Leading Through Crisis

Why Your Team Watches You Before They Listen to You

Ever wonder where the old adage “lead by example” came from? How about “lead from the front”?

During a crisis, those phrases take on a very practical meaning. Before people act on your instructions, they are watching you. They are watching how you react, how you communicate, how quickly you process information, and perhaps most importantly, whether you appear confident that the situation can be resolved.

We’ll save a deeper discussion for another article, but it is worth first distinguishing between a “manager” and a “leader.”

Anyone can be placed into a leadership position, but not everyone will succeed as a leader. Leaders influence and develop people. They encourage others, provide direction, and earn the respect that leads to followership. Managers, by necessity, are often more focused on administration, processes, procedures, and execution.

Both functions have value. The difference becomes especially visible during a crisis.

A manager may look to the manual or playbook and focus on executing the established process to resolve the immediate issue. A leader also understands the playbook but recognizes when the established process may not fully fit the situation at hand and circumstances require a pivot. More importantly, the leader is not only thinking about resolving the immediate crisis but also about what must change to prevent the same crisis from occurring again.

They Are Watching You

A leader should always be aware that those looking to them for direction are also looking to their example.

There can be urgency without panic.

The leader must quickly analyze the situation and the information available, ask additional questions, and then provide clear instructions and guidance. When those instructions are challenged, and sometimes they should be, the leader should be willing to listen and evaluate the alternative being offered. If the original direction remains the best course, the leader should be able to provide enough reasoning to maintain confidence and keep everyone moving. However, if the challenge identifies a better path forward, the leader should have the confidence and humility to adjust course. Leadership is not about proving your way is the only way; it is about guiding the team toward the best possible outcome. Greater discussion and detail can follow when the immediate crisis has passed and the after-action review begins.

Leading through a crisis does not mean having all the answers.

It means knowing what questions to ask, knowing who should be tasked with finding the answers, and creating an environment where people can do their jobs without being distracted by unnecessary confusion or panic.

A leader should mentally work through potential steps, solutions, and consequences before assigning tasks. This must happen quickly, but it should not appear frantic.

At the same time, the leader is working on two problems.

• The first is the immediate crisis.

• The second is what comes next.

While others are necessarily concentrating on the problem directly in front of them, the leader must already be thinking further ahead: What allowed this to happen? What should we be learning from it? What needs to change? How do we detect it sooner or prevent it altogether the next time?

Those longer-term considerations may not always be obvious to everyone working through the immediate crisis. That can lead people to question why a particular task is being assigned. The leader should calmly provide enough explanation to establish the purpose while recognizing that a deeper discussion belongs in the after-action review.

That ability depends heavily on something that cannot suddenly be created when the crisis begins: trust.

People are much more willing to follow a leader into uncertainty when that leader has already earned their respect and demonstrated sound judgment before the crisis occurred.

Leading From the Front

There are also times when the leader needs to step in and work alongside the team.

That does not mean pushing someone aside or taking over their responsibilities. Nor does it mean the leader has to prove they can still perform every technical task themselves.

Sometimes it simply means showing the people doing the work that their leader is willing to stand beside them and help carry the load.

Leadership during a crisis is not performed from a safe distance.

Composure Is Contagious

Perhaps the most important aspect of leading through a crisis is maintaining self-composure.

Remain calm while asking questions. Remain calm while analyzing information. Remain calm while assigning tasks and making decisions.

Why?

Because everyone around you is watching.

They are watching your facial expressions, your tone of voice, your body language, and how you respond when the next piece of information is worse than the last.

A leader who begins to display panic or uncontrolled doubt can unintentionally spread that uncertainty throughout the workforce. Attention that should be directed toward resolving the crisis instead becomes focused on the apparent severity of the situation or on the leader's reaction to it.

That is attention the organization cannot afford to lose.

Calm does not mean unconcerned. It does not mean moving slowly, minimizing the problem, or pretending to know something you do not know.

It means demonstrating that, regardless of the seriousness of the situation, the problem can be approached deliberately: gather the facts, ask the right questions, make the best decision possible with the information available, communicate clearly, and adjust when new information requires it.

The Example Comes First

A crisis has a way of stripping away titles, organizational charts, policies, and carefully prepared presentations. What remains is the behavior of the people involved and particularly the behavior of those expected to lead.

Your team may not remember every instruction you gave during a difficult event. They may not remember every decision or every detail of the eventual after-action report.

But they will remember whether you were calm when everyone else was worried. They will remember whether you listened before making decisions. They will remember whether you accepted responsibility rather than assigning blame. They will remember whether you trusted them to do their jobs. And they will remember whether you stood beside them when the work became difficult.

Long before they decide whether to follow your instructions, they have already decided whether they trust the person giving them.

That is why, during a crisis, your team watches you before they listen to you.