5 Leadership Lessons Learned in Crisis
Over the past few months, I’ve faced new leadership challenges nearly every day — and I realize we’ve yet to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. But through it all, I’ve learned a number of valuable lessons about how to lead during a crisis, and I’m sharing those lessons now in hopes that they might reach future generations of leaders who are still learning in real time how to effectively lead despite so much uncertainty.
“Leaders are brokers of hope.”
This paraphrased quote from Napoleon has been weighing heavily on my mind in recent months. As we’ve all had to cope with the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ll admit I’ve found myself questioning exactly how to broker hope for those across the Neighborly organization when I myself was unsure of what each new day would bring.
Quite frankly, I am not the biggest fan of the unknown. Any leadership decision I make is driven by past experiences or research and planning to prepare for something unfamiliar that I know is on the horizon. In the case of a global pandemic, I had neither past experience nor time to prepare.
As this ongoing health crisis has evolved, my team and I have worked around the clock to figure out in real time how to effectively lead nearly 4,000 franchise owners and 900 associates across our global network.
Keep in mind that in our case, as a franchisor of home service brands deemed essential almost across the board, business did not stop. And for that, we are incredibly grateful. However, it did have to change drastically in a number of ways. And for a company that has spent about 40 years perfecting the systems we now operate under, change is understandably uncomfortable.
This experience has not been easy, either personally or professionally by any means, and I realize we’ve yet to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. But through it all, I’ve learned a number of valuable lessons about how to lead during times of crisis.
Lesson #1: Communicate frequently with all stakeholders
This is one of those key points that should always be a priority, in times of crisis or otherwise. But the unknown especially brings with it many questions: How will business continue under new health regulations? What is the financial state of the business? What resources will be made available to help me succeed as a business owner?
As a leader, it should be your goal to answer your stakeholders’ questions before they even ask them. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers, your employees, your investors. If you were them, what would your concerns be? Even if you don’t have the answers yet, you need to assure all parties that play a role in your organization that you’re trying to stay at least one step ahead of the issues.
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