Leadership Skills Are Forged In Times Of Crisis

Like banging steel into the shape you want over a very hot flame, leadership skills can also be forged over the hot flame of a crisis. Undoubtedly, there are many other ways to develop leadership skills and probably a whole lot better and safer ways. However, crisis situations do occur all the time and when they do, someone has to step up, take control and lead the pack through the storm safely and securely. That’s what a leader does.

A leader must inspire confidence so when necessary, his employees will follow what he says. A leader must be able to delegate responsibility to others, choosing the right man for each job. A leader must see the bigger picture yet also understand that reaching that goal requires lots of small acts done by many people. There is nothing like a crisis to see who has what it takes and who doesn’t, who comes through it alive, smarter, more skilled and having learned something important. A crisis shows one how to lead under stress, duress and while under attack. Whatever the crisis may be and the problems created by it, it takes a true leader to rise to the occasion and do what’s required of them.

Rudy Giuliani, ex-mayor of New York City, demonstrated during the 9/11 crisis that he had the right stuff. He was an excellent leader already, but during this huge crisis demanding enormous capability, he demonstrated he had adequate skill sufficient to lead the city through this crisis successfully with the least loss and the greatest amount of protection possible.

So what’s the point here, what should we as business owners take out of these situations? Not all crisis situations are as severe as 9/11. That was so enormous it was a good thing we had an experienced and strong leader at the helm to take charge and lead us through the moment. We witnessed what a skilled leader can do when needed – they step up.

Fortunately, our small business environment provides ample opportunity for us to allow our managers and executives in training to learn and practice their leadership skills during smaller crisis situations. For example, there are situations that happen all the time, such as downed machinery, raw materials not delivered in time, loss of a large account, storms interfering with operations, absenteeism, untrained employees… on it goes. All such daily occurrences are typically handled by the owner or CEO who takes charge and cautiously makes all the necessary decisions to safely navigate out of a challenging situation. Unfortunately the knee-jerk reaction of many owner/CEOs is to take over and steer the course as much is at stake, when really the right answer is to let the manager handle the emergency and learn how to make decisions quickly and effectively, how to lead people, how to see the bigger picture and determine what the best path may be and implement a plan to get there.

Turning adversity and disaster into success, that’s the challenge and that’s what we must train our future leaders to learn how to do. We train them by allowing them to manage small emergencies and to learn how to turn disaster into success without missing a stroke. That’s leadership training under fire and it works well, forging strength and effectiveness. Remember that management is not about doing everything yourself, it is about leading and training others to do it. If all are working together towards a common goal, the goal shall be achieved.

Take advantage of the next crisis and accept the risk of your manager learning on the job during the crisis. It’s the best training possible and the only way to learn this skill. Stand next to your manager, give him your counsel during the crisis and let him talk himself through it to you. This is good training. Let him make the decisions and implement the plan even if it fails to achieve the desired results. Is a huge learning experience, in most cases one that’s worth more than whatever might be lost.  This also demonstrates that the owner/CEO trusts the manager with the responsibility of averting disaster and controlling losses. That is a huge commitment and requires great trust. It is extremely respectful and very valuable to both the owner and the manager.

There is much to be gained from crisis, not the least of which is an effective training opportunity to help develop your next leader.