We will all face a crisis at some point in our careers. The two keys are to be prepared and to not let how you handle the crisis become fuel for a larger crisis. Below are some tips and guidelines on how to Read before you Lead and create purpose out of a challenge.

• Anything you communicate externally, you need to communicate internally
• Communicate in a way that connects with people
• Your behavior will define your brand and the organization’s perceived values
• Whether you experience a crisis or not, the characteristics of a Growth Leader
are practical and will help you achieve your goals
• Feel slow, Think Fast
• Manage yourself before you manage the crisis
• Be proactive rather than reactive
• Respond rather than react
• Build your people’s confidence so everyone can get done what needs to be done
and then hold people accountable once the crisis has been stabilized
• Have team, everyone has blind spots, and they can be the difference between
success and failure during a crisis
• If you run a business, and the business made a mistake, giving something up
builds good will and loyalty

What to do and When

The steps in leading in a crisis are simple but not easy. See-Feel-Think-Act gives you a foundation for what to do first.

See (Wide) – Maintain a wide field of vision and collect as much information as possible. Based on what you choose to see will determine how you feel, think, act, and see.

Feel (Slow) – Step back and understand your initial reactions. Your emotions can act as barometer and help you make strategic decisions. Realize that your emotions are a data point, not the data point. Your feeling can cloud your judgment. Leverage them wisely.

Think (Fast and Far) – Integrate what you see and feel and make strategic decisions. You need to use your logic to think through your options and not just jump at the first solution. Think through options from various points of view (i.e. stakeholders, employees, board members, customers and etc.)

Act (Confident) – Move forward with confidence and empathy. Demonstrate integrity and alignment in what you communicate and what you do. Taking action may be as simple as genuinely communicating what you know and instilling confidence and a ensuring that you are working to address the situation with the best intentions.

What to Focus on First

S-Safety – Ensure that you do everything you can to restore safety and stabilize the situation. You want to demonstrate immediately that you are taking all steps necessary to keep people out of harms way (if the crisis includes physical or emotional danger).

P-People – People are your most important resource. You want to demonstrate that you care about people. This is a time of high physical and emotional presence. People need to see you as often as possible and as empathetic as possible. It’s important that people are being informed and being heard.

E-Emotional Intelligence (EI) – The stakes are high in times of crisis and extreme change. Your ability to be aware of what your responses are and how to communicate appropriately is crucial. Feelings can be overwhelming during these times. You also need to be able to accurately anticipate and read emotional reactions of those around you who are affected by the crisis. EI also includes the successful integration of feelings and thought.

A-Articulate Your Vision – Clarity is paramount. Your message needs to be clear and instill confidence in those around you. You need to find the balance between acting to stabilize the crisis and demonstrating your passion for the future. Display leadership behaviors that are consistent with your vision and suggest you are doing everything you can to ensure stability and growth in the future. You want to communicate early and often.

K-Knowledge – People look to leaders in times of crisis to have information and communicate that information. Have people around you feed you essential information and continue to learn as you handle the crisis.

E-Evaluate – Get feedback on how you are doing. Seek input from people who are being affected. It is alright to get feedback and decide that you need to change things, stay the same, or seek more feedback. It is not alright to fail to see how effective or ineffective you are being as a leader.

R-Reach Out – Consult with as many experts as your time and resources will allow. Gaining different perspectives from a variety of sources will assist you in decision-making and ensure diversity of thought. You have a certain expertise; during a crisis rely on experts around you that you can trust. Examples of people who you should reach out to are media contacts, lawyers, counselors, and people who are directly affected. The “go it alone” attitude that may have gotten you to be successful in the past, will not serve you well in a crisis. It is a time to pool resources and consult experts.

S – Slow Everything Down – This step, along with Safety, is often one of the first steps. Things move very fast when the stakes are high. Most people will have the normal reaction of getting tactical and taking action. Depending on the amount of physical and emotional harm present, force yourself to slow things down and be strategically tactical. In other words, execute rapidly, but execute with purpose and strategy. Making the decision to take a step back and reflect and consult, maybe the difference between moving backwards and moving forwards in the future.

Where to Spend Your Time and Energy

Personal Leadership – Ensuring that you have a strong sense of your strengths, weaknesses, and derailers is essential, especially in times of uncertainty and crisis. As a leader people will be looking to you for answers, and you need to minimize your blind spots and maximize the positive impact you have on others. You are the most direct link to the Organizational Atmosphere. The healthier, more energizing and engaging you are, the more motivated people will be to meet the challenges of the crisis and grow through the experience. Personal Leadership includes managing and communicating your brand and taking care of yourself (i.e. managing your stress). The more effectively you are able to lead yourself, the stronger the platform you will create for leading others. Everything will seem out of balance during times of crisis, and that is because most things are out of balance. It is your job to find a way to maintain some type of personal homeostasis in order to keep you grounded and allow you to make strong strategic decisions that will help your organization grow.

