You are a leader.
The urgency of this question is no surprise. A Rogue Wave, defined as “a massive organizational crisis that is spontaneous, sudden and significant,” is a challenge that every leader these days can expect to face.
Harry Hutson and Martha Johnson are leadership coaches with decades of experience as executives in the public and private sectors. Drawing from a variety of social science research, interviews, and personal experience, they explore the humanistic and personal challenges of crisis leadership in their new book, NAVIGATING AN ORGANIZATIONAL CRISIS: When Leadership Matter Most (Praeger, January 31, 2016).
“Crisis demands much from a leader but not necessarily from one’s known bank account of skills and competences. It is a very humbling thing to be, in a very public way, in charge but unable to be in control, and when logistic, operational, and reactive muscles cannot pull the weight,” state Hutson and Johnson.
NAVIGATING AN ORGANIZATIONAL CRISIS details how leaders under intense pressure reach deep down into themselves in order to find a way forward. The book shares stories and case studies ranging from small non-profits directors dealing with tragedy to corporate executives suddenly in the spotlight (Entergy Louisiana post-Hurricane Katrina, for example). The authors cull revelations and identify patterns of how leaders can recognize and best apply their internal strengths.
NAVIGATING AN ORGANIZATIONAL CRISIS offers insights such as the following:
- Faced with a Rogue Wave, leaders must promptly name it and face it. Any stalling undermines their leadership.
- Resilience can be improved, but it is leaders' pre-resilience that truly buttresses their effectiveness.
- Helpful help is hard for leaders who are focused on self-control to grasp, but it is essential in recovery and support.
- A leader’s skills and willingness to create meaning through storytelling is crucial in setting the organization up for the future.
- The journey from organizational crisis to leadership maturity follows a pattern: Respond, Reflect, Reach, Restore, Renew.
“Leaders we interviewed told organizational disaster stories as if they happened yesterday. No one needed a calendar to puzzle together the details of the events. They became self-reflective.... Organizational crisis had intensified their awareness, shifted their assumptions about themselves, and uncovered deeper questions. It concentrated and crystallized leadership lessons,” comment the authors.
“In light of current crisis events, even experienced, practiced leaders can easily get in their own way. When they override their values and higher selves in urgency or even panic they make things worse. That's where we can help. Our book is more likely to be read in prospect or retrospect, but we can help leaders and teams in real time when we interact in person. That's our purpose in doing this work,” says Hutson.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
A 25-year veteran in senior human resources and leadership and development roles in four multinational companies, HARRY HUTSON is now an independent consultant. He has passion for talent development, change management, organizational integration, and—most of all—finding a way when people feel lost or confused and tough choices need to be made. He lives in Chapel Hill, NC and teaches classes in Executive Education and the MBA Program at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.
MARTHA JOHNSON is a leadership expert who draws on the lessons she learned as an executive with a more than 35-year career in business and government. Johnson is former Administrator of the General Services Administration under President Obama and also served for eight years in the Clinton Administration. Her private sector career has spanned the information technology, architecture, strategic consulting, and automotive industries.
-- Love Rae
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