Thank you for joining us today. I’m your host, Jill Fowler of Songbird Leadership.
You have our day-to-day stressors. Some days, you handle them better than others, but overall, you’re managing. And then it happens—the unexpected crisis. Maybe your right-hand person resigns, or some vital funding falls through. Or a volunteer accuses a team member of harassment or your organization’s reputation has been harmed in some way. There are lots of possible scenarios, but what’s important is your response to it as a leader. Are you going to fold or are you going to persevere with grit, determination, and resilience? I assume, in your head, you said the latter. If so, how do you properly prepare yourself to respond well and truly lead during a time of crisis?
There are three types of crises—crises which require immediate action in the moment, crises which you can respond to in good time, and situations that aren’t really crises at all, but they feel like it in the heat of things. Each requires a different approach to get to the best outcomes, but there are some basics that are helpful for all. Let’s explore.
First and foremost, manage your emotions. This isn’t easy, especially in the moment, which is why it’s important to practice. This all begins with self-awareness. Regularly check in with yourself to monitor how you’re feeling. Take notice when people, situations, or thoughts trigger certain emotional responses. It may be helpful to keep a journal of these things so you can look back and reflect. Once you start to become more in tune with how you emotionally respond to things, consider which behaviors are serving you well and which aren’t. For the latter, try to replace them with a different behavior. For instance, if you tend to blow up when you get frustrated, as soon as you feel your blood start to boil, remove yourself from the situation or count to 10 to help yourself cool off. By becoming more in-tune with your emotions and better managing your response to them in the day-to-day, you’ll naturally be ready to do so when the going gets tough.
Developing a positive mindset is another way to inwardly prepare for a general crisis. Practice gratitude and positive thinking. Maybe even keep a gratitude journal. Recognize and focus on your strengths to build confidence. Again, make it a practice to routinely flex these muscles so you’ll be prepared to responsively lead your team when it counts.
A good support network can also be extremely helpful during times of crisis. Your professional connections can offer support, ideas, referrals, and even pitch in and help. Your personal network of family and friends can provide an outlet if you need it. And a coach or trusted advisor can help you find some much-needed clarity and focus among the chaos. Having these social resources in place before the crisis hits will allow you to more easily call upon them when you really need them.
Finally, taking good care of your physical and mental health on a routine basis is going to allow you to have more endurance when things hit the fan. If you’re already in good shape, the toll the stress of a crisis takes on you won’t be so taxing.
Is it me, or do all of these general crisis prep ideas sound like just good self-care?
Anyway, I said before there are three types of crises. A good example of a crisis requiring immediate action is a data breach. While, thankfully, I have never personally been involved in an organization that experienced one, I know of a handful that have. It’s a true emergency that requires immediate, coordinated action on the part of leadership to coordinate IT, legal, HR, operations, and communication with those impacted, as well as the community at large. It makes my head hurt just thinking about it. In a crisis situation like this, you don’t have time to think about what you’ll do or weigh your options. You must act. Now.
So, in a situation like this which requires an emergency response, you’ll immediately want to rely on those foundational crisis response skills I mentioned earlier. Then, assuming your team is safe, you’ll first want to assemble your leadership team and assess the situation. Next, communicate with your team so they know what to do and have enough information to quell rumors and fear. Depending on the circumstances, you may or may not have an incident response plan already in place, but if you do, implement it, isolate the issues, and respond accordingly. If you don’t, gather as much information as possible, understand the potential impact the situation may have on your organization and its stakeholders, and stabilize the situation by focusing on the quick fixes. Once you have contained the crisis and it looks like things won’t escalate, then start documenting. Keep record of actions taken, decisions made, and communications, by whom, and when. Provide support to your team and reassurance to your stakeholders by taking the crisis seriously and handling it effectively. Continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments to your response, as necessary. Then, when the time is right, reassess the entire situation, and create or update your response plan in case the issue arises again in the future.
It’s a lot. And your response to situations like these can literally make or break your organization. And it’s stressful and all-consuming and exhausting. But by taking some time to prepare for an emergency crisis ahead of time, you and your team will more quickly and easily work through it to a more successful conclusion.
An example of a crisis that does not require an immediate response, but it’s still important, is when your organization is having serious financial challenges. I’m not talking about routine nonprofit funding woes. I mean a bankruptcy is eminent and we’re all going to lose our jobs if we don’t act fast-type of challenge. I have worked for an organization in this situation, and it wasn’t pretty. It was no secret the ship was sinking, and the leadership at the time tried their best to save it, but unfortunately, in the end, they just weren’t able to do so.
In a crisis like this, you have to act, but you can be calculating and take a little more time to consider your options and do it right. Sometimes, like in my example, you can see it coming. Other times, it’s a surprise, but either way, how you respond as the leader is critical for the future sustainability of your organization.
Resilience in this situation requires you to have been prepared prior. Obviously, you’ll want to anticipate future changes in your environment, plan ahead as much as possible, and mitigate any issues. When I was in the 7th grade, my teacher, Mr. C, would wisely say, “Make yourself a plan,” whenever a student was disorganized or unprepared. At the time, that was me, so I heard these words of wisdom quite frequently during that year, but it stuck with me. And today, whenever a personal or professional challenge comes my way, that’s exactly what I do. And it could work well for you in a crisis situation, too. Be present and collect as much data as you possibly can about the issues at hand. What happened? Who is impacted and how? What is the scope? What additional information do you need to make informed decisions? What are the possible outcomes? What is the desired outcome? Focus, engage with your team, and create some SMART goals. Be resourceful and flexible. And most of all, treat yourself and your team with grace during this time. It’s hard on everyone in different ways.
On a related note, ideally, your most recent strategic planning activities should have included a survey of your operating environment. While it’s not a Ouija board, this data can be very helpful in observing trends and anticipating changes. Use it to stave off your next crisis.
Our final type of crisis for today is the non-crisis. Early in my career, my organization was hosting its annual event. It was the typical fundraiser of the time, with a dinner, a silent auction, and a live auction. One of the live auction items was a cast bronze hand of a famous pitcher holding their autographed baseball. I’m not a baseball fan, but if you are, you would have recognized the name. This was THE item of the night, and everyone was very excited about it, staff and attendees included. It was the last auction item of the night and anticipation was high. There was a frenzy of bidding as a volunteer walked the item around through the crowd. “Sold for $6,000!” the auctioneer announced. For a small organization, this was a significant donation. As the volunteer walked out of the room, they were holding the sculpture by the index finger…and it broke off. It turns out, it was a plated bronze plaster cast of the pitcher’s hand and quite fragile. And impossible to fix. Well, the donor was quite unhappy with this turn of events, and it was a sticky situation during checkout that evening.
Sure, this was a stressful situation for all involved, but was this situation a true crisis? I guess it depends on your definition. I’d say no, because only a few people were impacted, the stakes weren’t high in the grand scheme of things, and wide-spread operations weren’t impacted. Regardless, it sure felt like a crisis in the moment and the leaders needed to respond appropriately.
In a situation like this one, you must keep your cool for the sake of everyone involved. So, take a few deep beaths, assess the situation, and trust your gut. Demonstrate empathy, calm communication, active listening in an effort to create a reasonable resolution. Delegate what you can to trusted team members and hold yourself accountable for the outcome.
Whatever type of crisis you find yourself in next, here are a few more tips to help you be more prepared for the unexpected and handle it with resilience:
- Encourage adaptability by promoting a culture of innovation and flexibility.
- Support team member wellbeing so they are better able to cope with a future crisis.
- Make crisis leadership training your next professional development topic.
- Conduct a risk assessment to identify vulnerabilities in your organization and then make a plan to reduce risks.
Obviously, one could talk at length about each of these scenarios alone. But hopefully, you heard something today that sparked behavior to mitigate – or at the very least, better respond to – your next unexpected crisis.
