At times of crisis, your business leadership skills are fully tested. Personal strengths and weaknesses may be exposed in a way that would not be possible except under great stress. But in order for your business to make it through times of crisis, you need to remain in control. Here are our Top 5 Tips for staying calm during a crisis:
1. Sometimes in the heat of the moment it can be difficult to make rational decisions. Try to look at the crisis from the perspective of an outsider with no vested interest in the business. What would they recommend as the correct course of action for your business? You might be able to identify potential solutions this way.
2. Experience is a great tool when tackling a crisis. Think back to similar situations that you have experienced personally – either in this business or elsewhere in your working life – and how they were handled. Learn from the things that went well and also the decisions that were mistakes.
3. Don’t be paralysed by the crisis. Inaction is often the worst possible response to a crisis and intervening early on can stop a minor incident from spiralling out of control – but do make sure that the course of action you take is a calm and measured response.
4. Try not to be too freaked out by a crisis in the early days of your business. Often they can be a great learning experience and it is likely that what seems like a crisis right now will seem fairly inconsequential when you look back upon the history of your business in a year or so.
5. A crisis is also a great point in time for you to make changes and reinvent your business. The experience will be a great test to your leadership, but if you handle it well then your business could emerge from the experience reinvigorated and back in the fight!
