How to Serve as an Exceptional Leader During a Crisis

Is your business struggling to survive the recession? No one saw the COVID-19 pandemic coming, and it has turned many stable businesses upside down, affecting everyone in each organization and their families. During a crisis, it's important to be an exceptional leader because everyone relies on your strength. 

Characteristics of an Exceptional Leader Oftentimes, an economic crisis causes leaders to feel so overwhelmed they resign their job. There are too many problems to solve. Business leaders must stand out for being calm, not take failures personally, and keep emotions under wraps.

If this crisis hits you personally, such as your loved one falls sick from COVID-19, it can be difficult to focus on leadership tasks. You might need to get creative with managing employees, such as outsourcing some recruiting and staffing tasks. Staffing agencies can help you source temporary workers.

Try these things before deciding how to navigate a crisis:

• Get personal services that help you relax, such as massage, manicure/pedicure, makeover, acupuncture, and chiropractic.

• Make time for exercise and mindfulness meditation. Set aside 15 minutes a day to clear your mind and feel more focused.

• Get enough sleep, nutrition, and down-time. 

Develop an Action Plan Remember, there may not be much time to get rest before returning to work and assessing how the crisis will affect the company. Assessment must come first before you change the direction of everyone still on board. Here are some steps to take:

• Organize your team. Let them know what kind of data you need to perform crisis management and strategic decision-making.

• With your data, you can do a SWOT analysis. You can do this alone or with key members of your team. Remember, you don't want to be negative or fatalistic when assessing this information, but you do want to be realistic and remain emotionally detached.

• Work with your team. An employee might try to take over certain decisions, and it's up to you to determine to whom you can delegate during a crisis. If you think someone is caving under pressure, give them some time off. 

• Make staffing decisions. Having a huge decrease in revenue may require you to make drastic decisions such as laying off or furloughing employees. You may need contract staffing to fill in the gaps once you've determined how to adjust operations and staffing levels.

• Hold a virtual meeting to communicate company-wide changes in policies and strategic priorities.

• Contact people who are losing their jobs or getting reduced hours personally to discuss their options. If you have team leaders or department managers, enlist their help in making these calls.

Temp staffing can be a blessing in disguise, helping you source reliable people while morale is down. You can turn to Contract Staffing Services, to fill in some staffing gaps.

While leading during a crisis, you can quickly burn out, With a temporary staffing partner, it's feasible to hire leaders who help meet the leadership needs of the company and stabilize operations. 

For details on using contract or temp staffing to address critical shortages during this challenging time, please contact us.