If you are an employee, a manager, or a business owner, at some point or another, you’ll face a crisis at work. It is an unavoidable part of every business, be it big or small!
According to research, 69% of business leaders have faced a crisis at work in a tenure of five years, with an average number of three crises.
You have only two options: rise to the situation and solve it, or succumb to it. So, if you choose the first option, let’s dive in!
- Maintain Transparency in Every Unit
You need to be transparent with every individual who can or will be affected by the crisis. Understand that everyone from the highest to the lowest designation will have questions and worries about how it will affect them.
In the face of such issues, you will be tempted to reassure everyone. But this decision will be far from ideal as sooner or later; it will backfire.
Refrain from giving out false hope of solutions when there aren’t any. So, it’s better to accept that you don’t have answers to their questions and will get back to them soon.
- Face the Crisis, Head On
It takes a lot of hard work, determination, and consistency to establish a business. As a manager or business owner, you will never be able to accept your hard work getting ruined by a setback. However, springing back from a crisis phase takes a lot of planning and action.
But sometimes, doing it single-handedly may become too much to handle. That’s when you can always seek the assistance of award-winning crisis management software to help you collaborate with crisis and business continuity teams.
It will help you track the incidents and all the elements at play and keep stakeholders updated on every step.
- Communicate Potential Undertakings
One vital step is to highlight the efforts you’re making to solve the crisis. This will increase others’ confidence in your work ethic. It will also improve work relationships based on mutual trust in the long run!
You can start by explaining the issue or potential cause of the problem, despite how problematic it seems. However, you can level it out by offering solutions that will make you seem like a good leader.
Honesty will be an effective approach to keep up the hope by working out solutions.
- Be Compassionate and Provide Resources to Cope
As a leader, you must be compassionate about the concerns and fears of your team in the face of a crisis. Show appreciation by celebrating individual and team accomplishments, promote flexible work policies as per the crisis, and/or seek to understand your decisions and actions by taking team feedback.
This phase is overwhelming both for you and the team. So, being a leader provide resources to cope during such a time. Bring counselors on board if you don’t already have an Employee Assistance Program available at your workplace.
If the situation comes to a point where you may have to lay off your employees, offer outplacement services to help them land new jobs.
- