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5 Do’s for a Successful Leadership in Crisis

Ever wonder how some organisations manage to thrive even in difficult times? A relevant predictor for overcoming a crisis in the workplace is effective leadership. We have collected 5 research based actions that can help you become a successful crisis leader.

December 30, 2020
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When going through uncertain times at work, employees seek comfort and security in their environment. From lay-offs to office vs home-work, workers all around the world turn to their managers seeking answers and directions. Successful leadership in crisis can help team cohesion, work performance and job satisfaction.

There are a few steps that can help leaders guide employees through times of crisis and become more adaptable. We have gathered relevant scientific literature and came up with 5 DO’s for an effective leadership in times of crisis.

We have also created a list of 5 Don’ts for leadership in times of crisis. Make sure to check it out here.

1. Provide clarity and direction. 

The most striking thing about uncertainty is the struggle to understand how to navigate the environment, what to prioritise, where to look for answers. This affects work performance, and also takes a toll on employee well-being.

Leaders’ role is to be the pillar of clarity, and to direct employees towards what to prioritise and what not. 

Moreover, it is crucial that leaders engage proactively in creating a perceived safe climate. Leaders should knit a blanket of psychological safety to buffer against the external pressure of uncertainty. A leader who promotes a safe environment and defines a clear prioritisation of tasks/projects can guide employees so that their performance is kept at optimal levels. 

2. Help people stick together. 

Studies found that people who suffer from addictions recover much faster when they benefit from high social support. The reason why social support is so important during crises, is that it fosters the “We’re in this together!” thought. In the workplace, employees who feel listened and understood also tend to have higher levels of social belonging.

Moreover, social support from supervisors and colleagues can positively affect stress-coping and well-being. When individuals feel supported, they also have access to information about how others are dealing with the same crisis. In turn, they may feel higher control and well-being. The goal of a leader in a crisis is to create trust among employees and bring people together. A leader ought to emphasise supportive communication and try to communicate emotions and opinions openly.

3. Promote self-leadership. 

While self-leadership is a fairly understudied concept, empirical evidence does find it promising for crises and employee stress-response. Self-leadership is a process during which individuals control their motivation, cognition and behaviour. That means that the employee become the captain of his/her own ship. Moreover, self-leadership skills can help employees’ regulatory capacity, so that they have more psychological tools to cope with stressors. Such strategies include goal-setting, personal performance expectations and constructive thinking.

Self-leadership has been found to increase employee adaptive performance but also their job satisfaction during a crisis. Another benefit of self-leadership is its sustainability on long-term, as employees learn to cope with stressors with their own resources. Leaders who encourage self-leadership practices in the workplace also give employees more feelings of control, which are much needed in times of uncertainty.  

4. Make meaning out of chaos.  

Along with providing directions and prioritising tasks, a successful crisis leadership also entails meaning making. A first step of meaning making would be to make sure to express and validate employees’ feelings. Additionally, a leader can (re)frame crisis events in such a way that he/she instills hope for the future.

Leaders can also create team rituals such as having a weekly (online) meeting with the team that would replace the Monday coffee in the office. These rituals help employees tend to others, but they also build a sense of solidarity among team members. Meaning making can be especially important for middle-managers who are in the position of explaining uncertain times to team members but also experience uncertainty as an employee. That is because they can help clarify the situation even where top management decisions have not yet been taken. 

5. Take Time for Yourself.

Last but not least, leaders must take time for themselves and create a clear boundary between work and other domains. Since leaders experience higher job demands and responsibilities, they are also likely to experience cognitive depletion on long-term. In turn, depletion can impair performance and can also lead to burnout. A depleted leader has a higher risk of depression anxiety but also of workplace alcohol consumption.

Depletion affects not only the leader but also other employees. Depleted leaders are also more likely to display abusive leader behaviours such as lashing out, and thus damage leader-employee relations. It is thus imperative that leaders create certain habits that can help them recharge their batteries.  

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This post is based on the following sources and academic articles

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