Seven Capital Sins of Leaders in Crisis Time
Jacob van Swanenburgh “The Last Judgment And The Seven Deadly Sins” 1600
Since the start of the Covid19 crisis, we have had the opportunity to exchange with some of our contacts, former customers, students, or partners, seeking advice or merely willing to exchange ideas with us. As much as possible, we do our best to be of assistance, by answering questions when we can, giving suggestions sometimes, but always providing a supportive listening.
Beyond practical questions about the challenge of management in this time of crisis, we have been impressed by one simple direct question that was like a summary of many other concerns expressed by our contacts. This candid question was:
« I am the boss. How do I know that I am doing what is right now? »
It was asked by the founder and CEO of a small group, with few thousand of employees in two factories in China, fortunately not in Hubei, but the neighboring Henan, hit by the Covid19 too, and offices in Guangdong, Hong Kong… and abroad, in Japan and Australia.
What is right… In a crisis, especially when one is impacting human lives, potentially of people depending on you, what does it mean to be a GOOD LEADER?
We have been able to discuss further with this concerned CEO, entering into details and specifics of his situation and trying to bring articulate answers to some of his questions, making positive remarks, and proposing improvements.
Nevertheless, beyond the particulars of his experience, we have reminded him of some points, universally valid when judging the quality of leadership in a period of crisis.
We are happy to share with you, in these troubled times, some of these key ideas, abridged from our INT2PLAN’s list of lessons on leadership:
THE SEVEN CAPITAL SINS OF LEADERSHIP IN CRISIS
To use the very graphic way to speak about crisis, when SHTF(1) and you are in charge, how can you make a difference? How to be a good leader? As usual, it is easier to take the question from the negative side: How to avoid being a bad leader?
There are seven terrible mistakes that a leader must absolutely avoid when confronting a crisis:
SIN #1- DESERTING THE POST
The top of the list of sins for a leader in crisis is the disappearance:
Physically, like some companies’ owners escaping in foreign countries to avoid facing their responsibility.
Morally, by hiding in HQ during the hot time, leaving the structure headless, without any reference point.
Intellectually, by giving up the power of reasoning and will.
Practically, when passivity demonstrates impotence and disarray.
It may result from:
Lack of courage (leading in crisis time is taking different risks from usual business time), especially fear of legal responsibility.
Feeling of incompetence (often from a lack of preparation).
Shock (never underestimate the role of basic human reactions, even at the highest position. See infra #7).
The result is the same: the lack of leadership is the worst situation in case of a crisis. There will be natural leaders emerging from the chaos, and spontaneous structure of confidence will appear; then, a new command organization will be rebuild, but the wasted time without leadership may have resulted in irrecoverable losses.
Thomas Somerscales “A barque running before a gale” 1910
Not everybody is a leader, but not every leader is a leader in a time of crisis. The history is full of examples of excellent peacetime rulers who were very bad wartime generals, and vice versa. In the glorious period of sailing boats, there were stories of « storm captains,» often seasoned sailing masters who received the task from the real captains - especially the youngest ones - to command the maneuvers during storms, because it required the unique coup d’oeil and absolute confidence from the crew, to overcome the dangers of the winds and waves.
A leader must know himself and his limitations: seeking advice from crisis experts is always a duty, and designating a « storm captain » might be considered when there is a risk of losing control by lack of this particular « storm leadership.» If needed, such a nomination must be presented as an addition to the leadership and roles must be extremely well defined to avoid confusion. Ideally, this has been prepared in “peacetime”, with a “Crisis Command System” prepared and teamed.
SIN #2- DENYING
The passivity mentioned in our first point may be the consequence of the refusal to accept the situation.
There are two types of denials:
The blindness: not accepting the reality as it is because it does not fit your expectations, ideology, business plan, career strategy… This is the refusal to see things as they are: their very existence or their magnitude. It is just a matter of time before the front of the shock wave hits you, unprepared. A crisis is a stone in your shoe that will not go away if you just shake the foot. At a time, the shoe must be taken off.
The deafness: Not understanding that there is a crisis when your employees / customers / shareholders / authorities, or any stakeholders believe there is one, whatever is the reality of the underlying situation. The belief that there is a crisis, is a crisis.
It is either the way things are or the way things are seen.
SIN #3- BLAMING INSTEAD OF HELPING
Recognizing that there is a crisis, just to blame someone about it, is as bad a move as denying it. For at least three reasons:
It is an negative reaction, a purely defensive one, and does not provide the required dynamic to fight. There is a risk to freeze action, paralyze all players, as their main priority will be to open an umbrella, or blame others…
It is a misused power, focusing on the past, instead of channeling energy toward the resolution of the crisis in the present and the future. The targeted entities may be guilty or innocent, this question is not irrelevant for the future, but it cannot be the primary concern amid the crisis.
