Leading through crisis

18/3/2020

We find ourselves in turbulent times with the outbreak of Covid-19 (Corona virus) and it has been fascinating to watch how the UK has responded to the crisis.

I have a personal view that we are all leaders and it is how we choose to behave in these turbulent times that demonstrate the leadership skills we all have.

There are days where I feel we are dammed if we do and dammed if we don’t. The opinions of others across the world over social media and journalists are impacting the decisions that individuals make, which cements my belief we are all leaders and have leadership traits which many will choose to follow.

What would happen if our choices and decisions came from a place of love rather than fear?
What would happen if we collaborated rather than competed?
What if we all worked as a team rather than in silo?

These are questions that are relevant now, in the future and questions I’ve asked in the past as part of reflection.

What lessons am I taking away by leading through crisis?

Challenge creates opportunity
Our values drive behaviours
Our beliefs drive behaviours
Tough decisions must be made based on risk
Fear and panic creates hysteria
Communication is paramount for success
Love and support creates harmony
Collaboration is the only win/win situation

None of this is new, we just don’t consciously bring it to the forefront of our minds when we are busy.

What opportunities does crisis bring?

Learning & Growth
Creative Thinking
Strategic Thinking
Implementation of new ways of working
Teamwork
Effective decision making
Living life true to our family and company values and beliefs
Challenge and conflict resolution
Effective Communication

How is the current crisis affecting me & what am I doing about it?

Home schooling – great opportunity to learn and connect with my boys to truly understand the challenges that they face in education and how things have changed or stayed the same within the education curriculum.
Effective Communication – being clear about the plan of action for the day. What the priorities are and valuing that we all give and receive information differently. Sometimes I must provide more information than I would normally like to receive and appreciate that others will process this information differently. They may want to be quiet and digest the information rather than talk about it aloud.
Getting creative – clients can still be coached over the phone and where they prefer face to face then embrace technology and utilise facetime and zoom. Explore what elements of my training programmes can be delivered online and learn the systems to educate myself and others
Utilise my support groups – I’ve had more conversations with people over the phone, email or social media than ever before to seek to understand how I can help and support them as well as them helping and supporting me. A true example of collaboration over competition.
Remaining positive – I regularly talk about my emotional bank account and whether it is in credit or overdrawn. The more we give praise, support, words of encouragement and inspiration the more positive effect it will have on everyone’s mental health and wellbeing.
Home working – whilst I am now used to home working, the dynamics at home will change so we will need to play to strengths in our family team and understand the roles that we all play throughout the day, respecting the fact that we will all have different priorities to achieve and how can we make sure the deadlines are achieved.
Basic needs of survival – food, water, heat & security. I haven’t gone out panic buying, believing that if we all continued buying our weekly food as normal there will be enough for everyone. I have clean running cold water out of a tap as well as warm water for a shower. In other parts of the world, people would give anything to have that. I have a roof over my head that is safe, secure and warm whilst there are people still living out on the streets wondering when they will next have their basic needs of survival.

All in all, I have a lot to be grateful for. My health which is my wealth, a family who love and support me even when I’m not firing off all cylinders and being my best self as well as a fabulous support community that I can pull on in times of crisis. I’m living life true to my family and company values and beliefs.

How is the current crisis affecting you?
What help & support do you require?

Please feel free to reach out to see what solutions I may have at claire@accendocoaching.co.uk. Thank you for reading this blog and let’s lead the way

Author

Claire Cahill is a Confidence and Leadership Coach specialising in Employee Engagement which gave her the material to write her books