7 Leadership Behaviours That Hold a Team Together During a Crisis

7 Leadership Behaviours That Hold a Team Together During a Crisis

Crisis is the ultimate test of your leadership. As a founder, you need to learn how to lead in difficult times, because you will face many crises over your career, and the team will be watching you even more intently. These seven leadership traits are especially critical in a crisis, and you need to be deliberate in their use in times of crisis:

1. Be aware of your leadership shadow

Times of crisis magnify your leadership shadow as the team watches you even more closely. Long after the crisis, people will remember whether your decisions were fair and respectful, and consistent with the company values.
 

2. Be a person of hope and a simplifier:

The team needs someone who is confident about the future but also pragmatic about current realities. You must cut through the noise, communicating clear perspectives of the current situation while laying out the roadmap to take the business forward.
 

3. Be out front, visible and communicate with the team

In times of crisis, the team is looking for you. Think about the president or prime minister of a country. When there is a crisis in the country, the media love to find out the leader was nowhere to be seen, or worse still, at some holiday resort. You need to keep the team informed; and remember, it is impossible to over- communicate. Increase your engagement with frequent all-hands meetings.

Keep the team informed about business developments and celebrate small wins. Step in and take ownership of significant issues. Your presence reassures the team.
 

4. Know the details intimately

Step above the chaos but also understand the specifics. In times of crisis, superficial knowledge isn’t enough. Ask yourself: What is most important right now? What am I missing? Is my team being fully honest, or are they telling me what they think I want to hear? Am I being too optimistic? How could this crisis unfold? What are the best and worst case outcomes? Which stakeholders need to be updated, such as banks, investors, the board, your family? Am I hoping for the best but planning for the worst?

5. Get close to the front line

Information flowing through multiple levels in an organisation can be slow and affect the accuracy of this information. Get close to the front line to understand exactly what is happening. Speed and accuracy in crisis management can mean the difference between minor setbacks and major failures.

6. Focus on less to achieve more

What is important right now? It’s almost always about cash flow. What are the three or four levers you can pull to help that situation? For example, growing the business uses cash, so you might dial back your sales and business development initiatives to conserve cash. Think, ‘What else can we stop doing?’ Sales and business development are good examples, but what other controllable investments can you reduce (such as tighter inventory management)? Be ruthless in your prioritisation; every minute and dollar spent on non-essential efforts in a crisis puts your business further at risk.

7. Emphasise your company values

They are a filter by which you make decisions. In a crisis, regularly challenge yourself and your team to ensure that your actions align with those values. If transparency is one of your values, tell your stakeholders as much as you can without increasing uncertainty. Sometimes, too much information can fuel confusion and fear rather thanreduce it.

Edited extract from Discipline beats vision: How to be the leader your needs starting Monday by Dane Hudson (Wiley, $36.95), available at all leading retailers, and Amazon.

Dane Hudson is the founder of Impactful Leadership and APAC’s most respected CEO mentor. He has over 25 years’ experience as a CEO of companies around the world and has mentored over 150 Founders and leaders of start-ups and SMEs in South-East Asia, and CEOs of significant businesses with revenues between US$150m and US$3b. He has lived and worked with organisations in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United States, China and Singapore.

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