Canadian HR Reporter

F E A T U R E S 20 www.hrreporter.com L E A D E R S H I P D E V E L O P M E N T HOW TO LEAD THROUGH A CRISIS The solution for leaders and employers to make a full recovery from the COVID-19 crisis — or any crisis — is to promote a corporate culture that expects change and is always focused on thriving and growing, says executive coach Bruce Mayhew THIS crisis we are experiencing right now is not normal. Typically, when a leader faces a crisis in their business, it is contained within the business. While the crisis likely impacts a handful of employees, a few suppliers and maybe even customers, the rest of the world moves on. The COVID-19-induced crisis is different. In a matter of weeks, almost everything about how people live and work changed. For most business, the demand for products and services evaporated. At the same time, a few employers began experiencing Routine, change and opportunity Routine is a business's worst enemy. Unfortunately, humans find comfort in routine because it is supposed to lower uncertainty and discomfort. While 20 or 30 years ago routine didn't get people into too much trouble, in today's economy, an employer that is steeped in routine is usually falling behind the competition and is in some sort of crisis — whether it knows it or not. The solution for leaders and employers to get out of this crisis — or any crisis — is to promote a corporate culture that expects change and is focused on thriving and growing. This is not a sentence to be taken lightly. It means most leaders must change how they run their business — starting now — and keep that up into the future. If there is anything good about this particular disaster, it's that it is impacting nearly all businesses and, therefore, creating a somewhat even playing field and opportunity for some smaller organizations. The employers and leaders most likely to survive are the ones that act quickly. Adaptive, cohesive teams An adaptive, cohesive team that embraces change doesn't happen by itself — it needs a leader to commit to championing team communication and motivation and to manage everyone's expectations. This change in corporate culture means the leader must focus their attention on building a dynamic team that can innovate, collaborate and make smart decisions — forever. Gone are the days when a leader focuses on being a boss, making every decision and solving every problem. Changing a skyrocketing demand and struggled to keep up. And while increased demand is usually a good thing, off-the-scale demand is still a crisis that needs to be managed. The uncertainty the pandemic is causing is not going to go away any time soon — nobody knows what tomorrow is going to look like. Experts around the world are all saying there is no going back to "normal." We are living in historic times and, because the way people live and work is going to be different forever, we need to act now to plan and create a new future. DEALING WITH CRISIS A COMMON OCCURRENCE 7 in 10 Number of leaders who have experienced at least one corporate crisis in the last five years — with the average being three 26% Number of leaders at large companies who say cybercrime is the most common crisis, followed by natural disaster (22%), leadership (17%) or ethical misconduct (16%) 3 in 10 Number of employers that have no staff dedicated to crisis preparedness or response while 74% have sought outside help 42% Number of employers "in a better place" after a crisis (while 36% were in a similar position and 19% were in a worse place) corporate culture means building a team that trusts each other, stays engaged and is cohesive even though they may be working remotely. One of the first steps in creating a corporate culture that can survive a crisis is to help employees get used to the idea that change is "the new normal" and the routine they were once used to will not be returning. Instead of having familiar, routine tasks, successful leaders help their team find comfort in working together to create a familiar approach to move forward. This is where agile project management can be exactly the support a leader needs to provide a way forward. Agile project management Because agile project management breaks large projects into smaller projects and moves them through very short development cycles called "sprints," it's a great solution when employers need to be ultra-responsive to customer needs or the economy. And while an agile corporate culture allows projects and decisions to move more quickly, each project must still be part of a larger development plan or vision. Source: PwC

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