How to react to the different types of crisis?

‍How, as a leader, can you react to the different types of crisis? In this new Professional Coaching Minute, Axèle Lofficial, Associate and Executive Coach at Talentis, invites us to discuss the following subject.

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(transcript of the video available below)

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First of all, it is important to remember that there are 3 main categories of crisis that are completely different. In terms of time in particular, there are short-term, medium-term or long-term crises, in different contexts and with a certain number of criteria that will allow you, as a leader, to know how to adjust and how to support your teams. We will base this coaching minute on the work of Keith Guerin, who was a professor of leadership at the University of Warwick until 2018 and who did a number of fairly advanced research on the subject.

What are the 3 different types of crisis?

There are three types of crises: the survival crisis, the tamable crisis, and the complex and pernicious crisis.

Crisis type 1: the survival crisis.

The survival crisis, you can be in a situation where you have to react really immediately, in the very short term. The situation at that moment will require immediate and really rather hierarchical action from the leader in “command and control” mode. This is not the time to question the processes that have been put in place, the authority of the hierarchy, etc. In these moments, the leader will react immediately, give orders, transmit, and the teams will follow.

Type of crisis no. 2: the tame crisis

In the second type of crisis, the tamed crisis, it is a situation that is, in the medium term, an already known situation where we have reference points. As a result, we will be able to adjust over time.

What will be important at this time for the leader is to give direction, manage with the teams, lead, and monitor what happens to adjust.

We could take a very concrete example. During the lockdown in Shanghai, a company is left without supplying a key element in its manufacturing chain because the supplier in Shanghai can no longer ship. In this situation, which is probably well known and already experienced, we almost have some references. It's going to last a while, so what's going to be important is to review the supply chain and find another supplier. Of course, we are not absolutely certain of the duration of confinement but we are not without reference points. It is possible to manage, monitor, have indicators and say to yourself there you go, we solved the crisis, we have returned to a mode of operation. This is not the normal initial mode of operation, of course, but it is a plan B that is absolutely fine.

Type of crisis no. 3: the complex and pernicious crisis

The third type of crisis is a complex and pernicious crisis. Why is it pernicious? First of all, we already do not know that it is a crisis that is complex and long when in reality, it is taking place over a long term. Sometimes you realize that you don't have the solution at all. Maybe we don't even know what the problem is. We also did not identify the key players who could help us. And sometimes, you don't even know how you're going to be able to approach the question. The COVID crisis is a perfect example...

How to react in a crisis situation?

If we go into more detail, the question to ask ourselves is: how, at that moment, can we find a medium-term solution, and now, it will be important, on strategic issues, to ask ourselves together, to reflect, to co-construct. It is impossible to follow a process because in reality there is none for this type of situation. It is a completely unknown situation. We think together and at some point, we will embark on a path. But it means that the leader will help the teams and with his teams, he will always be on the lookout for questions such as: is the path that has been taken the right one? Does it need to be readjusted?

All of this requires a lot of listening. It requires a lot of communication. It requires humility. It requires daring to say that I don't know. So, on the one hand, the leader will provide the vision and the strategic direction. And at the same time, he will work with the teams to make sure that we are always on the right track, going in the right direction, even if it means going back from time to time to take another path.

Attitudes in the face of a crisis therefore depend on the type of crisis in question and on the intensity with which it will impact the activity, the teams and the company.

We therefore invite you to identify whether, when you are in a crisis situation, identify the type of crisis in order to adjust your behavior. Good thinking.

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