Team Leadership – Your ability to understand your direct reports and peers as well as rally their support will be crucial. You need to focus on taking care of your team as they take care of the crisis. Be sure that the messages that your team receive and send are consistent with your messages and are aligned with the overall organization’s Crisis Growth Strategy.

Business Leadership – Business results are more important than most people would think when considering crisis situations. Safety and taking care of people are core components. However, if the organization fails, it will cause an avalanche of additional crises. It may seem contradictory to say to focus on the business and focus on people. They actually can go hand and hand if you think through the proper strategy and the implication of each step along the way. Growing the business may not happen within a short time frame, that is precisely why decisions made early on need to be informed by insights into the future of the organization.

Social Leadership – Whether you care about making an impact on society or not, people will be watching how socially responsible you are in a time of crisis. How leaders handle crises becomes how outsiders permanently view the leader and the organization. Therefore, it is absolutely critical to ensure that you take steps to connect with people outside the organization. Depending on the crisis, this may include family members of those affected by the crisis, media, investors and other key stakeholders.

Leadership During Layoffs: How Those Staying Can Empower Those Leaving from Philadelphia Business Journal 12/02/2008

Leadership is written about in countless books and online resources. However, there is a gap. Not many leadership gurus talk about the true test of leaders, leading in times of adversity.

The financial crisis, war for talent, and integration of multiple generations has created the perfect storm and, quite frankly, the perfect mess. People go into their offices consumed with concern for their career rather than purpose and passion for achieving. We know from years of research that employee engagement is critical to success because engagement keeps people loyal, motivated, and keeps people with the company. However, what about during Undesired Transitions, such as layoffs?

Today, leaders need to be tremendous influencers. They need to be able to read and influence quickly and effectively so they can increase employee engagement rather than watch people be fearful.

What executives can do during Undesired Transitions:

Empower those leaving

Connect, Care, and Challenge: People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care. It is critical that leaders demonstrate behavior associated with caring for others (empathy, listening, support). These three C’s are a foundation for growth in times of adversity. Connect represents building relationships, Care represents letting the person know you are on the same team, and Challenge represents inviting the person to grow and develop strategies to take action.

Build Sensible Hope: Be straightforward and honest. As a person who has positional power you are someone who has natural influence. Use that to be realistic about the situation and offer ways to build hope for the future. This doesn’t mean creating cheesy slogans or lines. This does mean finding ways to make this transition a catalyst for growth. For example, you can communicate stories of people you may know who have used Undesired Transitions as an opportunity to pursue a different career or re-create their brand.

Discuss their Story and their Brand: Some people are better at creating and telling their story than others. I had a friend get laid off from a large investment bank and within two weeks he had a new job. This is because he had his story straight. Having a story of who you are, why you are in this situation, and what you want is very helpful. Find ways to develop the person’s brand so they can go into an interview or speak to their network with confidence.

Engage those staying

Navigate the V-SEA: We know that people have a need for clarity and direction, especially during transitions. V-SEA stands for Vision, Strategy, Execution, and Accountability. Leaders need to keep sharp and communicate the where, what, why, who, and when related to the organization’s future. Even if there is uncertainty, leaders must continue to have a future focus and create a sense of moving forward.

Match your Intention with Your Impact: Know what message you want to send, know what message is being received, and know what to change until there is a match. In my work with executives I teach them how to apply skills related to executive emotional intelligence. The key ingredients are the ability to read and influence yourself, your people, and your situations. The most successful executives receive consistent feedback and aren’t afraid to hold the mirror up to themselves. These executives become trusted and influential.

Involve Key People in the Transition: One of the most important gifts you can give your people that are staying is the opportunity to help those that are leaving. This is a winning strategy with impact. The people who help those leaving feel good and offer support and strategies, the people who are leaving feel supported and strengthen their network, you (the leader) gain from taking action and creating value, and the organization benefits from how it is perceived. This gives people a sense of purpose and the focus shifts from what you can’t control (layoffs) to what they can control (supporting colleagues). Create a plan to leverage the strengths of each person.

The bottom line

People do not want to feel helpless and hopeless, and you can prevent that. The more an executive can put others in a place to take action, the more engaged employees will be. The decisions that you make today and your behavior will create a brand that will be woven into the fabric of an organization for years to come.

Now is the time to let the people know who are being laid off not to take time off. It is essential that they have a sense of urgency. It is almost like a house that sits on the market for too long. People begin to wonder why. Urgency is not desperation; urgency can be a tool that is integrated with confidence. The impression this makes is that the person is competent and has a results-orientation.

As a leader do you want to sit back and watch the results of this crisis and be a victim, or do you want to be a leader and positively influence the people around you?