Trying times
AS I write this, there are five confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one city is in lockdown.
Additional measures may be in place by the time this goes to print. Regardless, your leadership in a crisis situation with respect to a pandemic is already under test and is already affecting your company, the people that work there, and many families, including your own.
Hopefully, the plans you have for business continuity are assisting you in the tough choices you need to be making in these very unique and trying times.
Following are some suggestions to help you manage these challenges even better.
After preparation, one of the fundamental steps one can take to prevent a crisis from becoming a disaster is acceptance.
Accept that the severity of the crisis may actually be worse than you had anticipated or planned for. Accept the warnings being issued by the Government and experts.
Trust the authorities when they issue statements regarding the situation and how citizens must behave in order to keep things from going downhill.
If you, as a leader of your company, do not accept, or are not proactive in prepositioning your efforts and policies to prevent the negative from happening, you are endangering a lot of people.
It is your corporate duty, as well as responsibility as a citizen to contribute positively towards the controls being put into place by the authorities.
So, if they are asking each citizen to keep a social distance of two metres, please look at your work environment and make it happen.
It may involve letting employees work from home, change how you deal with customers, or even shutting down services.
Whatever it takes, accept the reality and do it. Any hesitation on your part will be magnified and will project questionable leadership to everyone else.
Talking about magnification, maintaining composure under duress is a hallmark quality of great leaders.
Take into account the severity of the risks and the consequences and do what you must while maintaining your composure. Sharing options or even being a bit unsure is okay, however, you must project confidence through composure.
A panicky leader cannot lead and will not be believed in. In fact, loss of composure will magnify uncertainty and propagate fear.
In times of crisis a leader must show strength and build confidence in others in terms of risks having been thought through and appropriate plans put into action.
For your own self, try compartmentalising issues to maintain clarity and avoid getting overwhelmed. It is okay for you to tell yourself that you have done the best you could have and leave the rest to whatever it may be. Meditation, taking a moment or two to not think about anything, or any other relaxation techniques, including praying, will help you maintain your mental strength and composure.
A composed but incapable leader is perhaps much more dangerous than a hysterical one. The fundamentals of leadership do not change in times of crisis. In fact, they become all the more crucial.
Engage your team for their expertise; show confidence in their contributions towards good decision making; have a common focus; and communicate. A crisis is not a time for personal heroics. It is a time to pull together all resources, including thinking power, to come up with the best solutions.
Most importantly, listen to your team and do not let your personal procrastination, bias or fear keep your company from taking the initiative to do what it must do in order to protect its employees, its customers, and, yes, possibly its bottom line as well.
A leader is not a knowit-all. A leader gathers the best information available, engages the team, makes decisions, and assumes the responsibility for the decisions.
Previous standards and day-to-day decision making parameters are often inadequate in a crisis situation. The solutions you may need may fall far outside the realm of normal. Innovative, sometimes even risky, solutions may be required for dealing with situations arising out of the current pandemic.
■ For more information or to discuss solutions in more depth, please contact Dr Grewal at augeoap@augeoap. com or visit www.augeoap. com.
Trust the authorities when they issue statements regarding the situation and how citizens must behave in order to keep things from going downhill. Dilawar Grewal