Maybe you fucked up. Maybe it was someone from your team. Maybe it was poor planning. Maybe it was an honest mistake. Or maybe it was completely out of your control.
Either way, something went wrong. And now you’re in crisis mode.
THE SHIT HATH HIT THE FAN!!!
People are freaking out. There is a weird mix of figuring out what happened, how you got there and what to do. It’s not logical … everything is jumbled together. You’re putting this giant mess of a puzzle together piece by piece … but it’s as if a toddler has run off with half of the box and is smashing them into half-eaten yogurt.
Graphically too specific? Yeah, it’s happened.
Most of us have one goal when navigating a crisis - survive. Survive, survive, survive. Get out the other end with a job. And that survival mode triggers your adrenaline. While that may help you in outrun a saber-toothed tiger, all of those stress hormones pulsing through your veins won't help you in today’s crisis. They just make you sweaty. (Believe me, I know.)
And some people, when in survival mode, just start swinging wild stories around in an effort to save their own asses and minimize damage to themselves. Don’t be that person. That person breeds misinformation that will lead to ill-informed reactive decisions.
Our goal is to stave off those survivalist reactionary bullshit and uncover the true narrative. The true story of how we got here and where we are. Only then, can we lead a team into action and lock in on what we are going to do about it.
TAKE A BREATH
The first step is to pause and collect yourself. Projecting a sense of level headed leadership instills confidence in your team. It’s much easier said than done. I know.
But what’s the worst that could happen? You lose a client. You have to rebuild a reputation. You lose a job. If Elon Musk can figure out how to live on $1 a day, so can you. You will get through it and you will survive. The worst case scenario is rarely as bad as we make it out to be.
TELL PEOPLE ABOUT IT. AND THAT YOU’RE ON IT.
A big wrench that gets thrown into a crisis is the time it takes to manage people’s expectations. Whether it’s internal, clients, the media or your customers … everyone wants to (1) make sure that you know that there is a problem, (2) tell you how they feel about it, and (3) demand to know how you’re going to fix it.
All of that sucks up precious time and energy. The freak out factor can quickly become the biggest challenge to solving a crisis. Well-meaning people often blow things out of proportion and make a non-problem into the end of the world.
That’s why you have to get out ahead of it and tell people what is happening early. Even if you don’t have all of the information. Be the one to let them know.
You need to be the one delivering the news to your key stakeholders - your boss, your executive team, the board, your customers. You don’t want someone else to break the news for you. By getting out ahead of it first, you control the story and dictate the timing for the next steps. You move from reacting to everyone’s expectations to setting them. Boom.
BUILD THE STORY
Next, you figure out what the fuck happened and create the plan to move forward. You bring in the right people involved to paint a full picture of the situation. You dig into it. It’s not about assigning blame. You want to understand the full scope of the crisis so that you don’t solve one part and another problem pops up.
Then you work with your team to build out the options for moving forward. It’s not about driving to a plan as quickly as possible … it’s about getting to the right plan. You have to keep an open mind. Listen to concerns. Collaborate and be flexible.
The goal is to present a narrative that shows the correct context, the options before you, and the recommendation for moving forward. It demonstrates that you’re attacking the crisis from all angles and better insures that you don’t respond with an ill-advised knee-jerk reaction.
The story should contain:
How We Got Here
Where We Are Now
The Options For Moving Forward
Your Recommendations For Next Steps
Key Decisions That Need To Be Made
TELL THE STORY
Now comes the tough part - selling that story in. Presenting in a way that shows that you’re on top of the crisis and instills confidence. To your executive committee. To your board. To your client. To your customers.
It’s not an easy feat. Trolls love conflict. Emotions are running high. Blame is easy to assign. Politics come into play. But you need to stick to the script. Lay out a clear narrative. Accept responsibility. Propose solutions. And be open to feedback.
The key is to showcase the options on the table and provide your recommendation. It demonstrates that you’ve done your due diligence - you’ve thought about it from every angle. And that builds confidence. Presenting the options and the recommendation also allow for the people you are presenting to feel as thought they are part of the decision. And people like that.
NEXT STEPS AND FIXING SHIT
After the story is taken care of and people are bought in, the hard part starts - actually fixing shit. Rebooting a team’s work culture. Recalling and replacing people’s phone batteries. Actually upgrading the scoreboard so that it doesn’t get stuck 20 feet off the ice.
Throughout the process, you need to continue to lead the narrative. Listen to feedback. Be ready to adjust the plan if necessary. And communicate, communicate, communicate. Make sure everyone knows what’s happening.
FINAL THOUGHTS
What adds to a crisis? Mixed messages. Confusion. Inflammatory remarks. To successfully navigating a disastrous incident, you need to ensure that there is a clear story for people to latch on to. One that provides the correct context. One that demonstrates knowledge of the situation and the next steps. One that leads people to an obvious resolution.
The goal we have in navigating a crisis is to come out the other side stronger. And with the right story telling in the situation and reflection after it, we can do just that.
- Christian