| In a recent post on LinkedIn, the honorable Dr Fayadh Alenezi wrote: “People listen to what we say about uncertainty, pressure, and change, but they pay even closer attention to how we behave when we are living through it ourselves”. So here I would like to mention that there are people with different psychology. Some people feel down when things go bad, others react full of adrenaline. So what I would do as a leader, is to have somebody speak from the latter type. The odds will be less against you when things go wrong. And hence, as well, I would make it possible to create a different hierarchy for crisis situations then for when all seems to go rather smooth as in business as usual… So: the leader must not only know his people in business as usual, but also their psychology when things go very wrong. | In this text I write my own opinion, not that of any organization |
Author: Manu Steens
Contents
In a crisis
In a crisis, there is a lot of uncertainty, pressure and change. Often, when it comes to action, some people simply want to be told what to do. Others simply know what they have to do and do it. Still others will panic. Fight, flight, freeze is present.
It is then that the crisis leader must know who to trust, who to direct, who to de-freeze. And to know what words to use to keep the people motivated.
This situation is recently occurring more often, and it is hence urgent for the managers to be honest with themselves: even if they are brilliant with the good-business-times, are they as brilliant in a war zone, when the s*!t hits the f*n ? Do they have it to keep their calm and clear thinking? Is anybody in their team that way?
So what to look for
One has to look for resilient people.
Like politicians who can rely on their military to fight a war.
And the military, they normally constantly prepare. In that, there is a saying that the soldiers don’t do this for their leaders, they don’t do it for the money, but they do it for the man or woman next to them. The one on their side. To give each other cover. This is called ‘small unit cohesion’.
So it is imperative for the team leader to be next to the team members. For small teams on their side, for bigger teams in the centre.
And to be trained together with them. Because they will constantly watch him, and look to his strengths and weaknesses. They will listen to his words and they will look at his behavior. It is hence important that the team leader in a crisis can get the adrenaline of solving the crisis instead of getting down. And hence, it is imperative that during peace time, the team leader already knows his people. And also that he is honest with himself, to know whether he is such a crisis-solver or, if not, who in his team can be a better choice to guide the team through a paralyzing situation.
What to look for and how to look for it
One can look at resilience of a person from different angles.
Look what (s)he does at home: is (s)he prepared for an individual crisis. This indicates a mindset.
How robust is (s)he psychologically? Do people ask her difficult questions for difficult situations?
How is his/her position in the team? Is (s)he a formally placed leader or an informal grown leader?
And has (s)he solved problems before? How did (s)he do that? Did she recognize it as a difficult situation afterwards, or did (s)he learn to see it as something that life had thrown to her, that is no longer a problem?
How to create such a team
You have to build resilience in each member of your team.
Regular trainings are useful here. Learn them to see problems. Look at who gets adrenaline, who ducks, who is looked up to.
Imho, the best way to do this is with a crisis exercise that is disguised as a team building.
So do not only crisis exercises with the CMT, make sure you have crisis exercises for every team, to learn to depend on each other. To give cover to your colleague. To trust the support of the one next to you.
After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating …