Leading through a Crisis

During March and April, I participated in a Harvard Business School (HBS) series of webinars on Crisis Management for Leaders. The webinars were led by HBS faculty, with over 2,000 HBS alumni from around the world participating. Each hour and a half session was presented via Zoom web-conference to the alumni community, and is now available in recorded format via this link to all.

I share with you my summary of three webinars that pertain to how one leads in a crisis, how teams work during a crisis and a HBS Case Study on the Chilean Mining Rescue of 2010.

My key learning from the webinars relate to the importance of 

1. Leading with values – In the crisis situations we reviewed, all the leaders led with their values and/or the values of the organization.

2. Innovating – When innovating, uncertainty goes up, but if done correctly, learning will increase. Due to uncertainty, it is best to lead and innovate using lean and agile practices.

3. Effective leadership traits – Productive communication is about being direct and honest, while providing hope (The Stockdale Paradox). Ensure that all voices are heard. During certain times, get out of the way and be guided by the subject matter experts.

4. Empathy – It was inspiring see, the leaders we reviewed in each case and the business leaders on the call, all led the crisis they were facing with empathy of the situation and towards the people that were being impacted.

I hope you enjoy them