Leading The Way in Crisis

By Megan Martin

John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United States, once said: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”

During times of crisis, this simple pearl of wisdom may be difficult to follow, but this is the time when leadership is needed most.

“Leadership will require new skills tailored to an environment of urgency, high stakes, and uncertainty – even after the current economic crisis is over,” say Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky, authors of the Harvard Business Review article, “Leadership in a (Permanent) Crisis.”

What do you need to know in order to become a great leader in trying times? Here is some advice from the experts.

Harvest a Growth Mindset

Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, describes two types of mindsets that leaders often exhibit—“fixed” and “growth.” Those with “fixed mindsets” believe that talent, rather than hard work, is the basis for success—and that they can achieve only as much as their natural talents allow. Fixed mindset leaders are often scared of change and innovation because it may ultimately lead to failure.

Leaders with “growth mindsets,” on the other hand, trust in progress over time, an endless capacity for learning, and the ability to always improve what they do. They believe in hard work and taking risks in order to learn.

If you find yourself in the fixed mindsets category, it may be time to change your belief system and organizational practices.

“The danger in the current economic situation is that people in positions of authority will hunker down. They will try to solve the problem with short-term fixes: tightened controls, across-the-board cuts, restructuring plans,” say Heifetz et al. “They’ll default to what they know how to do in order to reduce frustration and quell their own and others’ fears.”

Heifetz says that those who practice adaptive leadership (ie: those with a growth mindset) “change key rules of the game, reshape parts of the organization and redefine the work people do.”

He defines leadership in this age as “an improvisational and experimental art.” When making changes, Heifetz advises: “you must be able to distinguish the essential from the expendable. What is so precious and central to an organization’s identity and capacity that it must be preserved? What, even if valued by many, must be left behind in order to move forward?”

Be willing to experiment and fail—as you try out new ideas, the correct path will emerge.

Gwen Martin, co-founder of NumberWorks, agrees. In her Business Journal Column, “Current Day ‘Shackletons’ Navigate New Routes to Economic Recovery, she says, “In today’s business environment, tenacity has more value than ever. We face unknown and endless challenges as we seek to rebuild—and redefine—our economy. It will be tempting to give up when there are few tangible achievements and even fewer immediate successes to celebrate. But exceptional leaders will push through. They will try new approaches. They will celebrate small successes and they will not dwell on failures… Courage inspires others to achieve their own level of greatness.”

Ten Heads Are Better Than One

“Great leaders have a deeply rooted concern for those they lead. They focus on helping develop people to their greatest potential. This may mean bringing hope and renewed commitment to discouraged followers,” says Martin.

But great leaders don’t operate alone: they harness the strengths of each team member to help their organizations thrive and grow. They rely on others to carry some of the weight. And they are committed to their team members as people.

“Executives need to relax their sense of obligation to be all and do all and instead become comfortable sharing their burden with people operating in diverse functions and locations throughout the organization. By pushing responsibility for adaptive work down into the organization, you clear space for yourself to think, probe, and identify the next challenge on the horizon,” say Heifetz et al.

Kimberly Douglass, author of the October 2009 Leadership Excellence article, “Operation Firefly: Ignite Innovation to Light the Way,” notes the importance of creating a comfortable workplace environment where team members feel safe and confident sharing their ideas.

“Create a safe, respectful place where individual creativity can emerge, and then focus that creative energy in the right direction based on the team’s vision, purpose, and goals,” says Douglass.

How is this kind of a space created? Douglass says it’s crucial that leaders be open and collaborative, as opposed to dominant and controlling, as this type of attitude can “squelch creativity.”

Douglass recommends simple changes to encourage collaboration during meetings. For one, leaders should sit with the group, rather than at the hierarchical head of the table, and make sure to include all group members in the conversation, as opposed to letting one or two members take over.

“If your big stars verbally run over the quieter, less visible members of your team, the same ideas and solutions will always get implemented,” Douglass notes.

To diffuse this kind of situation, have all team members first write down their own ideas on a specific point of discussion, then share them one at a time while imposing a time limit for each speaker. Not only will these tips help build morale and confidence among quieter team members, but they will help each and every employee to see him or herself as an integral part of the organization, thus encouraging them to take more ownership and responsibility.

Finally, encourage team members to be and do more—to take on new challenges, to push themselves in support of your organization’s goals. In the end, the strongest leaders are those who can get the best out of their teams.

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