organizations which have the capacity to learn from the threat both during the crisis and after it will emerge stronger and better equipped to continue to offer their services. Creating a culture that encourages learning takes time and requires a tolerance for negative feedback, learning from mistakes and embracing new ideas. Establishing a commitment to learning and incorporating lessons learned and new ideas into operational processes will strengthen the organization.
10. Enhancing Resilience
Ultimately, the goal is to institutionalize flexibility, and the capacity to rapidly adapt to threats and crisis. Being mindful of the potential threats and planning for such threats is an essential requirement of leadership. Preparatory exercises, vulnerability exercises and drills or scenario exercises cultivate a mindset within the organization that challenges are temporary and can be overcome. The ultimate mark of a successful organization is its preparation for events good and bad.
Conclusion
Crisis is inevitable. Effective leadership is the key to managing and successfully overcoming threats and crisis to an organization. Thinking forward and planning for the inevitable are the core skills of effective leaders. Ultimately, the prepared, authentic and transparent leader will guide the organization through and beyond the crisis.