I recently read an interesting Harvard Business Review article on crisis leadership. The reality is that pre-COVID-19 many leaders had never faced a major crisis in their business so there was no planning or rule book to follow.
None of us have ever faced a pandemic yet employees, clients, people were looking at their leaders in business and Government for decisions, guideance and advise on exactly what they can and can’t do.
I remember the first week writing down “what would I do if someone in my team got COVID-19 amongst many other questions. Here is the picture of the notes I first wrote which became part of my COVID-19 Crisis Plan all of which gave me comfort and confidence on the decisions I was making. How many of you did the same thing?
In this article I read they talk about looking at the military for lessons in crisis leadersip, why - because most military leaders are faced with multiple life or death crisis situations.
There were 8 key areas or attributes for leaders to focus on
1. Be Decisive
I have to say that this is probably one area that has really shown up leaders who are good at making decisions under pressure without all of the information, outwardly confident in these decisions even if they may not have been feeling it.
These are leaders who don’t need to take every person on the journey before they make a decision, their ability to be decisive builds trust and people go on the journey with them because of this.
Leaders who are decisive will not dwell on the losses, or things they may have got wrong, rather they will acknowledge, regroup, plan and take action.
2. Be in the trenches
I love this one, don’t be a leader who is not on the front line with their people. If they are out doing opens, meeting people then you need to do the same. When you are in the trenches with them you get a feel of how they are feeling, coping, what they are concerned or fearful about.
In the first few weeks my team were starting early and finishing late, we were all exhausted, I started to hear conversations about shopping late with no food left on the shelves, so I made sure that over the next few days they went to the local market in the middle of the day to stock up on food. This removed the stress and anxiety they were feeling around this situation.
I could hear the conversations they were having with tenants who wanted rent reductions, asking them to follow the process and perhaps the most difficult listening to their stories, giving them to time to tell it, showing empathy yet still taking the right commercial decision for all parties. I was able to provide support, advise and drinks to get through this time.
Being in the trenches also means you can have a positive impact on their moral often simply because you are there.
3. Be agile
We like to assume we are agile, until it is tested.
Pre COVID-19 I did a survey of the industry of over 1000 offices 25% were not on a cloud system, 84% did not outsource, 66% were not paperless, 65% had outstanding maintenace issues, 66% had outstanding lease renewals and rent reviews, 77% of property managers were highly stressed with client expectations the cause of most of the stress.
There is no way a business can possibly be agile operating under these conditions.
COVID-19 has forced a lot of businesses to take up technology options such as virtual tours and routine inspections, Cloud Platforms, becoming paperless, outsourcing - none of which is innovation because it existed prior to COVID-19.
Leaders and teams made the choice not to use available technology and some businesses are still making this choice - why - because they were busy before but now they just want to get through “this” before the make any major changes.
Reality is they will probably never be ready and their ability to be agile, nimble, pivot fast will continue to be impacted until they are no longer competitive.
Agility is a choice, leaders have to understand this may make people uncomfortable, but they cannot hold a business back. Leaders who drive agile businesses will the ones that continue to thrive as we work our way through this period and beyond.
4. Be confident
I know how hard this can be.
At the height of COVID-19 I was having to get across 7 different pieces of legislation, put out content and answer questions. There were days where my phone did not leave my ear and I was literally taking calls in the toilet :-(.
I did all of this calmly and with confidence, imagine if I hadnt what the outcome would have been for the people who were looking at me for answers and my leadership brand.
Part of confidence I believe is the ability to make quick decisions based on available facts. In a crisis you often can’t wait until someone else has made a decision before you take one or copy it. One of the most fustrating elements can be working with leaders who are incapable of making decisions under pressure and either wait till someone makes a decision for them or enough people agree with the direction.
Confidence and agility are symbiotic, if you have the confidence to make a decision and it isn’t correct your ability to be agile means that you will be able to pivot quickly and change direction.
5. Communicate
I learnt early on in my career that if you can communicate clearly, regularly, authentically and have fun along the way people are going to connect with you and the message much more .
Communication in a crisis is critical, you cant be too positive, you cant be too negative nor can you be heard too often. It has to be consistent, regular communiation that gets peoples attention and they tune in to your message.
It is also important that subject matter experts do the communicating. The Government was the perfect example in this. Everytime Scott Morrison addressed the country he had his Health Team by his side.
I picked three consistent sites to get my message out and so people knew that when I posted something it was important for them to read or watch it.
I kept my communication relevant, informative and to the point. I didn’t over re-assure, I acknowledged the uncertainity and made sure that the content of what I was sharing enabled people to take decisions in their businesses.
7. Who is leading and who isnt
This is an interesting one as some people will step up in a crisis and you will see them almost thrive whereas others won’t cope at all.
You can increase the load on those who are stepping up as you closely manage those who are not coping and perhaps become much more directive in your management of them.
Often a sign of not coping is high levels of emotion, not being able to make decisions on tasks that they perviously had easily made or not engaging with the team on what needs to be done.
Even those who thrive in a crisis will need support and leaders need to be tuned into when this is needed.
If you can do this successfully it will mean that you business will continue to move forward as you have the right people driving it
8. Rest
We are all starting to feel the strain, its a bit like ground hog day, especially here in Victoria. As leaders yes we need time out however more importantly we need to make sure our people have time out as well. Give them a day off, have them split their time between work and home if that works for them, time off for school holidays etc
People will not want to take lengthy annual leave days because there is no where to go however they need re-energising days. Any sporting coach will tell you to rest your top performers on a regular basis so that when it is time to bring the game home they are rested and ready to do so.
If what has happened in Victoria is any indication, being ready for second or third waves maybe something we may just have to learn to cope with.
I have documented much during this crisis and as we go between the different stages or lockdowns I can easily refer back to my COVID-19 notes to assess what we have done in the past, what worked and what needs to change this time.
I have learnt so many lessons and what I do know is that I am changing as a leader and so is my team.
Today we work with higher levels of efficiency, agility, flexibility and fluidity that we didnt have before.
We make decisions based on what we know at the time, we are much better communicators, we care more for each other and we have a much better work life rythum.
These are great changes and I know we have many more to come and I look forward to the day when we can look back on this time and wonder what life and business would have been like if COVID-19 had never happened.
