Every crisis offers a business a chance to grow and improve. In the moment, it’s imperative to take quick action and move toward a solution. However, it’s just as important to assess your team’s approach to the situation, determine where you might be able to do things better and then implement changes to help avert similar issues in the future.
We asked members of Forbes Coaches Council how company leaders can best involve team members in making organizational or operational improvements in response to a challenging situation. Follow these 12 tips to take full advantage of the opportunities a crisis presents.
Forbes Coaches Council members offer tips for leaders to manage crisis-driven changes.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Review All Dimensions Of The Organization
When you make a change in one area, be it your people, processes, tools, strategies or behaviors, the others will also be affected. Use this opportunity to review all of the dimensions of your organization with your team. If you do this, how will it impact that? Crises can be opportunities to retool your entire organization to be more resilient. - Aric Wood, XPLANE
2. Involve Team Members Year-Round
Reactionary decisions have the worst outcomes. They’re fueled by emotion instead of logic. They focus on the immediate instead of the long term. Great leaders involve team members year-round with advisory boards, advocacy teams and surveys. This builds valuable trust equity in good times and provides well-tuned mechanisms to involve a diverse group of voices in times of crisis. - Christopher Mullen, PhD, UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group)
3. Be Courageous
Take advantage of the fear in the marketplace. Get focused on your end game. Communicate with clarity and make sure your team is 100% on board. Confidence is driven by courage, and courage is underpinned by integrity. Be courageous; go and create! - Jon Michail, Image Group International
4. ‘Reconstruct The Map’ Together
Co-create a future together. A crisis is the perfect opportunity to review what the business should start, stop and continue. Co-creating a future requires agility, and the first step is to “reconstruct the map” together. Having a firm grasp of reality that is accurate and well-rounded helps teams project a future that all have a part in. - Chuen Chuen Yeo, ACESENCE
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5. Engage Your Team In ‘Social Solving’
The uncertainty we see in 2020 has caused a lot of stress and strain on teams. Covid-19 has placed us in a fixed mindset to protect our health, our businesses, our teams and our economic well-being. The best way to overcome this basic human instinct to protect is to engage your team in “social solving.” Assemble your team and focus on future growth by socially creating a shared vision of the future. - Brad Cousins, Ingage Human Capital Strategies
6. Transmit A Positive Message Of Continuity
Crises are the best times for change, innovation and productivity improvement. At this time, it is necessary to explain to the team that the adverse situation is the company’s great opportunity to be more competitive and thus reinforce the continuity of the company and the growth of each of the employees. It is about transmitting a positive message in the face of an adverse situation. - José Luís González Rodriguez, ActionCOACH
7. Follow The Marine Corps Planning Process
The best way I’ve found is using the Marine Corps Planning Process (MCPP) and engaging every member of your team in the process to come up with a successful course of action on a tight timeline. I was introduced to the MCPP by a friend six years ago, and, having witnessed its implementation, I believe it strengthens engagement, buy-in and participation with every member of your team. - Billy Williams, Archegos
8. Model Emotional Safety In Your Organization
When your organization models emotional safety, you will get amazing insight. Ask open-ended questions. It’s amazing how much you can learn by asking a question, stepping back and just listening. We all have different life experiences, perspectives, education and family lives. By bringing these together, we create amazing learning opportunities. Crises are opportunities for growth! - Frances McIntosh, Intentional Coaching LLC
9. Lead A Review Of What Happened With Empathy
Do a post-mortem review and involve anyone who had a part to play in what happened. Lead with empathy and ask your team what went wrong first. Asking them to identify what happened allows them to take ownership of the problem without feeling like they’re going to get in trouble. Simultaneously, ask them what they should do differently as a part of a team to prevent it from happening again. - Anna-Vija McClain, Piccolo Marketing
10. Invite The Team In Under The Tent
Expose what you are seeing as possible positive shifts that would enhance organizational effectiveness. Then, listen wholeheartedly, squelching the desire to speak. Create a psychologically safe environment for team members to share their points of view and help design the company’s future state. It’s a worthwhile generative process that leads to extraordinary results. - Angela Cusack, Igniting Success
11. Over-Communicate And Strive For Complete Transparency
During times of crisis and uncertainty, this will encourage greater team involvement and greater buy-in. Don’t be afraid to have an open dialogue within team meetings and to have one-on-conversations to explore the challenges and difficulties your people are facing. As individuals feel supported, you can leverage the challenges for growth. - Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D, Utah Valley University & Human Capital Innovations, LLC
12. Explain What’s Driving The Change
When organizational or structural changes are needed, it’s best to be transparent with your team. Explain what’s driving the change and the purpose of your future focus. Involve team members early through a creative dialogue to solicit their insights and suggestions. You may be surprised by discovering an even more effective way to structure and gain full buy-in when ready to execute. - Sheila Carmichael, Transitions D2D, LLC
