Imagine you are in the middle of the ocean on a boat, and you accidentally drop your paddles into the water. Also, you notice a small hole in your boat—crisis alert. Without a plan or the skills necessary to execute a plan, you definitely will sink. In the business world, business leaders might not get stuck in a damaged boat in the middle of the ocean, but they can face a wide range of crises, such as cyberattacks, market disruptions, or global pandemics like COVID-19.
In the past, many big organisations have disappeared from the market as their business leaders could not manage the crisis or unexpected challenges well. Even the most experienced or qualified business leaders cannot be prepared for every crisis. However, they definitely should have the skills needed to manage every crisis or unexpected challenge that comes their way.
While a few business leaders might be naturally blessed with crisis management skills, the majority have to develop them. Are you wondering how to develop crisis management skills? Through executive coaching. Executive coaching helps business leaders prepare for everything they need to keep their business thriving, including crisis management skills. Many of the skills that business leaders need to demonstrate during the crisis are those that executive coaching already focuses on.
If you are wondering “How can I better manage crises and unexpected challenges through executive coaching, scroll down to learn all about it.
Tips for Developing Crisis Management Skills By an Expert Executive Coach
The top skills required for crisis management look like those needed to be a great business leader. All these skills will apply to all types of crisis management, from financial to technological. With executive coaching, business leaders are able to develop skills that are crucial to crisis management as well as effective leadership.
If you don’t have time and finances for executive coaching, we are here to help you. Simon Ellson, expert executive business coach at ActionCoach, shared the best ways how business leaders can develop crisis management skills to help their organisations come through any crisis successfully, which are listed below:
Communication
You might have heard this phrase a lot – communication is the key. Well, it holds true, especially in the crisis management aspect. Communication is one of the most crucial crisis management skills to have. Suppose your organisation is experiencing a major cybersecurity threat, and all the sensitive data of your organisation is at stake. In that case, what step do you have to take first? You must keep a clear communication line open with your organisation’s IT team.
Once you have communicated with the IT team, you will have to take your workforce in confidence. You will have to conduct meetings with them and let them know the severity of the breach. Also, you can take feedback from your workforce on how to address the crisis with the customers. Later, you will have to exchange to-the-point information with the customers timely.
If customers learn about the cybersecurity threat from any other source, they will feel betrayed. Therefore, the best approach is to inform them yourself. However, once the customers are aware of the problem, they will ask for updates regularly. In these times of crisis, the best leaders are able to communicate calmly, clearly and concisely.
However, what if the business leader is not good at communication? In that case, they will fail at the first step of crisis management, worsening the problem. Therefore, good communication skills are necessary for crisis management and successful leadership. Working with an executive coach will help business leaders improve their communication skills. However, if you don’t have an executive business coach, you can work on your communications skills yourself. All you need to do is be authentic, direct, concise, and actively listen.
Adaptability
In the business world, change is inevitable. Business leaders cannot stop the change no matter how hard they try. COVID-19 is an excellent example of change that negatively impacted businesses worldwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, regulations changed, states were shut down, and organisations were forced to work in entirely new ways. Companies that failed to tweak their strategies and adapt to the situation disappeared during COVID-19.
Therefore, you must have adaptability skills if you want your business to come through any crisis successfully. Executive coaching helps business leaders develop adaptability or change management skills. Once business leaders know how to handle organisational change, they will not fear crises or unexpected challenges. Instead, they will face them with great courage and enthusiasm.
Emotional Intelligence
When a crisis or unexpected challenge hits an organisation, the employees experience significant stress, and the last thing they need is an anxious or confused leader. Suppose your organisation is undergoing a financial crisis. In that case, the emotions of your workforce will be running high as they will be worried about losing their jobs, handling a lot of workloads or saying goodbye to their fellow employees. Besides employees, investors will be concerned about their returns, and clients will rethink their decision to continue business with your organisation.
In these difficult times, businesses need a leader who acknowledges other people’s emotions and uses this information to make sound decisions and communicate accordingly. However, only emotionally intelligent business leaders can understand people’s emotions.
Emotional intelligence is another crucial crisis management skill. Executive coaching can help business leaders improve their emotional intelligence. The more emotionally intelligent the leader is, the more capable they are to handle the emotional outbursts in their organisation.
Creativity
When a crisis hits, smart business leaders say goodbye to the usual business strategies. Good crisis management requires creative solutions and out-of-the-box thinking, which many business leaders struggle with. Working with an executive coach will help business leaders boost their creativity and develop out-of-the-box thinking.
However, if you don’t have a leadership coach at your side, you can improve your creativity by being flexible and scheduling time to work on creative strategies.
Conclusion:
Are you still struggling to manage a crisis or unexpected challenges at work after following all the tips mentioned above? You must consider taking executive coaching. An executive coach will help identify your mistakes and set you on the right track.
