Once you have determined the high level strategy required to resolve and manage your disruption contingency plans it is critical to identify the most effective team leaders. The best plans and well-structured disaster response programmes will just come undone without the right crisis leadership.
The best people for these roles possess a unique combination of skills and personality, giving them the ability to deliver the business objectives in a highly stressful and often unpredictable situation. Do not think that the answer lies in the seniority of job titles and hierarchy this is not a “golden ticket” to a key role in such a challenging set of circumstances.
Many considered Winston Churchill to be a terrible prime minister during peacetime when progress was about small iterations and maintaining the status quo. However, his reputation during the war goes without further explanation and his ability to bring about rapid change and to communicate in a positive and engaging way delivered the best results from his team and united the country around a common cause.
My personal experience always draws me towards four key traits, which we have used successfully in almost every challenging situation or to bring about significant strategic change in a business.
I-Q
The right leader needs to have the base intellect and mental agility to manage in an ambiguous situation when new information presents itself because they will need to analyse and act quickly. They realise at times of crisis that its not always about collaboration but the ability to make a decision with limited facts purely based on sound business judgement. It’s the moment to stop discussion and mobilise the team into action.
I-WILL
This is the leaders commitment and focus on the challenge and the rigour to analyse the information. The base requirement is to set clear plans and objectives with a well defined sense of purpose whilst being able to adapt their style to every situation. Being totally immersed in such a disruptive event requires them to be continuously involved in the flexible, ever evolving, planning and improvement processes, which demands attention to detail and an ability to block out distractions.
I-CAN
The leader needs to have high levels of self-awareness and therefore a confidence in their own abilities without allowing a dominant ego state to prevail. Not all leaders are able to quickly and confidently make decisions in a crisis situation. These decisions are often made without sufficient data collection and this usually becomes the normal pattern when dealing with significantly disruptive events. This will require these key individuals to have the determination but also importantly the resilience to bounce back when the circumstances change the landscape of the challenge.
I-CON
The most respected quality in a leader is consistency and it is this trait that comes under the most pressure in a crisis situation. The phrase don’t panic must be embraced and adopted and the communication style must achieve a sense of calm. Clearly it goes without saying that the leader must be trusted and respected to achieve this. They must use their personality and character to inspire and empower people with a clear and direct tone of voice and a sense of humility, which can be perfectly defined as “grace under pressure”.
Selecting the most effective leader in a crisis or even to manage a key strategic initiative is an important exercise that requires careful reflection, objectivity and examination. These key individuals possess a combination of the four traits mentioned above which includes objective focus and task focused skills whilst not losing sight of the vision and purpose of the company “bigger picture”.
The tool below is a simple but effective measure of your key people and the relevant performance value drivers (PVD’s) that underpin the I-Q, I-CAN, I-WILL, and I-CON, success traits.
We all have bottom draw appraisals of our key people, which include competencies, and development plans but this quick assessment is weighted for business judgement.
It’s easy to use; score each key individual out of ten, for each bullet point and then create a score based on the average for each PVD e.g. Motivation and Awareness.
For business judgement multiply the final score by two and then add them all together to create an overall score or a percentage out of 100 if you prefer.
The Uspire Network
Chaired by Colin Wright, Chairman and NED of several successful businesses, the Uspire Network brings business coaching to a collection of high potential commercial leaders and SME owners who benefit hugely from the 1-2-1 mentoring and peer based learning workshops. Visit the Network page for more information or contact Colin for a confidential discussion about how The Network can help you and your business.