The Special Olympics PA provides year-round sports training and competition in Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community. It’s one they look forward to all year.
And on Friday, thousands of athletes, coaches, families, and friends met at Penn State University for their annual Summer Games. It is the largest statewide competition, attracting more than 2000 athletes and 750 coaches.
It was a real joy to volunteer at the Games, along with several of my co-workers. We were assigned to the Track staging area, helping the athletes get checked in and lined up for their races: 100 meter walk, 200 meter run, 800 meter run and walk, 5000 meter run, and the pentathlon 400 meter dash.
If you’ve never interacted with such pure-hearted people as those who compete in the Special Olympics, seek it out: you’ll be enriched from the experience!
Something has gone drastically wrong and, like it or not, you’re involved. What now?
Say you’re the supervising engineer at Three Mile Island when the alarms indicate a nuclear meltdown in progress. – Or the CEO of Johnson & Johnson when someone poisons your brand’s Tylenol capsules. – Or the County Sheriff as massive wildfires advance in a constricting ring around your residents. – Or the Malaysian Prime Minister when Russia shoots down your passenger airliner. – Or the Captain of a cruise ship when it runs aground off the coast of Italy and capsizes. – Or the Director of Recreation when a new and violent gang claims your skatepark as its turf. – Or the Office Manager when an underling hasn’t properly filled out his TPS Report.
Granted, crises come in all sorts and sizes of potential career-sinkers, and managing them and their responses is never a pleasant task. For a leader in a crisis, it is baptism by fire. Not only is it critical to deal effectively with the immediate consequences, it is crucial to the wellbeing of the innocent, the guilty, the present and future. And as the above examples attest, the caliber of leadership during the crisis, good or bad, makes all the difference in the eventual outcome.
So while you may be spared an international incident or two, as a leader in your organization you will see your share of corporate crises and unmitigated mayhem. And although these successful tactics work at all times, (practice them in peacetime!) here are five never-fail strategies for growing your leadership credibility during a crisis, and enabling a better yet-to-come:
Remain composed instead of clamorous. There’s enough crazy: adding to it only exacerbates the problem. When the sky is falling, people crave a leader who keeps his or her head when everyone else is losing theirs. In the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, those who controlled their panic were able to lead countless others to safety before the buildings’ imminent collapse. Firefighters and other emergency personnel proved themselves the best in the midst of the worst by remaining calm in the calamity. Keep cool in a crisis to fill a crucial leadership need.
Offer clarity instead of confusion. Many in a crisis become instantly consumed with demanding to know why. And while that may be crucial to prevent a repeat catastrophe, it usually doesn’t address the “what” of the immediate need. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans, its victims needed to be rescued, sheltered, and provided for. Debating the contentious and confusing issues of levee management, evacuation policies and public administration failures needed to be reserved for the mop-up. Offer clear, coherent and direct solutions to alleviate the immediate needs.
Be considerate instead of caustic. In a crisis, there’s usually plenty of blame to go around. And while some insist in loudly pointing fingers, it changes nothing. Belligerence is not becoming of a leader. But compassion is, and it seeks the best solutions for the most people. Immigrants streaming illegally into the southwestern U.S. create inestimable problems for individuals and governments on both sides of the border, but intolerance for others’ viewpoints and situations never produces a sustainable solution. Discern realities with compassion and direct resolutions with care.
Exude confidence with courage. Courage comes from acting despite threat, uncertainty, fear or peril. Like a tonic, faith in an idea, a resolution, or a better future helps enable it, especially when that confidence becomes contagious and the vision is caught by your followers. In coordinating a massive international response to the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the World Health Organization is combatting the viral plague in a setting of “extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors, and rampant fear.” Yet its dedicated health workers, armed with hope and courageously immersing themselves in the epidemic, are the ones who will ultimately make a difference in defeating the deadly disease. Seize tomorrow’s solutions with certainty to solve today’s distresses with confidence.
Bring competence with candor. Education is an invaluable investment in developing crisis leadership when its lessons are judiciously and honestly applied. For when you later find yourself in the pits, you’ll discover your capacity is deeper still, and provides a way up and out. In the first major foreign crisis of the U.S. after the Cold War, Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait, destabilizing the entire Mid East. Operation Desert Storm’s General Norman Schwarzkopf, characteristically forthright to his Commander-in-Chief, his troops and the world at large, led his well-trained forces to liberate Kuwait in just 100 hours. Shape your professional edge with training and hone it with integrity.
MasterPoint:Character in crisis creates credibility in command.
In Bruce Wilkinson’s wonderfully empowering book The Dream Giver, he spins an allegory about a guy named Ordinary who leaves his comfort zone to pursue his dreams. The further he travels away from the familiar, the more unsettled he becomes, and the more he is oppressed by those opposed to his audacity to dream. He encounters Border Bullies, who try to prevent him from crossing into unfamiliar territory. His tenacity is tested in the Wasteland. And just when the fulfillment of his dream is in sight, he meets Giants, whose self-appointed purpose is to take him down and deny his dream.
If you’ve ever pursued a big dream, you know the tale is true. Some of the obstacles that prevent us from realizing our goals are gigantic. But as leaders, if we are to persist and win, we must find ways to effectively neutralize those Giants, one way or another:
Avoid the Giant. Some problems can simply be avoided, like detouring around a landslide. There may be many routes to your goal. One blocked path doesn’t mean you are deterred, merely detoured.
Redirect the Giant. Some Giants attack simply because they cannot allow any challenge to go unanswered. But if you can convince a Giant that you are not an enemy, and in fact, may share some common goals, you may be able to enlist that Giant’s considerable help by focusing its energies on another target. You may have talented and passionate Giants who have difficulty in comprehending the long-term goal, and unintentionally cause obstructions to your progress. But if that passion can be directed along a parallel path to a mutual aim, you’ve not only removed an obstacle, but have gained a committed ally.
Hinder the Giant. In an effective offensive strategy of a good football team, some members intentionally block the moves of the opposing team while others advance the ball toward the goal. Recognize that your best chance for reaching your goal is not a solo effort. Take time to develop collaborative partnerships and train your teammates in anticipation of necessary strategies.
What tactics can be employed, if necessary, to move beyond the obstacle, huge as it is? Are there any social, legal, economic, or other incentives (or disincentives) to employ? What resources can be added or removed from the state of affairs to mitigate the problem? How may the confounding issue be countered, refuted or reframed? With a well-trained and well-equipped team, your Giant may be controlled or curtailed enough for the dream to be attained.
Conquer the Giant. It is dangerous to approach a Giant. Because of its size, strength, and contrariness, confronting a Giant can be a fearfully intimidating experience. It has the capacity to seal your fate and steal your dream. Confronting the Giant may indeed be a life-and-death matter.
Fear is a natural reaction to facing the unfamiliar, the hazardous, or the unknowable. Yet, the only tonic for fear is courage: intentional action in spite of it. Knowing full well the risks, the dreamer takes a deep draught from the flask of Courage, calculates his steps, and proceeds.
Giants do not easily fall. But even the biggest and most fearsome are not invincible. Conquering them, while difficult, is possible. The dreamer/leader and his or her team must commit all available resources to knowing, acting on, and reacting to their own—and the Giant’s—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. With persistence, proper knowledge and courageous deeds against the Giant, yield it may.
Like successful dreamers, the most effective leaders find ways to disable the difficulties on the way to achieving the mission. Who or what are your Giants?
MasterPoint:Disable your Giants to achieve your dream.
