2 Apr 25
Crises can happen at any time. And, they do!
But there is a lot that can be done beforehand to prepare as much as practicable for eventualities. This is done through regular exercises and through building famailiarity with emergency response systems.
Nobody knows how they will react in the event of an emergency. However, there are steps that can be taken to maximise the chances of success in advance, during and after a crisis occurs.
This edition is sponsored by Kajabi - the one stop shop solution for entrepreneurs hoping to start an online business. Use my affiliate link below to receive an increased trial period from 14 to 30 days - only for Springboard Spotlight readers!
Whether you're an aspiring or seasoned entrepreneur, Kajabi is the platform to help you monetize your skills & knowledge. It's an all-in-one platform that lets you transform your expertise into income through online courses, membership sites, community building, and personalized coaching tools.
#55 - Crisis? What crisis?
What?
One of the most effective ways to assess a leader's capability is to observe how they react during a crisis.
Do they exude a calm, considered and focussed response? Or does it push them into panic mode which in turn is contagious to all of those around them?
Every leader hopes that when their time comes to be tested, they fall within the boundaries of the former.
But the issue is that until a leader is exposed to a crisis, no-one truly knows how they are likely to respond. This is because all crises, by their very nature, are different. Or are they?
Why?
According to research conducted by Braden et al (2012), crises follow a lifecycle and can be typically broken down into three distinct phases as shown below.
These are:
- Preparation Phase - The calm before the storm. Typically in this phase organisations exist well within their comfort zone and struggle to implement change with urgency. In this zone, the wise leader in an organisation would be preparing for specifically identified eventualities. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) cover day to day processes. Emergency Operating Procedures (EOPs) are produced and exercised regularly to prepare for the unexpected.
- Emergency Phase - The crisis hits and the organisation is stressed beyond what may be recoverable. The initial stages are confusing, disorientating and are full of uncertainty. The EOPs are brought into action and aim to provide people with standardised actions to complete in order to buy some time in order to deduce what has occurred until the full picture emerges. A secondary effect of EOPs is to provide people with a degree of certainty that control can be re-established, a handrail for people to grab and which may eventually lead them back to stability. EOPs ultimately serve to reassure. It's an illusion of progress. Meanwhile reports are flooding in and the leader and their response team are trying to piece together what has happened, what the impact is, and what the time required to restore to normality is likely to be. Contradictory information flows through. Some is accurate, most is not. Most information is either incomplete or erroneous.
- Adaptive Phase - This phase focusses on trying to work out what went wrong, how quickly the organisation can return to the previously steady state and what needs to be done to prevent a recurrence. The requirement to learn from the incident is paramount and Learning from Experience (LfE) captured and disseminated. Actions are taken and executed: root causes are identified, training is adapted, staff are retrained, documentation is amended.
Imagine a major change initiative in terms of work required, and impact produced. Then compress the timescales down to around 10%. So crisis leadership is really about managing the rapid onset of massive and revolutionary change within a very short period of time.
How?
So what is the best way to prepare for and deal with crises?
- Preparation Phase - Regularly carry out desktop reviewa and also exercise realistic scenarios and ensure that everyone is comfortable with the role they have to play if a crisis occurs. Review documentation and ensure preparedness is as high as it can be. Familiarity is key so when things go wrong, people are comfortable with the role they have to play because they are familiar with it.
- Emergency Phase - In the immediate aftermath of a crisis, the temptation to 'do something' is huge. But the best thing to do in the immediate timeframe is to start to enact the EOPs and wait until the picture of what has happened emerges. The leader's role here is to start to piece together the multiple reports received to build situational awareness. It is like connecting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but without knowing what the final picture looks like because the jigsaw box lid is missing. Ask lots of questions but don't over burden those who are closest to the crisis. They will not thank you for it and it will distract them from taking the direct action they need to take to deal with the 'here and now'. Leaders should learn how their body responds in crisis and control their responses appropriately. Reducing stress and seeking clarity are key activities so that a calm, yet focussed and industrious environment is created.
- Adaptive Phase - Once the dust has settled, the immediate crisis is judged to be over and stability will return. The focus then shifts to conducting a full investigation into what went wrong. This is critical since lessons must be identified to prevent the incident happening again. Organisations that conduct analysis and amend their processes as a result always prosper and become much more resilient. Once those lessons are identified they should be fed back into the training regimen to ensure everyone is aware of what went wrong and how to recognise if it is likely to happen again.
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
Ultimately, crises may be different in nature and cause. However, in terms of the lifecycle that they go through, they are remarkably similar.
The key is in keeping a cool head and patiently waiting for the true picture to emerge. Then actions can be taken which start to address the situation once its nature is known.
Have a great week!
Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help you:
- Resources - Reading is an essential component to developing your own authentic leadership style. Check out my resources page for really inspiring books which I have found invaluable within my own leadership journey,
- Coach Station - Singular issue 60 minute coaching sessions,
- Coach Journey - Bespoke coaching packages of 6 or 12 sessions for transformative change,
- Schedule Optimiser - Online course allowing you to take back control of your diary.
Responses