Inside the Mind of the Chief Executive During Crisis
One of the most challenging events for any Chief Executive is when a crisis happens within or outside an organization. Remember a crisis is a people-stopping, show-stopping, product-stopping, reputation-redefining event that creates victims and often explosive visibility. The operative word in this definition is victims. This particular chapter outlines the elements both of response to crisis situations and self-evaluation by Chief Executives of their performance as well as the performance of their organizations.
Remember, as advisors to very senior officials we often use the word crisis very loosely and that needs to stop. If there are no victims, there is no crisis. It’s simply a bad day for somebody’s budget within or outside the organization or both. I call this the Chicken Little Syndrome. You recall the fairytale about the chicken saying the sky is falling all day long.
All businesses have problems, many of which land on the CEO’s desk. But if you tend to refer to all problems as crises, each time you do this and the boss knows its not a crisis, chips away at your credibility and your value to those who make the decisions that run the organization. All businesses have problems, very few businesses have crisis fitting the definition I just mentioned. And just another quick reminder that it’s how the company organization leadership handles victims that determines just who will be running the organization when the dust clears. Problems are rarely career-defining. All crises tend to be career-defining. Pay attention. Preserve your credibility and your access.
We’ll discuss victims in more detail in another episode of these notes.
First, we need to help those who run our organizations understand what their responsibilities are in these situations, and what they will learn as a result of being in charge when an actual occurs.
- It would seem logical that if you are addressing or advising senior leaders and the CEO, to be somewhat familiar with what they do, what they know, how they think, and where they come from.
- Today’s CEO tends to be younger, getting to the job earlier, and even getting out of the job way before retirement.
o All of which means that CEOs will be doing other significant jobs in their lives rather than simply rising professionally to become the CEO of one company.
Define a Leadership Role for Leaders and Bosses During Crisis
- Bosses need scenario-specific instructions for what they need to be doing, and when they should be doing it.
- One consequence of management enthusiasm is that all of your conscientious planning, preparation, rehearsal, and simulation may be sidetracked, since top management will start from the very beginning and spend hours trying to figure out what they and everyone else should be doing.
- Faced with a crisis, management may spend a lot of time in denial, covering bases that don’t immediately matter, such as embarrassment, apology avoidance, self-forgiveness, searching for the guilty, or just self-talk.
The Boss’ Most Critical Role in Crisis
- Assert the moral authority expected of ethical leadership.
- Candor and disclosure
- Explanation and revelation
- Commitment to communicate
- Empathy
- Oversight
- Commitment to zero
- Restitution, penance, or at least maintenance while victim issues are resolved
b. If leaders whine, everybody whines.
c. Productive, constructive, instructive and inspirational tones from the top will move the entire organization toward more a prompt resolution of the crisis, and impact and mitigate reputation damage. 4. Set the organization’s emotional voice. a. Be compassionate
b. Be helpful
c. Be courteous
d. Stop taking events personally 5. Commit random acts of leadership at every level.
a. Walk the floor.
b. Talk the floor.
c. Encourage people.
d. Knock down barriers.
e. Help everyone stay focused on the ultimate response goals of the organization.
Lukaszewski’s Axioms of Leader Survival During Crisis
- Defeat is almost always the work of over-optimistic bosses, uniformed co-workers and associates, well-meaning friends, or dysfunction within the organization.
- Act promptly, make mistakes a week early.
- All crises start locally.
- Crises rarely kill products or companies unless you let them.
- Colorful, emotional, and memorable language caused by taking events personally creates bad news.
- 25% of your resources and 50% of your energy is used to fix yesterday’s mistakes.
- Preparation, rehearsal, and luck spell survival.
- Luck is limited.
- No one cares about your problems until you make them care.
- Compassion, community sensitivity, with sensible, ethical approaches moves companies out of harm’s way.
Overcoming Management Objections to Readiness Activities
Nine reasons crisis management matters…
- Helps avoid career-defining moments for the boss.
- Moderates and minimizes damage to reputation and employee morale.
- Enhances a company’s ability to recover from financial losses, regulatory fines, loss of market share, damages to equipment or products, or business interruption.
- Reduces potential exposure to civil or criminal liability.
- May reduce your insurance premiums.
- Provides an opportunity for management and leadership to inspire, to demonstrate an ability to deal with difficult circumstances.
- Management behavior appears to be the most crucial factor for recovery – when it’s effective.
- Reduces the production of new critics, complainers and victims.
- It is the “right” thing to do.
Assess What You Learned Today
5 Personal Questions
- What’s the most important thing you learned from this program?
- What do you know now that you didn’t know at the beginning of this program?
- What is the most interesting thing you learned from this program?
- What questions remain for you to answer as you think about what you’ve learned?
- What is the first thing you are going to do to apply what you’ve learned in today’s program?
Your Personal Daily Ethical Audit
- What is the ethical behavior here?
- How are ethical questions being surfaced and addressed?
- What is remaining unsaid, ignored, actually covered up?
- When will leaders address the ethical expectations of others?
- Is the profit motive in balance with your own ethical expectations?
Personal Daily Incremental Leadership Behavior Audit
- What did I learn today that might help others?
- What did others learn from me today?
- What less than essential tasks or burdens did I shed today to work on things that truly mattered?
- What will others remember from my interactions with them today?
- What did I say today that will be used and quoted tomorrow?
Personal Daily Influence Achievement Assessment
- Do people quote you when you are gone?
- Do people quote you when you are in the room?
- Do people tell your stories quoting you?
- Do people tell your stories as their own?
- Do leaders and others call you and ask important questions?
- Do leaders ask others if you have seen the information others are asking leadership to approve?
- Do they hold up meetings until you get there?
