What Is Crisis?
What really is a crisis? In leadership, it is essential to bring clarity to this word. Merriam Webster defines crisis as an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending. Words are important for a few reasons. First, they shift the thinking of leaders and employees. When words like a crisis are spoken, they capture (or should capture) the attention of people as shouting stop or freeze would. Second, they could and often should initiate some form of significant action or change. When I used crisis, my intent was to trigger a momentary pause, to put my people on high alert. They knew the stakes were high. I was judicious with this word as I knew it could radically alter our course, a course hard to reverse.
Akin to crying wolf, repetitive uses of crisis in a superfluous manner weakens its intended impact. “Uh oh, another crisis!” “Folks, we have a crisis here!” A leader who overreacts when the company is out of coffee or a vehicle is slightly damaged diminishes their ability to lead when a real crisis occurs. In business, as in the military, challenges occur, bad things happen. A bad customer review might hit the internet or an employee suddenly quits. Are these examples or signs of something catastrophic? The key questions to ask (and answer) are these; “how do we define this current turmoil, does it indicate our eventual demise, are we really in crisis, will the business fail?” Indeed, a single bad customer review or loss of an employee followed by more might put in motion the end of a business. The key is knowing where or when that tipping point is. Knowing when, as Webster defines, the situation has reached a critical phase where decisive change is impending. Leaders ought to investigate to determine root causes of issues like employee turnover to see if trends or core problems exist which may result in a crisis. Moreover, leaders must determine if the survival of the organization and or its people is at stake. This analysis and choice of words are fundamentally important.
Was COVID-19, the black swan of our times a crisis? Politics aside, it certainly was for many organizations but not all. Early reporting on COVID did not necessitate the uttering of “crisis.” It certainly justified some imaginative problem solving and preparation but business continued as usual. As the pandemic spread though, governments began to act closing public buildings and businesses. Even initial closures did not create a crisis. Many businesses had weathered closures caused by hurricanes or snowstorms before. It was the ‘no end in sight’ nature of closures that placed an enduring strain on cash flow, the very lifeblood of a business. Some businesses flourished; many crossed the tipping point of crisis. Some businesses like restaurants would adapt shifting from dining room service to delivery and remain in the green (though not by much) on their balance sheet. The key to leadership is this. Understand the implications of the crisis. Be judicious in its use but when you’ve crossed the tipping point, act decisively.
Rob Campbell