You are a leader during a time of crisis. There is no greater privilege than leading your peers through such events. You may be leading a team at work, troops in combat, or a world in danger. In all these circumstances, much will be expected from you, little will be given to you, and things will go wrong even when you’ve made the best decision possible. Every day, your team will expect professionalism, inspiration, technical and decisive confidence, and demand nothing less.
Our mettle is forged in battle, and there will be many to fight over the coming months. Each will be unique, personal, and painful. The lessons we learn and the actions we take will define us. These are the values I have learned to possess to successfully lead through a crisis.
Lead for your team
The welfare of our teams should always be our main priority. Keeping them and their loved ones safe, happy, and in a good space. Their welfare should come before ours, and we should do anything needed for this. The military has a saying that a good officer eats last, and it applies here.
Lead from the front
We must lead in every setting and maintain high standards when we do so. We need to recognise the dangers our teams are facing (such as burnout, or being asked to conduct dangerous work), and we must be able to take charge, despite our own fears or consequences, to lead from the front. If we cannot risk what we have, we cannot expect to ask the same from our teams.
Let the team take ownership
Our people are incredible, and we must let them own the job we give them. Our role is to provide the reasoning, and clear, concise, and measurable goals for our teams to achieve, and then create an environment where they can bring out their best. This is done with trust — you trust your team to accomplish the goal, and they trust you to set the right goal.
Lead with integrity
We will make many difficult decisions involving our team’s lives, their families, their futures, and their focus. We will not get every decision right, but what matters the most is how we approach every decision. It has to be with complete integrity. This is what the team seeks from us, and judge us on. Always do the right thing, trust the gut, and conduct and carry in a way that upholds our values and those of our team.
Lead with calm decisiveness
We have to be the inspiration and motivation for our team. We must be the source of calm, objectiveness, and decisiveness. We should make the right call, and not flip-flop. We must trust ourselves, our team, and the goal that’s been et. When the going gets tough, we must continue to be calm and lead as we always do.
Lead with humility
When the going gets tough, we need to be the source of humor and humility. Our teams may seek solace, and there can be fun even in the midst of crisis. By creating a culture of no-egos and taking things light-hearted, we develop resilience with our teams.
Lead with standards
We as leaders need to maintain the tools of our trade and craft to a high standard, and lead by example. We should always look to motivate and re-enforce high standards with our high-performance teams, and make them be ready for anything that gets thrown their way.
Lead with practice
Leadership is not something that’s developed overnight. We must continuously train and implement what we learn. We also need to help our teams practice and develop the skills needed, so that when a crisis does hit, everyone knows what to do, how to do it, and ultimately, how to solve it, and still have a good day at work.
