14 Jul Resilient Leadership in a Time of Crisis: Looking after Yourself, Others and The Future

At a time when the world is reeling from the impact of a global crisis business leaders are turning their focus to business continuity, risk management and the immediate steps needed to manage disruption. While resilience is the ability to adapt and engage with difficult times and ambiguity, panic, an animalistic fight or flight reaction often dominates, preventing logic or reason.

Many leaders may be overlooking the essential human need for control, predictability and connection, all of which are threatened at time of immense upheaval. This is likely to lead to high levels of anxiety, stress and emotional overload, affecting rational thinking and decision-making. We panic.

Where ambiguity and instability dominate, we crave structure, strong leadership and direction. The innate human bias which triggers fear and the instinct to protect ourselves when faced with a threat can create severe anxiety if such uncertainty persists. We are programmed to respond rapidly to danger, and without planning or evaluation, meaning that prolonged periods of heightened awareness lead to ineffective problem-solving or stasis.  At this time, during the Covid 19 Pandemic, all spheres of control – financial, social, physical and environmental are eroded. We panic.

Where human connection is deprived (even for those of us that are naturally introverted) our emotional resilience and immunity suffers. There is extensive evidence to show that lonely or isolated individuals suffer more chronic mental and physical illness and disease. Ironically, a time of crisis is when humans need most support, and the barriers to connectivity, and emotional and physical closeness are leaving people vulnerable and lacking resilience. Without the empathy, challenge or validation of others, we panic.

The bottom line is that leaders need to lead more responsibly than ever, and in very different ways during and in the aftermath of crisis. In a practical sense there are many steps that leaders can take to look after themselves, others and the future of their business. The crisis and its effects are far-reaching and often irreversible.

10 steps that leaders can take now to build resilience:

1. Consider all aspects of wellbeing – social (mode and frequency of connection – who and how) physical, (sleep, rest, exercise and nutrition) environmental (work space, clutter, privacy, comfort) and emotional (self-care, harmony, positive thinking). Evaluate each of the dimensions from 1-10 and consider what that tells you about your resilience. Encourage teams to do the same, and to share outcomes and actions openly.
2. Practise Adult to Adult Communication – never has there been a better time to encourage collaborative, ‘we’ problem-solving to restore a sense of control. Actively avoid taking a nurturing parent ‘don’t worry, everything will be okay’ approach, or a critical parent ‘you shouldn’t be taking those risks’ style. No one knows what will happen in this turbulent time, so sharing responsibility and encouraging connected, authentic and collaborative problem-solving is more important than ever.
3. Encourage ‘Radical Transparency’ in virtual meetings; warn teams in advance that you will start every meeting with a 5-10 minute check-in to see how people are coping. Use a 1-10 scale or emoji selection. Over time, and with habituation, individuals will develop trust and become more open in sharing concerns, their emotional wellbeing will be prioritized, and potential issues identified and dealt with later on a one to one.
4. Review more regularly – while the temptation may be to forge ahead with damage limitation and crisis control, the need to ‘learn as you go’ is more pressing than ever. As the nature and behaviour of the virus in the current pandemic has changed, decisions and risk management practices have had to keep pace. Constant changes in direction can cause panic, so positioning reviews and learning as part of the leadership process and communication demonstrates a calm and managed approach.
5. Connect differently – Encourage shorter, more regular meetings. Recent research has shown that the optimum time for a virtual meeting is 45 minutes, after which time concentration wanes and outside factors become ‘interruptors’. Vary modes of communication, consider timings and encourage small groups to self-manage less formal connections. Tried to avoid passing judgement on environmental cues such as children, pets or décor, as these may be outside individuals’ control. Virtual backgrounds can be helpful in this respect!
6. Consider Mehrabian’s ‘Impact in communication’ model – This well-evidenced research suggests that the vast majority of communication is understood as a result of accompanying body language and tone of voice, rather than words. In terms of what this means for virtual communication, remember that written communication (emails, texts, messages, memos) will not have sufficient impact, and during video sessions much of the nuance of body language such as hand gestures will be lost in a small gallery, head and shoulders view. Actively ask for feedback and express important messages using intonation and impactful visuals.
7. Role model calm – Speak slowly, limit key messages (the optimum number is three per communication) and retain a calm and level-headed approach with teams. Showing fear or panic will exacerbate anxiety levels in others, that they may not be equipped to deal with.
8. Utilise and encourage others to access external sources of support – Where anxiety is detected ensure that wellbeing support is offered through counselling, employee helplines and referral routes. Reiterate their availability to teams and emphasise that these can be used to avoid as well as dealing with anxiety and mental illness.
9. Raise self-awareness by reviewing personal data (such as 360 feedback, psychometrics, etc.) – Become aware of your own preferences, limitations and derailers, all of which may become more rigid or prevalent under extreme pressure. Encourage others to consider these too, and to ask themselves ‘what do I need?’ Leaders must not only show compassion and empathy but also encourage and practice self-compassion. Treat yourself and others like a valued friend.
10. Instill daily or weekly rituals – Impose order on chaos to restore stability for those that need it. Retain regular and recurrent meetings so that anxiety is managed and detected early, and periods of isolation or self-management are limited.