Leadership Techniques for Crisis Management

Monday, January 13th, 2014

Whether it’s a business, political organisation or disaster relief effort, leadership effectiveness can often be defined by the response to a crisis. Those leaders who have the ability to stay calm, composed and confident during a crisis, oversee a clear plan and inspire others to deliver on that plan will often prosper during and after the crisis. In this sense, crisis management isn’t just about minimising losses and damages, it’s actually about turning a critical situation into as much of an opportunity as possible.

Of course the nature of crises is that they are usually unexpected and unable to be fully prepared for, but by employing a business executive coach you can equip yourself with the skills needed to be adaptable and flexible in any situation that arises. For many businesses the following are a few of the types of crisis situations that may be expected to arise:

• Sudden downsizing or loss of staff
• Financial hardship across the company
• Loss of resources or being cut off from supply of product
• Legal challenges
• Sudden relocation or merging into another company

The exact circumstances will of course vary from situation to situation, but the skills and techniques needed to guide you and your team through will be the same. These crises can spell disaster for a business if they aren’t handled correctly, but they can also create opportunity and a fresh direction if dealt with well.

The skills needed to deal with crises on an executive level are remarkably similar to those needed to deal with them on a personal level, though a little wider in scope. One of the main ones is being able to think calmly and clearly despite all the ongoing stress. Keeping a cool and rational head is the best way to ensure you are getting the big picture and not missing any key details – it can be tempting to want to look away during a serious crisis, but you need to be able to take in every possible option and outcome. Another is using this information to think up different solutions and weighing up which will be the most effective course to take. These are all skills that can be learned, and can then be applied to almost any situation. This is the true value of effectively working through a crisis with an experienced business coach – the enhanced approach and skills are likely to be of benefit in future day to day situations and leading any future crisis management.

If you would like help developing your crisis management techniques, talk to the team at Stepshift.