7 Lessons in Leadership: COVID-19 Leading in a Crisis

The global COVID-19 pandemic has thrust both business and public leaders around the world into the spotlight. The situation is revealing the challenges of true leadership. This article will explore some lessons that can be learned from this experience and provide some insights on how to overcome or avoid the pitfalls.

Lesson #1: It is Lonely at the Top

Leadership, particularly at the highest levels, can be lonely. It is not that you don’t have lots of people around you, it is that the accountability ultimately rests with you. This absolute accountability weighs heavily on CEO’s. However, it is the failure to recognize, or accept, this accountability that is so often the driving force behind the downfall of many leaders.

Translating this concept into practical terms, it is the ownership of the consequences that result from:

decisions to act,
decisions NOT to act, or
the failure to recognize decisions to be made.

Why does this matter? The pandemic crisis has shown us great examples, where leaders in both business and government have failed. The failures were seldom intentional, or even out of incompetence. Instead, the failures largely were the result of:

bad or incomplete information,
poor or incomplete decision process, or
weak principles applied to the decision process.

Does this mean that great leaders never make these mistakes? Of course not, the difference is that great leaders avoid big mistakes, own the mistakes the mistakes they make, and learn from them.

Lesson #2: Good Teams Matter

While a leader is accountable for the decisions of the organization, a leader does not make decisions without the input and support of a team. A CEO’s effectiveness is only as good as the team that surrounds them. This team is not a single voice; instead, the team is diverse and brings a range of viewpoints, often different than the CEO’s.

However, a team is only as good as their leader. A leader that doesn’t instill trust in their team will not get the best out each member. If any individual is fearful of voicing their opinion because it might differ with the CEO or other teammates, the whole team and the leader will suffer. It is the responsibility of the leader to create an environment where every member of the team feels confident in expressing their point of view, that debates are conducted so no one drowns out the voice of others, and that the engagement in the decision process builds support for the ultimate decision made by the CEO.

The pandemic crisis has shown which leaders are operating in a vacuum, and those that have an engaged team at their side. Organizations with the former, show confusion and inconsistency, ones with the latter, flow smoothly and seamlessly.

Lesson #3: Experts only represent one point of view.

Throughout the pandemic crisis, news sources have battered us with “facts” presented by “experts”. These same experts have suggested (and at times demanded) that leaders implement specific actions only to reverse or evolve these recommendations over a relatively short period of time. During this same period, business and government leaders made decisions based upon these recommendations that have resulted in terrible consequences.

The information that was presented by these experts was done with great authority and total confidence, and was backed by years of experience, credentials, and positions of authority. However, these experts represented one narrow point of view. Experts, by and large, are specialists and their thought process does not factor all the complexity that must be considered in a leader’s decision. Too many times, leaders have implemented a direction solely based on the advice from one expert; but this viewpoint only represented a single dimension of the problem. As a CEO, you have the responsibility to make sure that you have a broad set of information, from diverse sources, to make effective decisions. Don’t make the mistake of failing to get enough different points of view and then betting everything on a single perspective.

Lesson #4: Information is Always Limited

The pandemic has shown that lack of good information, or the focus on bad information, has been a driver of many mistakes. One of a CEO’s most valuable skills is knowing how to weigh the quality and completeness of information in their decision process.

Evaluating the quality of information starts with the source. The who, what, when, where, and why regarding the information can help you weigh the quality:

Who is giving you this information? Are they intimately knowledgeable about the data? Do they have expertise in the subject matter? Do they have a record of providing reliable information?
What is the information? Is the data credible? Does it make sense?
When was the information collected? Is this recent data, or what this data from years ago? Is the data so immediate, that no one has checked its validity?
Where was this information collected? Does this data only apply to one geography, or one market?
Why was the information collected? Why is the data being given to you? Does the anyone have an agenda that they are promoting?

Evaluating the completeness of the information requires you to think beyond what is in front of you. What is missing? What data don’t you have? Why don’t you have that information? Market data is very deceptive because it is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to collect. It is also difficult to know what you are missing. The consequence of the missing or incomplete information can be disastrous and is the cause of many of the worst business decisions made by leaders. As a leader, you must look beyond the information that you have and make a judgment based overall picture of risk versus reward using your experience as a guide. If your “gut” is telling you that something isn’t right, pause and take a moment to consider what you are missing, before you commit to a big decision.

Lesson #5: Effective decisions are not impulses, but products of a disciplined process.

Discipline in a decision process is essential to ensure good outcomes. In the heat of the battle, it is tempting to throw this discipline out the window so you can act quickly. However, big decisions carried out this way are no better than tossing a dart at a board, and generally get equally random results.

I am not telling you to set up a bureaucracy to make decisions; however, I am suggesting that you should make sure that you have the discipline to: (1) get good information from your team, (2) have some mechanism to check the validity of the information, and (3) patiently weigh the information with your team, but with your wisdom at the helm.

Lesson #6: Leaders must LEAD, not follow the crowd.

Leaders have made the mistake of following the popular direction, or the direction demanded by the most vocal. Leading this way is not leadership at all, it is following. Real leadership is being willing to step outside of the expected and choosing a path that is uniquely suited for your organization.

Too many leaders in the last few months have followed the crowd, doing what everyone expected of them, rather than thinking through the problem and coming up with the best solution for their business and customers. The consequences to the business, the employees, and customers has been significant. Leadership is not an easy path; you face many critics. Do not make your decisions out of fear of this criticism; make your decisions using a disciplined process guided by your principles.

Lesson #7: Leaders that focus on the narrative, and not the principles, fail to lead.

Everyone wants to be liked, but leadership is about doing what is right, not what sounds good. When faced with a crisis, focus all your attention on making the best decision for the organization without considering on how you will be judged. The narrative should only come after you have decided the direction, and the messaging should be designed to bring clarity to the organization and customers.

Too often, leaders focus on the narrative, rather than the facts. This narrative focus infects the decision process with a bias that prevents leaders from objectively seeing, and judging, the information they receive. We have seen numerous examples of failed leadership following the narrative approach over the last few months. These “leaders” have been solely focused on explaining why they aren’t responsible for bad outcomes. Avoiding accountability and trying to make yourself look good is not leadership.

Summary

Leading in a crisis requires leaders to step ahead and away from the crowd. However, this doesn’t mean stepping away from your team; the team is your most important ally in challenging times. Understand that the information that you receive will always be insufficient, and experts, no matter how knowledgeable and experienced they are, will never be able to make the big decisions for you. Courage and leadership are required to make these decisions that often appear unpopular and carry personal risk. Open yourself up to criticism and accountability and your true leadership will shine. Be patient, thoughtful, prayerful, and trust your principles to guide you in times of crisis and your wisdom will prevail.

What other ideas do you have to guide a CEO when facing a crisis?