3 Steps to Make (or Break) Your Leadership During a Crisis
Last week I attended the Fast Company Innovation Festival where I had the privilege of hearing Ken Chenault and Penny Pritzker speak on the Outlook for 2023 panel. Both believe that we’re headed for an economic downturn, and navigating crisis is on many people’s minds.
Who can blame them? The tightening of capital through the Fed taking almost a trillion dollars out of the economy every month, rising interest rates after being at around 0% for the last 12 years, inflation at a rate we haven’t seen in 40 years, a war in Europe with deep implications around food and fuel supplies, supply chain failures, and (of course) looming climate change are all combining to make us feel a little nervous. Did I stress you out yet? It’s a lot. Isn’t it?
Then, Ken said something that resonated:
“The role of a leader during a crisis is to define reality and give hope”
This is a great moment to get clear and intentional about how you want to show up as a leader.
Some of the most iconic companies have leveraged a recession as an opportunity to thrive. Leaders are finding certainty in the uncertainty.
So if a leader’s reputation is both made (or lost) during times of crisis, how can you be successful? Here are 3 steps to consider.
Step 1: Define Success for Yourself
Start with your personal definition of success for both yourself and your organization. It’s asking yourself, “What does thriving look like?”
Most businesses and leaders will operate defensively through a crisis. Be proactive, innovate and seize the opportunity, which may call for a leadership reset.
Writing this will require some important questions of yourself:
What does the best version of you look like in life? What's filling me up?
What are the core priorities we need to focus on to proactively move the business forward?
Are my (our) goals achievable?
Am I dreaming to a point where I can stretch myself and the organization?
Step 2: Document your vision
Writing your vision statement is essential, followed by identifying the tactics that will help you get there and the trade-offs you’ll need to make. What you’re willing to trade may guide you in defining your values.
These questions and what you write in your vision statement will lead you to an inevitable question when relating back to your team:
Step 3: Am I setting the right example of thriving?
Writing your vision and tucking it away in a drawer isn’t necessarily effective, especially when you need to return to it in a crisis or uncertainty. Instead, make a habit of daily reflection, perhaps by journaling about your actions and decisions that day. How did you reinforce what showed up today that aligns with your vision? What may need shifting? Through daily reflection, you can see how you are reinforcing your values, transforming vision into action.
I’m currently working with a CEO trying to be everything to everyone. That's impossible. Due to the isolation of being a founder and leader, there are few people she can turn to for consul and pressure from all directions. Through coaching, we developed her personal vision statement. She returns to it daily through quick journaling. She can now check her daily actions against her visions for herself within her organization, eliminating the reactionary leadership of spreading herself thin, and instead working towards her goals, regardless of what comes at her or her organization. She tells me that she is empowered to show up differently for her team with a broadened perspective, garnering results previously thought impossible.
Your vision for yourself and what you are trading off is not exclusive to your professional life, as your personal and professional life are integrated at an essential point: you. It’s not just about shifting your mindset, it’s about shifting how you show up and behave on a daily basis. By crafting your vision and returning to it daily, you are setting your reality and giving hope, and you’re doing it through action.