MBA 6110 (070) Leading Others

How to be an effective leader in a time of crisis

By

On March 11, 2020, Tedros Adhanom Grereyesus, the director-general of the World

Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic (Sohrabi et al., 2020). The transmission

rate of the virus had spread throughout the world at unprecedented velocity, and its impact
decimated the modern world economy. To limit the spread of the virus, leaders across the world

had to ensure the safety of their people by mandating social-distance and transitioned non-

essential workers to work from home. As fear becomes contagious across organizations, the

employee looks to their leaders for guidance and support. In a time of crisis, leaders must

effectively demonstrate their leadership quality to address the uncertainties ahead and make a

positive difference in people’s lives.

The Covid-19 pandemic spread like wildfire across the globe, workers are feeling

overwhelmed, burnout, and stress. Most of the employees transitioned from the office to work

from home, and meetings are being held virtually online where they attend in their home. There

is no longer a separation between home and work, which caused major disruptions in their daily

life, especially for working parents. A recent study from Havard Bussiness Review to analyze the

state of burnout and well-being of workers during the Covid-19 had gathered feedback from

more than 1,500 respondents in 46 countries. In this study, 89% of respondents said their work-

life was getting worse. 85% said their well-being had declined. 56% said their job demands had

increased, and 62% of the people who were struggling to manage their workloads had

experienced burnout “often” or “extremely often” in the previous three months (Moss, 2021).

These responses demonstrated that a lot of workers are having significant disturbance in their

relationships with work. Leadership must identify and establish a clear and defined plan to

relieve fear and anxiety. This requires leaders to acknowledge the personal and professional

challenges that employees and their loved ones experience during a crisis. Gary Burnison, CEO

of Korn Ferry, a management consulting firm, laid out six steps leaders must follow for crisis

management. The first is anticipating what lies ahead, then navigating the correct course in real-

time, continually communicate with the employee, listen to what you do not want to hear, learn
from the experience to apply in the future, and lead as you would to improve yourself to elevate

others. (Burnison, 2020). Gary Burnison expands on these steps by further explaining the

important actions that leaders must perform to manage the crisis, and it starts at the bottom of

Maslow’s Hierarchy, which is the physiological needs, and leaders must address the most basic

needs of the people. These essential needs must be meet for workers to “feel safe, then the focus

can shift to alignment, common purpose, elevating others, and even growth opportunities.”

(Burnison, 2020). Leaders also need to anticipate the consequences of the initial shock and

consider all the possibilities in action. Face with a multitude of issues, leaders must be able to

distinguish between the differences of important versus urgency, where urgency is the realization

that time matters, and “they must delegate the urgent by empowering others to lead around a

common purpose” (Burnison, 2020). Leaders must connect with, motivate, and inspire others,

and show genuine compassion. Leaders must check in with their employees to understand their

struggles and well-being, then making fair and appropriate accommodations.

The simple act of communicating itself can relieve ambiguity and anxiety. Honest

communication between leaders and employees guarantees that people have a clear

understanding of where things are going in the current crisis. Communication within the

organization should include these four elements (Lancefield, 2021). The first element is

recognition. This means leaders must show gratitude for the sacrifices people have made, the

difficulties they’re endured, and the trauma and grief they’re experienced. The second element is

honesty. Leaders must be candid about the challenges and uncertainties facing the organization,

and about what has and has not worked during the crisis. The third element of communication is

an aspiration. Leaders must talk about the organization that workers want to create and how it

will make employees live better. The last element is commitment. Leaders must commit to acting
on the lessons from the crisis, developing new norms, and preventing unnecessary practices from

the pre-crisis period from creeping back in. Thoughtful and frequent communications should be

clear and transparent, which shows that leaders are following the situation and adjusting their

response as they learn more.

During an unfamiliarity and uncertain time, leaders must recognize that a company is

facing a crisis and begin to initiate a response. These action plans must be agile and span a wide

range of actions that can adjust to ongoing business practices, which can be beneficial to

maintain even after the crisis has passed. Effective leaders need to have clear mindsets and

behaviors that prevent them from overreacting to the current crisis and enable them to look

ahead. To help with the rapid problem solving under high-stress conditions, leaders can organize

a network of teams that are united under a common purpose and work together. “These networks

of teams will include an integrated nerve center covering four domains: workforce protection,

supply-chain stabilization, customer engagement, and financial stress testing.” ( D’Auaria el al.,

2020). Leaders should encourage collaboration and transparency of information across the

network of teams by distributing authority and sharing information. These actions will enable the

networks of teams to operate effectively and empower the right people to make a crisis-response

decision without having to wait for the approval. Using the information from the networks of

teams, leaders must assess the situations from multiple points of view, and anticipating what may

happen next, and then acting. This cycle should be ongoing to help leaders maintain a state of

calm to avoid overreacting. When leaders decide on their actions, they must act with confidence

and resolve. This will motivate the networks of teams to find solutions to the crisis the

organization faces.
 To be able to effectively demonstrate their leadership quality in a time of crisis and make a

positive difference in people’s lives, leaders need to anticipate the consequences of the initial

shock and consider all the possibilities in action. Leaders need to address their employees the

most physiological needs, especially with the psychological fatigue caused by the recent

pandemic. Leaders must be able to distinguish between the differences of important versus

urgent matters and communicate effectively to relieve ambiguity and anxiety. They also need to

have clear mindsets and behaviors that prevent them from overreacting to the current crisis and

enable them to look ahead. By forming networks of teams, and using their provided information,

leaders must assess the situations from multiple points of view, and anticipating what may

happen next, and then act with urgency. This cycle of sharing and communication should be

ongoing to help leaders maintain a state of calm and avoid overreacting in times of crisis.

1. Sohrabi, C., Alsafi, Z., O'Neill, N., Khan, M., Kerwan, A., Al-Jabir, A., . . . Agha, R.
(2020, February 26). World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review
 of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Retrieved March 08, 2021, from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1743919120301977
2. Moss, J. (2021, February 25). Beyond Burned Out. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2021/02/beyond-burned-out
3. Burnison, G. C. (2020, March 17). Crisis Management: The Overlooked Leadership
Skill. CFO. https://www.cfo.com/leadership/2020/03/crisis-management-the-
overlooked-leadership-skill/

4. Lancefield, D. (2021, February 16). How to Reinvent Your Organization In the Middle
of a Crisis. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/02/how-to-reinvent-your-
organization-in-the-middle-of-a-crisis
5. D’Auria, G., & Smet, A. (2020, December 14). Leadership in a crisis: Responding to
the coronavirus outbreak and future challenges. McKinsey & Company.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/leadership-in-
a-crisis-responding-to-the-coronavirus-outbreak-and-future-challenges