Questions For Leading In Crisis

With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic businesses and its leaders are struggling to keep abreast with the challenging times. While a definitive future remains ambiguous and uncertain, there are some questions which the businesses can surely reflect and act upon. Though a business continuity plan and disaster recovery plan have become key part of business planning, a lot still remains on paper. Quite a few businesses and its leaders, if not all, have been caught napping and are now at loss in terms of analysis the situation. Here are a few questions for leaders / followers (employees) to reflect upon during these crisis driven times of Covid-19 outbreak. The questions though indicative and not exhaustive should give you a fair idea of your preparedness to face the onslaught of the outbreak.

Put yourself in the shoes of a leader or that of an employee and see how prepared you are and if you are headed in the right direction

1. Are you / your leaders aware of the ground realities of current crisis and its implications on your business in the short and long term?
2. Have the possible challenges, constraints one may face been anticipated, discussed and deliberated upon with all concerned stakeholders?
3. How honest and confronting were these discussions?
4. Have you worked out multiple scenarios about what next...and what would be your plan of action in case of each scenario? How prepared are you?
5. Are you / your leader's decisions/ actions in sync with short term and long term implications (keeping the above concerns in mind)?
6. Do these actions take the current capabilities and constraints of the organization into consideration?
7. Have any enabling decisions and actions been taken to ensure smooth flow of work processes? a) Were these enabling actions planned and consistent or adhoc and inconsistent with organizations short and long term goals. b) Were any resources or support provided for challenges anticipated to ensure smooth flow of work processes?
8. Do you / does your leader frequently communicates with your / his employees? What is the frequency of communication? a)    How honest and realistic is the communication?  b)    Does it allay the fears of the concerned stakeholders? c)     Does is chalk out future but realistic course of action?
9. Are all the concerned stakeholders being kept informed and engaged in decision making process or the decisions that are being taken?
10. Have you/has your leader (or the organization) made any investments in the past or present which in building capabilities which will help the organization minimize the impact and cope with the current crisis?

The answer to these questions may not solve all your problems will but definitely help you to be battle ready and reduce the impact of such outbreaks has on your business. Answering these questions is never going to be easy until and unless you acknowledge the mental models of the old no longer work and it is time to adapt, change and act.