5 Ways to keep your head in a crisis and build momentum

Right now we're dealing with a very serious crisis across the world with COVID-19. Businesses are being forced to shut down meaning money isn't flowing and people are losing jobs. Those that don't have money can't pay bills or buy things which further exacerbates the human and economic pain. Businesses will shutter,  which hurts the many other businesses which supplied them and the consumers they served.

Hospitals have had to shut down a huge portion of their elective services which can be their most sustainable, many of which are non-profit organizations who operate on thin margins. On top of that, these same hospitals are being overwhelmed with the surge of the people suffering from COVID-19 which is forcing unspeakable discussions about what to do when there are more critically ill patients than ventilators.  

In other words, the crisis is real and there are more questions than answers right now. But how we react to this crisis can, and I dare say should, search for the light in the dark clouds we see. 

History has shown us that it’s during times of crisis when often we see the best in us, our innovation comes alive and the change which was inconceivable before begins happening daily. Examples such as telemedicine, remote working arrangements and the race to create a vaccine are just a few of the areas where we’re seeing this light in the dark ahead of us. 

I’m very sensitive to the real issues we’re dealing with and the strain it is putting on us all as well as our economic and healthcare delivery systems. It’s also hugely important that we as a people meet the challenge ourselves and lift our organizations in ways that cause us to come out of this stronger. As Winston Churchill said, ”It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.” And what is required of us is to think about how to leverage this situation to improve, not just get through. 

It’s not crass or opportunistic to think this way, but important for us to look at the bigger picture and the hope that comes with it. "This too shall pass" might be a good mantra to repeat to yourself every day. Because this will pass and then we’ll have to get about the business of economic recovery and rebuilding from the damage this is causing. The good news is there are principles we can use as a map.

Times of crisis and normal times share at least one thing in common - eventually we'll all be looking back at these times and either wishing we'd have done things differently or see the wisdom in our actions. The difference between those two perspectives may just be the way we think about how to operate inside of our current and likely future reality. While there are endless words to write about how to lead in a crisis, there are a few universal principles that I’ve found consistently help organizations and people thrive in times of distress. 

#1 - Clarity trumps certainty.

We live in an inherently uncertain moment in time. It’s something we’re all feeling and as humans, we hate that feeling. At the same time, we are skeptical of anyone professing certainty  because no one knows the future. People can’t accept efforts to provide certainty, but they desperately need people to give them clarity. What does that mean, exactly?

In times of temporary flux and danger, we need to be reminded of what doesn’t change. Companies go through all kinds of exercises to come up with “MVV.” Mission, Vision, Values. Well, if there are ever times to live out those values and remind people why they matter in the work they’re doing, it’s now. And unless the current situation changes your mission and your vision has become irrelevant, people need to be reminded of why these are still important. Strategies are adjusted in light of new circumstances, not abandoned. 

Human beings are really good at certain things, but something we’re not good at is holding complex processes in our minds when in distress. This is why we have to do more than talk about values and principles in more than philosophical ways. We must make it tangible and simple by continuously communicating what must be done next. Keep people focused on moving forward one step at a time in alignment with values and using universal principles. 

Finally, in moments like these, information is extremely fluid which means decisions have to be flexible. Inevitably, good decisions today will be proven to be ineffective with tomorrow’s information. And that’s o.k. It's less important to be 100% certain you’re right than it is to operate within your values, be transparent and communicate openly as things change and explain why they have. 

Here at Doctor.com, we’ve been communicating this as often as possible both in team meetings (Zoom of course!) and in our one on one interactions. For example, our first value is that “We are all ONE team; our wins and losses are shared.” From the very outset of this, we’ve communicated to our team that we’re in this together. To show that in tangible steps, we’ve moved teams around to work together in new ways as our private practice teams have seen most practices shutting themselves down. People are being given a chance to learn new skills, teams are getting more resources to try new things and each day we’re communicating about what’s working, new information and then discussing how that information should change what we’re doing. 

We also share the values “We lead with empathy” and “We are resilient in the face of challenge.” So while we’re taking care of each other by connecting, sharing uplifting stories and providing financial help for some of the very real challenges our teams are facing, we’re also figuring out ways to win in spite of the situation. One example is realizing how many of our clients needed a simple, easy telehealth option or they needed to have that telehealth option get more traction so they can keep helping patients while also being wise in social distancing. In a only a few weeks, our teams have built a “lite” telehealth solution and connected with our network to get distribution for our clients. 

#2 - Avoid "Fixation Errors".

There is a common affliction which we all share and that is the tendency to focus on one thing so intensely and narrowly that we miss the larger picture. It’s called “fixation errors.” Fixation errors lead us to get so focused on the thing in front of us that we make errors we otherwise wouldn’t. You can think back to our ancestors in fight or flight mode running from the tiger and right over the cliff they failed to notice in their haste to not be eaten.

Because it is a natural instinct to do this, it takes all of us to keep it from happening. Don’t just get sucked down into the same way of thinking and reacting every day. And don’t let others do it either. Schedule moments in your day to do something counter intuitive - stop and go read something unrelated to your work. Or take a power nap, take a walk (though it may have to just be around your house), or do 50 push-ups as fast as you can. It doesn’t really matter what your preferred method is, the point is to break the cycle. While it will feel completely odd at first, you’ll find it helps fight burnout and reduce errors by allowing you to see things you were missing before. And make sure you’re sharing ideas you’ve tried. Just knowing you’re trying it will give others permission to do so as well. 

