How Should A Leader Act During A Crisis? 7 Keys

Skillful, effective and, above all, human leadership is most needed in the most difficult moments. Now, how should a leader act during a crisis to help his group? Are there some key strategies? Let’s find out below.

In an ideal world, being a good leader involves a high level of commitment and also a considerable dose of humanity. However, the most humanitarian leaders are not always the common denominator. Sadly, good leaders remain an exception.

The good news is that, when a leader wants to improve and decides to make the effort to achieve it for the good of his group, there are several strategies that he can resort to, regardless of whether the leader belongs to the political, health, organizational, communicational field, that is, of a large or small company.

Improvisation and narcissism: the enemies of the good leader

Above all, the key strategy is not to improvise and not to fall into narcissistic views and behaviors. Let’s take a simple example to better visualize it: the leader of an expedition should not improvise the path while he already has one foot on it. If you want the expedition to be a success and for the group to move forward safely, you must stick to what was agreed in a planning.

Sticking to a plan allows the leader to guide his group toward the goal through the safest possible path. Likewise, it makes it possible to avoid improvisations that end up contradicting the objective pursued. 

Making changes at every step, without attending to a planning or the needs of the group, only makes both the leader and his group go like a boat to drift and has more and more difficult (if not impossible) the achievement of objectives.

• The good leader knows that improvisations should not be the norm when guiding his team.
• On the other hand, he knows that even when some adjustments can be made, they must be done with enough measure, to avoid harming the group.
• Likewise, the good leader knows that he must listen and attend to the needs of his group along the way (and not just at a specific moment) in order to obtain good results. He knows that he is part of the team, not that he is above it.

Ultimately, the good leader is not the one who seeks to achieve a goal through thick and thin, changing course every two by three to overcome the potholes, and attributing the consequences of his impulses to the members of his group, but the one who he listens, understands and is in solidarity with the members of his team, to move forward together towards a goal.

7 keys on how a leader should act during the crisis

In a moment of crisis, uncertainty, anxiety and fear can take over everyone, including the leader. In this sense, it is necessary to remember that all concerns are legitimate, respectable and understandable. Now, something that every leader should be clear about is that the last thing they should generate in their group is greater confusion.

To be a good leader, you have to understand that a lack of empathy and humanity can do as much damage to the group as a hasty step, poor communication or any other similar mistake. Therefore, it is a priority to know these keys on how a leader should act during a time of crisis.

1. Calm and honesty

It does not matter how serious the situation is. It does not matter that the short-term and long-term forecasts are equally negative. In the midst of any scenario, a good leader must transmit calm and be completely honest with his group. Temperance confers security on the listener and in a context of anguish this attitude is valuable.

Likewise, few things are as important as honesty at all times. Misrepresenting data or resorting to lies is another time bomb that, in the end, also explodes.

2. A leader needs a competent team that he must empower

If a leader distributes skills among his team, he shows greater solvency and confidence. If all the capacity for decision and communication falls on the leader himself, we are facing an authoritarian behavior that also lists in distrust and even hatred. It is not the right thing to do.

The good leader is another figure within a team. Competent and key people must be integrated into this nucleus in strategic action to face any problem in the current context.

3. Good communication is a key factor

The way a leader should act during the crisis goes through a core tool: good communication. And let’s be clear, it is not always easy. If that leader is excessively charismatic, it will generate distrust. If it is excessively cold, it will arouse fear and suspicion.

It is necessary to be in that intermediate equator in which, to be able to awaken respect. This communication does not admit frills, only accurate and clear words in which there is no room for doubts or ambiguities. Knowing how to deliver bad news, warnings and combine all this with the breath of hope undoubtedly requires adequate gifts of emotional intelligence and assertiveness.

4. Compassion and humanity

Narcissistic, hyperbolic and authoritarian leadership has no place in the day to day, much less in a crisis. Nor is a critical leader useful, who likes to blame others, who only knows how to point out the problems and errors of others, thereby generating more chaos and anxiety. We do not need leaders of that “pasta”.

In a moment of crisis, compassionate leadership is more necessary than ever, that which is capable of connecting with human pain, that demonstrates its concern for people (and not only focuses on achieving a goal) and that seeks to focus on the answers to problems rather than finding culprits.

5. Sense of community, openness and collaboration

To understand how a leader should act during a crisis, one aspect must be clear: all adversity needs action. That is why a key strategy will be to activate resources, people, create bridges with other communities, with other regions and countries. A good leader must know how to ask for help and offer it. It must be open and create collaborative networks in which resources, ideas, information, etc. flow.

6. Effectiveness, rectification, resolution

Every crisis demands daily advances. If there are no achievements, something is being done wrong. That is why the leader and his team must monitor their progress, detect errors, solve them, anticipate risks, innovate and solve every day, every second.

7. Anticipate and be prepared for other crises

Who does not anticipate, improvises. Who does not prepare for the worst, will not even be able to react to minor problems. Anticipating, preventing, devising, designing and engineering response strategies to similar situations in the future is another moral and strategic obligation of any leader.

Let’s be clear, there are many ways to react to adversity, but the way a leader should act during a crisis should be decisive; without leaving anything to chance, without falling into mere improvisation. To be a good leader, you cannot lack common sense and humanity.