COVID-19: A Crisis Management Call To Arms

It doesn’t take an epidemiologist to see that those most at risk with Covid-19 are the elderly with pre-existing conditions, or the weakest in our midst. In similar fashion, the temporary economic recession it has spawned preys on the weakest corporations – companies that have flawed business models, that are unhealthy financially, or that lack strong leadership and resolve. Chief executives that grab this contagion by the horns and wrestle it to the ground will doubtless emerge with a greater mastery of crisis management. What is more, the testing of their mettle will have forged even greater leadership qualities within them, qualities that will continue paying handsome stakeholder dividends when Covid-19 is a distant memory.  

For seasoned chief executives, crisis management is nothing new – we have all had times when, while guiding our ship on a gently flowing body of water, we approached the entrance to a foreboding cavern and were forced to stare into a dark abyss while lighting the way forward for the people in our charge. In my role as a Vistage Chair, I get to routinely witness extraordinary business leaders successfully navigate the dark waters of change, some of which – like Covid-19 – are breathtaking whitewater. What follows are some thoughts on the matter drawn from their examples, as well as my own experience leading in crises. I would be remiss if I did not also acknowledge the shaping influence of some cogent thoughts which my new friend, David Richwine – a highly decorated, retired Marine Corps Major General – sent me recently (namely his and those of a Robert Charles). 

First, have a viable plan. As a good friend of mine, Jim Guido, is fond of saying, “you have to have a plan to change a plan.” Of course, not just any plan – a viable plan, one that can be violently executed (to borrow a phrase from Gen. Patton). Such a plan gains and maintains viability only through both a dispassionate review of facts supplied by a qualified team and the resulting delegation of authority to that team. It requires good internal and external communication (more on that later), seeing around corners, courage, and the organizational agility to pivot rapidly when circumstances dictate. This necessitates vigilance in identifying and filling critical information gaps, drawing sound inferences from pertinent data, and guarding against unjustified leaps (not exactly what Jim Collins meant by avoiding “the doom loop,” but at least the moniker fits!).

Second, gird your mindset. Thanks to fellow Chair, Kurt Graves, I remind my Vistage members of the following every month: “Leaders bring the weather – how are you showing up at work?” As a leader, it falls to you to do all you can to preserve hope, focus and confidence in the future. Your people need to see that you believe victory is possible, especially by everyone working together. When Winston Churchill (himself no stranger to crises) was once asked to define success, he observed: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” If anyone could speak from experience, he could! To be sure, success will be hard fought, especially when good news is in short supply. In another exchange, Churchill is noted as saying “if you are going through hell, keep going.” In other words, keep looking beyond the horizon, keep working, and keep persevering. Personally, I like the saying first attributed to one of the early church fathers, Ignatius: “Pray as if everything depends on God, work as if everything depends on you.” Or, as Gen. Stonewall Jackson once said, “Duty is ours; the consequences are the Lord God’s.” By the way, crisis management is no time for political correctness (as if there were ever a time for it)! 

Third, communicate, communicate, communicate. And when you do, do so in terms easily understood by all involved — and concerned (in the case of stakeholders); be sure to show how your decisions are tied to experience, logic and data. The further you can reach back to past successes, the greater the confidence you will instill in your people when pointing them to the future. Communicate honestly and regularly with your employees. When appropriate, show where past mistakes have led to sustaining successes. Encourage them not to take counsel of their fears which, in some cases, may be legion. When you do this, you put hope (i.e. earnest expectation) on display and stop the swirl of rumor and false information. Clarity is powerful, especially when it is not rose-colored.

Fourth, enlist the support of everyone. While it is not within your power to deny uncertainty, it is within your power to ask for collective responsibility. Give your team the opportunity to “buy in” by helping to create the solution (besides, none of us is smarter than all of us). This is enabled by commonly understood and supported goals and objectives undergirded by mutually recognized, respected and observed values and principles. It is essential in order to draw the best out of your people and survive this crisis as a stronger team. Most of them are capable of far more than you think. Make no mistake, winning will require unrelenting effort and unity of purpose. Like the people you lead, you, too, are capable of far more than you know. Stay in the game. Opportunity comes knocking only to those who remain in the game. Look for it everywhere – breakdowns lead to breakthroughs!

Finally, be prepared to accept risk. I am talking about personal, legal, health and financial risk. Before doing so, balance the risk of action against the risk of inaction. When assessing such risk, don’t overestimate the situation; conversely, don’t underestimate it. As an Eagle Scout, the Boy Scout Motto seems apropos: “Be Prepared.” You will make mistakes, but by executing your plan violently you will have time to course correct. This is essential to ensure that your scenario preparedness remains viable (cf. the first point above). We have now come full circle in what Ed Deming might call the Shewhart Cycle of crisis management: Plan, Do, Check, Act.

Since I brought the Scouts and Gen. Richwine into this (himself an Eagle Scout), let me close with what I believe to be a great example of the type of gallantry called for in leaders of all stripes: the Boy Scout Oath (and with it the stern admonition not to follow their unfortunate example of veering from it in the midst of another crisis in our country):

On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

As Gen. Richwine astutely observed, the first of the 12 points in the Scout Law is the most important: a Scout is trustworthy. Why so? Because it reflects the cumulative effect of living the other 11 points to create that trust. After all, trustworthiness is the glue which bonds all meaningful human relationships. And trustworthiness requires courage, of which intellectual, physical and moral abide, these three; but the greatest of these is moral.

Lead courageously, Reader!