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Leadership in Crisis

Part 3: Connection

As I began to compose this final “Leadership in Crisis” series post, I considered “care” to be my last “C” thought on leading well during crisis. After some reflection, I thought it better to illustrate connection and it’s importance in crisis.

Humans crave connection. Whether your teams are teleworking for the first time or are globally dispersed, the additional stressors of crisis require that leaders maintain and focus on connections.

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Leadership in Crisis

Part 2: Consistency

In times of uncertainty, people expect leaders to be steady in both messaging and demeanor.

The calm in the storm.

The rudder of the ship.

Today, we explore consistency and it’s importance in crisis.

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Leadership in Crisis

Part 1: Communication

Leaders are the focal point for their organizations and/or teams in times of uncertainty and crisis. In unprecedented times like these it is important to have established relationships with those you lead. However, even without the luxury of a foundation of trust, there are critical actions for great leadership in crisis. The first is Communication.

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Do you care?

Emotional Intelligence. Relationship building. Put all the psychology, leadership trends, and buzz words away and you’re left with Care.

Over time our patriarchal society has infused the workplace with the message that caring is weakness. Terms like emotional intelligence have become popular and if it makes caring seem more acceptable, I’m all for it. Call it whatever name or phrase that you need to so that you do it. It all boils down to caring.

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Manager or Leader

The best at either are both

Your position does not make you a leader.

That statement holds true despite recognizing people look to managers for leadership. The disconnect between the ability or desire of the manager to lead and in the expectations of employees is a main reason companies have dissatisfied workers and a disconnect between employees and the executive board.

Are you leading your people? Are you capable of doing so? It all leads back to honest personal evaluation.

I believe leaders are both born and made. Great leaders are intentional about continuous self-improvement even if they believe themselves to be in the former category. Talent alone only takes you so far. Alternatively, lack of natural talent does not preclude someone from being a leader.

Either way, believing your title magically makes you a good leader can stall or even end your journey. If you hold that belief and have reached the management pinnacle of your career, it probably means few others respect you.

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Competency

Lately, it’s become fashionable for leadership advice to promote frequent movement in the workplace. I believe this singular focus is harmful to those who wish to be successful in future managerial and leadership positions (especially at the start of a career). There is truth behind the old adage “Jack of all trades, Master of none.”

Strong competency is important on the road to leadership because you develop soft skills that only come from working diligently over time. Once you possess a deep understanding of your primary competency, then you can consider movement and the benefits that provides. The secret lies in achieving balance between experiences and experience.

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Risk: Personal Evaluation

Your personality has a big impact on your ability to take risks and make risk decisions. In leadership, it’s imperative to make decisions at times when the way forward is unclear or where conditions could change quickly. You must assess your personal capacity for risk. This reveals if you need to put in work to better control your emotions. It may determine the level at which you lead. It could point you to a career change more suitable to your risk tolerance. Let’s analyze this using none other than me.

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Dream big? Bad advice!

As a child, I dreamed of being Frank Lloyd Wright. In high school, I decided to be a marine design engineer. After some work experience, I realized project management brought me much more joy. I adjusted my vision to be a senior engineering project manager. I finally gave in to my passion for developing people and decided to apply for management. Years later, I’m the head of financial operations for my organization. Am I a failure because I’m not an architect? Of course not!

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Leadership: Personal Preparation

When studying leadership, we often read about inspiring people, emotional intelligence, and other intangible traits. While leaders have different styles there are fundamental areas to self assess in order to determine your readiness to lead. Perhaps more important to your success, the assessment may shape where you decide to lead. What are these areas?

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Prime the Pump

Taken literally, priming is the step required to fill a pump prior to putting it into service. More colloquially, Merriam-Webster defines the phrase as: to take steps to encourage the growth or functioning of something.

This definition, along with my engineering background, is the reason this blog is called Primed for Leadership. My hope is you, the reader, will find content to help you either grow towards or improve and enhance your leadership skills.

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