This one is going to look different for everyone and that’s actually kind of the point here. At Doctor.com, we’re constantly asking people to take breaks and do something other than work. Then we survey the teams periodically to see how they feel like they’ve been doing with that.

One of my personal favorites for my mid-day is to go outside and walk around while listening to a podcast that inspires me. 15-20 minutes of that and I have a whole new perspective. 

#3 - Play the long game AND the short game.

OK, this is easy to write about and very, very hard to do. Yes, you have to triage. The long game doesn't matter if you lose the short game. But unlike golf, in the world of business your short game needs to support and lead to your long game. 

Let’s go back to our matra from before - This too shall pass. If that’s true, then ultimately giving energy to strengthening the long-game has to vie for space with short-term urgencies. It goes without saying this needs to be communicated constantly. Both to ourselves and others in our organization. 

Application of this one is a bit harder. (OK, a lot harder!) But how we’re doing this at Doctor.com is using this time to look again at where we’re trying to get (mission/vision) and having the discipline to still meet regularly to talk about strategies for achieving those goals. Obviously, some of those strategies relate to the current moment. But some don’t. For example, we’ve been holding a series of meetings both small and large about adding new revenue streams that are complementary to our core business lines. We’re also working right now on ways to train our people in even more robust and efficient ways so we can deepen the value clients get from working with us. There are a million competing priorities right now from dealing with a suddenly remote workforce to hundreds of hospital clients who need even more support in the near-term because of the COVID-19 crisis. And we’re answering all of those issues while also keeping our eye on the ball for the long-run. Because eventually the long-run turns into the present. 

#4 - Break inertia.

OK, let’s take stock. You’ve started (and continued) providing clarity to the people you work with, communicating transparently as things change. You’ve avoided making mistakes due to being overly fixated on the immediate crisis and disciplined yourself to keep playing the long game. What’s next? 

You’ve got to move the organization forward in new ways. 

There is an organizational principle that has a parallel in physics called inertia. The larger organizations get, the harder they are to move. Changing directions can be difficult. Getting them moving in areas where they are currently sitting still can be near Herculean. But a crisis has a way of putting everything into question. How do we deal with this? How did we get here? What does our future look like? Why are we doing the things we’re doing and what should we do differently? 

People who are looking at the long-game will better be able to identify what the missing pieces are for their strategic growth and use the fluid nature created by crisis to move organizations (and people) in directions best suited for long-term growth. Almost as if the laws of physics go away for a short period of time. It can be significantly easier for organizations to see the value in things they couldn’t previously because it suddenly became clear things simply can’t stay the same. Status quo is no longer an option. 

Rather than give you a business example of this one I thought a personal thought experiment my wife and I did would be more fun. My wife and I both work from home. She is in school fulltime as well...and we have 3 young boys. It dawned on us the other day that now our boys are at home doing school online and we’re working remotely. Even though it is a huge adjustment, there’s nothing that says we can’t continue this way even after the crisis is past - which opens up the opportunity to live a more mobile life. Technically we could live in multiple cities around the world throughout the year. Something that we’d never have considered before suddenly became a viable option! 

#5 - Build critical foundations.

If you’ve made it with me this far, my guess is that you are either a glutton for punishment or really want to come out the other side of this stronger. Either way, this last component is not only critical but can be one of the most difficult things to do in the middle of a crisis. 

We’re all going to go through this crisis. No way around that. And we’ll all look back at what happened and look for ways to get stronger and smarter from it. But by the time we get around to  looking back and asking those questions, the adrenaline from the circumstances will have worn off and people will be desperate to “get back to normal.” With our worlds having been just turned upside down, the appetite for change and “new” could be limited. 

The time to build foundations of strength is during the crisis. I’ll use hospitals as an example here only because I work with many of them. This crisis is showing us many things that we weren’t prepared for as a system. Slow rollouts of testing, low numbers of ventilators compared to the need, less bed capacity than is needed and many, many other issues are all bright, clear issues now. But that’s the clinical side. What about the business side of this? 

Like I mentioned earlier, having to shut down elective procedures and services hurts not only the patients who need them but the health system as well. They need the revenue from those services to keep the organization’s higher mission going. But there is a reality we miss at times like this (fixation error!), and it’s that those patient needs haven’t magically gone away. There is pent up demand there. Based on data we’ve produced from research like our 2020 Patient Trends report, it’s pretty evident that if the patients were using the internet to research options for care before now they are definitely doing more of it while we’re all trying to stay at home. 

Yes, there will be a surge of patients and procedures that will hit the market post-COVID-19. If nothing else, there could be a baby boom. But let’s also think about the second order effect here. If you have a surge of patients for elective procedures and they all have terrible experiences because you weren’t ready for them, what happens? Word of mouth, poor reviews online and ultimately a damaged brand. Alternatively, let’s say they have a good experience but you haven’t put the foundations in place necessary to capture those good experiences and have them represented across the consumer web? That’s a wasted opportunity to have that wave of patients’ experience lead to a stronger brand and online presence that captures the next wave of patients seeking care. 

In the end, we’re all worried, tired and a bit flustered by all of this. However, it is in times like these where we all have to dig deep and think about how we will be stronger after all this has gone away and is in the history books. Build the foundations you need now so that future is one you and your organization can build a legacy. 

Our country, heck our species - WE - are who we are not in spite of crisis but arguably because of it. Like the book "Antifragile", your leadership, organization and our world can come out the other side of this stronger. We all have a chance to be a part of that strengthening and to be able to look back at a time such as this and see the wisdom in how we acted. 

Stay strong and healthy. This too shall pass.