05 Apr Leadership in Crisis (Video clip)

Have you wondered what distinguished great leaders from ordinary? Do you know what happened to leaders who failed to meet the demands of the Hour of crisis? What about those who stepped up during times of distress?

Nobody attained individual and collective greatness without passing through the ‘fire and storm’? Those who hesitated or shied away or failed to meet the demands of times of crisis not only did they unable to lead in the aftermath but also their legacy went to the drain.

Think about the leaders you and I admire. Leaders we still quote and look up to. These are the ones demonstrated great leadership during hard times such as wars, pandemics, economic meltdowns, social injustice, and so on.

Crisis makes or breaks one’s leadership. Either a leader during a crisis comes out victorious and hero/heroine or ends up being a victim of history depending on how they handle themselves during times of crisis. If they invested in their leadership growth, it shows. If not, it shows too.

We need strong leadership at all times. But, we need more of that during a crisis. What kind of leaders do we need during times of distress? Below are the 7 key leadership qualities important to succeed during tough times like right now. I’ll enlist the top three and further explain the first attribute, and encourage you to watch Episode 11 to learn more about the rest:

1. Character. Character in leadership is an all-time necessity. Character makes or breaks one’s leadership. No one can influence another human being successfully and sustainably without character. However, the stake is high during a crisis where a leader cannot successfully lead without character especially trustworthiness. People follow leaders during crisis whom they trust; leaders who have credibility and authenticity. Unfortunately, character cannot be built overnight. If you didn’t have character prior to the crisis, it will be hard, if not impossible, to lead during times of crisis. Of course, you could be new and you haven’t yet earned your people’s trust or your character has been damaged for whatever reason and people aren’t yet there to give you their heart hundred percent. Whatever the case may be, if you don’t have the character level required to lead with authenticity and credibility, while building (rebuilding) your character, you need to borrow trust. Form a crisis management team (give it whatever name you want), empower and put them at the front. Even if you may not be at the top right now where you may not need your character right now, building/rebuilding your character takes time. Begin working on it starting from today.
2. Empathy. One of the most important but at the same time very hard leadership competency great leaders have is empathy. Leaders must relate to their people in every situation. However, compassionate leadership is highly needed during times of crisis. More than ever, leaders should exude empathy proving their people they do actually care and understand what their people are going through. You cannot lead effectively during times of distress while you’re in the bubble and out of touch. You must come down to reality and relate with what is happening either through discerning, visiting (of course protect yourself & others when you do that during pandemics) & by being there at the frontline (in person or virtually). The challenge is keeping the balance between showing compassion to your people who are expressing tones of stress and at the same time leading the people boldly regardless of the uncertainties and harms that lay ahead. It’s possible to challenge your people to step up to the plate and share the burden while recognizing the fears, doubts, hardship, and frustration your people are experiencing throughout the journey.
3. Resourceful. Success in leadership takes becoming resourceful. You cannot attain personal and corporate greatness by depending only on resources that are in your backyard. The bar is high during times of crisis. Surviving, outlasting & thriving in the aftermath of a crisis demands the ability to mobilize every available resource at your disposal. Be resourceful and tap into the individual and collective potential of your people by creating an atmosphere that engages your team. Leading during times of crisis also requires tapping into resources well beyond your backyard.
4. And more.

I encourage you to watch Episode 11- Leadership in Crisis. I suggested 7 bare minimum leadership qualities leaders need to develop to outlast times of crisis and lead them safely on the other side successfully. Once you watched it, let me know your thoughts. What is the main takeaway for you? Which leadership qualities you already have? Which ones do you need to work on? How do you plan to improve them?

The follow-up 2 episodes will cover ‘Dealing Dilemmas During Crisis’, and ‘What MUST We should do During Crisis’? Don’t hesitate to send me if you have any questions that you would like me to answer in the upcoming episodes.

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If you prefer to listen to the podcast version, here you go:

If you haven’t yet, connect with me on social media. Go to www.assegid.com and on the top left side, you will find the social media icons. I post multiple times a day inspirational and informative messages. Engage with me on social media and let the learning continues until we see each other again with another episode.

By the way, I also released an online course ‘Overcoming First-Timer Syndrome’ for Team Leads, Project Managers, Supervisors, and Business Owners. The course has 11 modules. Each module has 30 – 45 minutes of video teaching and a worksheet that summarizes the main discussion points, learning objectives plus lots of assignments. There are also some downloadable samples and templates. To learn more about the course, check out this page: https://www.successpws.com/first-timer