How do you lead effectively in a crisis?

By definition, a crisis is something that has to be managed weekly, if not daily. There is no time for long winded discussions about strategy, competitive reviews, investments in technology transformations, the newest shiny idea someone has. While these are profoundly important they are the framework against which to measure the daily and weekly performance to the plan that will, if implemented, deliver commercial life. If you do not have such a framework, you will be in far greater trouble than you may otherwise have been. However, ensuring that at least the day to day decisions you now make are consistent with each other, and lead to a simple, single objective will be a good start.

The leadership style in this case of a crisis is different from the  strategic leadership necessary to position for the long term. Churchill failed as a leader in every situation other than the crisis in which Britain found itself in 1939, in which he excelled. He communicated the objective, to beat the Nazis, nothing else mattered, and everything was measured against that single objective.

There are many examples from more recent times. Steve Jobs taking over Apple a few weeks from bankruptcy, and turning it around into the cash powerhouse it is today. Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post as a personal investment (as distinct from one Amazon made) as the corpse was about to be lowered into the ground, and remaking it as a journalistic powerhouse.  Alan Mulally doing the double act, leading  Boeing  through the tragedy of 9/11, then repeating the dose by saving a dead man walking Ford, during a time further made challenging by the 2008 financial crash. You might even add Kevin Rudd to the list, ensuring Australia escaped that 2008 crash relatively unscathed.

So, how do you do it?

Simple to say, hard to do: 2 rules only:

• Have a plan with a simple, single objective
• Work the plan relentlessly. This means daily, weekly, monthly review and rework of the plan at every level of implementation and accountability.

The plan has to be articulated at the macro level, and progressively broken down into the micro, so that the role of every person, and element of the plan, plays in the achievement of the objective is transparent.

I call it a ‘nested plan,’ best visualised by the typical organisation structure diagram. It replaces the names in the pyramid with objectives, and the cascading individual plans and personnel accountabilities required to achieve the cascading objectives, culminating in the overall objective at the top.

Every plan review meeting, from the shop floor to the executive suite should follow a consistent format, which enables single minded focus on the single objective. That format should be something like:

• Department plan

• Plan status

• Forecast

• Opportunities and risks
• Period over period summary, qualitative as well as quantitative
• Status of any items requiring attention from outside the power or capability of the meeting group.

Best practice for meetings of this type is well documented, following well understood principals of psychology and accountability, but in summary:

• The above format, or your version of it, acts as the agenda

• The plan status is delivered by the responsible person, or multiple persons.

• The review is not a forum for resolving problems, just articulating them. Resolution is outside the meetings, but reported back.
• There is a consistent format to individual presentations, again following the format above.
• Never shoot the messenger of bad news, allocate a priority to defining the problem and accountability for suggesting solutions, to be reported in the subsequent meetings.
• Concise questions that serve to clarify and quantify are encouraged from all participants.
  Meetings are open to any from outside the specific group who may have a valuable or even different perspective to offer.
• Meetings are absolutely transparent to all.

There will be resistance to the implementation, people are not generally used to the levels of accountability and transparency a system of this type delivers. However, once you get it rolling, it builds a momentum of its own, as people take responsibility for their part in delivering the objective.

The header photo is of the priorities set by Alan Mulally on taking the reins at Ford. For the whole of his tenure, the process above was relentless implemented, and Ford came though the 2008 crash not requiring any government assistance, and went on to regain its significant and profitable position in the auto industry.