Leadership action during crisis

Posted on May 08, 2017 by Faiyaz Farouk, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

With more than 300 mass shootings in the United States from January to December of 2015, it is time for leaders to take action. Some of the shooters involved were people linked to international hate groups like ISIL. This article isn’t about gun control, or corporate policies of protecting your employees during these times of uncertainty. Rather, I will discuss a topic that is frequently ignored: leadership actions in crisis mode. Fortunately, most of my adult life has been focused on dealing with crisis in both my professional life with clients, my own business ventures, and my personal life. Being an advisor to many leaders around the world, I’ve used practical tools to help my clients and fellow leaders. I am going to offer two suggestions that leaders of every community around the United States and abroad should consider in dealing with everyday crisis. Here they are:

In recent years, I have had the pleasure and pain of learning the art of mindful management practices, taught at Drucker school of Management (Claremont Graduate University) by Professor Jeremy Hunter. Professor Hunter used to say “Too often, leaders tend to behave in a reactive way and without sustained awareness to accurately guide response to the situation.” During a crisis, our body’s natural response is to highjack into a fight or flight mode. Professor Hunter and guest Elaine Miller-Karas, Executive Director of the Trauma Institute in Claremont helped us to practice being mindful and staying in the resilient zone. What exactly is “the resilient zone?” Let’s take a look…

The illustration above shows how we function mentally in a state of ease throughout the day. This is the optimum goal for every leader to achieve. The key to being in this zone is to understand the importance of “self-management” and being able to truly understand yourself during these moments in life. The illustration below shows us how we are in crisis. Paranoia, hate, anger, depression, and insomnia are some of the symptoms that your internal system has been bumped out of the resilient zone or high-jacked. When looking at this chart, feelings on the top are active intense behaviors. An example of this was when I recently sent a text to a friend to see how he was doing. His reaction was to call me immediately to ask me if “I was okay?” I was taken back since this was just a text asking him what I would normally ask anyone. He mentioned he hadn’t slept and I could hear the huge burden of responsibility he was feeling due to the current crisis

Too often, I have seen leaders who are in this mode. They operate from the time a crisis starts and allow it to last after it passes. Some past situations caused me to become hyperactive and make decisions that weren’t in my best interest. As a result, my health was taking a major hit due to the high stress I put on myself. That is what led me to use the tools I have learned on mindfulness and from the 28 weeks of classroom time to help me break out of the reaction mode. This is still an ongoing practice for me.

As leaders, it is imperative we authentically manage ourselves to best support the community and its members. For more details on this subject and receive training, I’d recommend contacting the Trauma Resource center.

Working with many executives, I have always recommended having a sustainable framework that my executive clients develop to help them deal with their work and life challenges. Fire departments, police, and other agencies all have them for emergency situations. Framework allows leaders to follow a list or guidelines to help them make the best decisions.

One of my colleagues, Loretta McCray, worked as the Chief of the Federal Probation system until her recent retirement. Now, she is an expert on extreme crisis management. She recommends for every leader the following:

Another expert in crisis management, my old Professor at Drucker Jean Lipman-Blumen, recommends having a plan for everything and never get caught unprepared for any situation. Dow Chemical has a team of employees who are thoroughly trained and retrained to take charge in the event of any disaster. Dow also has produced a 20-page framework for communicating with the public during a disaster.

When a leader focuses on love and caring during crisis, it overpowers hate and fear. There are many examples of this from the past with leaders like Gandhi, Muhammad, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and many more unknown leaders who have made this world a better place. I want thank all leaders for their hard work and sacrifices they have made. Because of them, their communities and our world is a better place.

If your company is interested in providing mindful management training for your managers or Executives, please click here for more information on a breakthrough training that transforms leaders during times of great change.