The worst type of « Sin of Blaming » is the designation of scapegoats, as it is a double fault. It targets innocents, and it does not help to cure current or prevent future crises as it points at the wrong agent.
SIN #4- ADDING TO THE BURDEN
Primum non nocere: the Hypocratic motto of medical doctors since the Antiquity, meaning: « First, do no harm ». Even if it is only the fourth on our list of sins, this principle of non-maleficence is of utmost importance. Leaders may harm, by their actions or lack-of, even with good intentions.
Too much or too few, too early or too late, short term threats vs long term dangers, individuals vs community, etc.… the essence of being a leader in crisis is to be the keeper of the balance, the master of the equilibrium, and to decide to do or not to do, in a way that will not add to the burden of those on the front line, not make things worse, but will facilitate.
What is difficult in this first point is that it does not mean that a leader should not make tough decisions, maybe painful in the short term, or should not make sacrifices… On the contrary, it is his duty to weight the consequences of his choices, including the longer term and the global picture, not only the short view, but all decisions must pass the test of the question: Am I convinced that this decision will do more good than harm?
It sounds trivial. But how many time a manager has requested useless extra reporting from someone already overburdened? How many field visits have been poorly organized, disrupting operations, slowing down actions by disturbing the key players? How may time in history, bad things happened only because a king expressed a wish on a light mode without thinking further, almost as a joke… that was taken by the audience as an order, and executed with terrible consequences?
SIN #5- PROJECTING CONFUSION
From the beginning of the crisis, the leader is under scrutiny. There are many different types of leaders, that will be seen differently and from whom expectations will differ a little bit (see infra). Nevertheless, there is one common mistake that all must avoid: to project an image of confusion.
A certain degree of uncertainty is acceptable; confusion is not. It is the nature of challenging events to present some unknown elements. The admittance by a leader that not everything is known or under control in a crisis is understandable for most, under the condition that it comes with is a clear plan to fill the gap or to adapt to different scenarios if…
But one of the worst message possible from leadership during a crisis is to show contradictions, either between successive declarations or between says and acts. These are trust-killers. Unless duly justified by real changes in the situation, contradictions are seen as proof of incompetence or lies.
Being consistent is not the contrary of being adaptable. Flexibility, adaptability are necessary, more than ever, in crisis time. But when circumstances change, different fact-driven decisions will be made, but the underlying principles of actions and the logic of command must remain readable all along.
SIN #6- LOSING THE FOCUS
In the hottest of the crisis, it is easy to forget the unique position of the leadership whose view must oversee the situation. Mistakes are :
Being overwhelmed by too many inputs and requests, impossible to process intellectually. So, even in a crisis time, a leader needs to stop and think.
Suffering from tunneling vision effect: losing awareness of the environment and narrowing focus on the center of attention, e.g., the epicenter of the crisis. The risk is to miss important things, events outside of the visible perimeter. The ability to remain conscious of the whole situation is a crucial ability for a leader (same as for astronauts for which this concept has been studied : the consciousness of the situation under stress).
Being confused between what is urgent and what is important. When the list of tasks to be performed or decisions to be made is so long, it is necessary to differentiate and prioritize. The good old Eisenhower matrix of leadership is especially useful to determine where the leader must focus:
concentrate your efforts now on the matters that are important and urgent
plan actions on matters that are important and not urgent
delegate decisions on the issues that are urgent but not important
delay the not important and not urgent questions
SIN #7- IGNORING THE HUMAN FACTOR
Last but not least. This mistake ends our list of sins, because it is like a synthesis of all the previous ones. It is difficult to express but impossible to ignore, as it encompasses all the fields, concerns all the players in a crisis time.
This disdain or underestimation of the human nature may be expressed in different ways, all having potential devastating effect, nasty enough in normal time, amplified during a crisis:
The lack of empathy
The belief that the system is a mechanic
The belief that all reactions are rational
The underestimation of symbols
The ignorance of your own human limitations (ego, overestimation, self awareness, cognitive bias…)
WRAP-UP:
Now that we have identified some shortcomings for a leader in time of crisis, just consider the opposite virtues:
So, if You…
…never let the bridge empty (1),
…know that it is not up to you to decide whether there is a crisis or not (2),
…do not look for culprit but look for solution (3),
…are a facilitator and think twice before asking for something (4),
…are honest and not stubborn, but persistent (5),
…keep working on priorities (6) and
…know yourself and show empathy (7),
congratulations, you are on the right track to be a fairly good leader in crisis time!
(1) SHTF: “S… hits the fan”, graphic expression famous in survivalist culture to describe an event creating chaos or collapse of normal life.
Int2Plan