12 Steps to Guide Your Response
by Rob Marchalonis.
If you are a leader, it’s almost certain you will eventually have to lead through a crisis. The types of crises can vary, but consider those caused by natural disasters, economic circumstances, health concerns, military incidents, social uprisings, relational conflicts, and more which can affect individuals, organizations, communities, or entire countries.
Some crises warrant immediate action, like when a fire erupts or an accident causes injury. Situations like those require immediate attention – summon help, put out the fire, apply first aid, and move to safety. Obviously, it’s a good idea to have procedures, training, supplies, and other resources in place for potential emergencies.
Other crises offer you valuable time to plan, prepare, and lead with more efficiency and effectiveness. As you navigate your next crisis as a leader, consider the steps and sequence below to enhance your leadership response:
Steps to Consider as You Lead Through Crisis:
- Pause – for minutes, hours, or longer as needed to avoid harmful over-reaction and to establish a methodical response.
- Assess – the situation appropriately with facts and data, trusted news and information sources, experts and associates.
- Engage – with others whom you lead or serve to listen, learn, get input, and provide needed comfort and reassurance.
- Empathize – with those who are affected or suffering to show your understanding, concern, and desire to be helpful.
- Identify – circumstances, issues, risks, and resources which may need attention as well as potential options for each
- Prioritize – the most important or critical issues to best allocate your team’s time, money, effort, and other resources.
- Protect – consider what is most essential to defend, to ensure the safety and survival of individuals and the organization.
- Actions – help workgroup leaders prioritize specific next steps and allocations of time, money, people, and other resources.
- Help – consider where your leadership, experience, skills, relationships, and resources can be best utilized to assist others.
- Follow-Up – stay in touch with people, priorities, and progress using appropriate communication methods like one-to-ones.
- Opportunities – within each crisis, look for new and often unanticipated opportunities to learn, adapt, grow, and prosper.
- Celebrate – find opportunities to recognize individuals and workgroups for their effort, progress, success, and victories.
Leaders, at no other time is your leadership more needed than in periods of crisis. When they occur, I hope the list above will help guide your response to lead more thoughtfully, methodically, and successfully.
What Others Say About Crisis Management and Leadership:
Leading Through Crisis Podcast – Pastor Craig Groeschel (Search 3/26/2020, COVID-19)
How a Navy SEAL Manages Change.
Rob Marchalonis helps businesses navigate through challenges and opportunities with an emphasis on smart Leadership, Strategy, and Processes (LSP). Learn how he can help you at 717-397-3444 or email Rob@LSP123.com ©2020
More Business Advice
Business owners, employers, and leaders can sharpen their skills with the content below.
Who is Flying Your Plane?
Do You Need Pilots or a Flight Instructor? by Rob Marchalonis. Business owners, are you flying with "experienced pilots"? Not in the air, but rather on the ground in your business. Are your top leaders, those who are "piloting" the key functions of your organization,...
Scale Up Talent
12 Talent Options for Business Leaders By Rob Marchalonis. Business leaders, what talent do you need to tackle your current challenge or project? Do you have the talent in-house? If not, what's your plan? If you are thinking about hiring a person full-time, hold on!...
Are Smartphones at Work Smart?
by Rob Marchalonis. When I work with business owners and leaders to improve employee productivity, the topic of smartphone use often comes up. What to do about these pocket-sized devices that were a non-issue just a decade or so ago? Used to be that only the...
12 Steps to Launch Your Leadership
A-Team Advice for “Young” Leaders by Rob Marchalonis. Are you a young leader? Regardless of your age, have you recently accepted a new leadership role? Perhaps you’ve done well in a job and were moved into a different position with more responsibility. Did someone...
Three Legs of Leadership
By Rob Marchalonis. As I work with top leaders, I find that their role is often different than what others may think. Which of the "three legs of leadership" are you experiencing right now? Perks From the outside, it may look like being the leader is quite glamorous...
What’s My Face Doing?
What you think, you communicate. Leaders, when you interact with others please realize that most of your communication is non-verbal. Regardless of what you say, be mindful of what you are communicating. What's really on your mind? When leaders say one thing but think...
C-Suite Time Management
Virtually every C-level executive that I work with suffers from a critical shortage of one precious resource - time! Nothing they can do will produce any more of it in a given week. The only solution is to manage the time they have available very deliberately and...
The Role of Leaders
Great leaders develop smart strategy, establish processes for they're workgroup, and then use their wisdom, experience, and authority to deal with exceptions.Read for More Business Advice Whether you're a C-level leader, entrepreneur or looking to sharpen your...
Congratulations to AL and LSP!
I'm admittedly not the biggest Alabama or even sports fan, but I'm continually amazed at the display of world-class LSP in televised football. Live, up close, HD, plus slow-motion replay and analysis. Leadership, Strategy, & Process in 1-2-3 order is a simple...
Who’s In Your Trusted Inner Circle?
"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." Jim RohnRead for More Business Advice Whether you're a C-level leader, entrepreneur or looking to sharpen your leadership skills, the content below will help you level-up your business leadership....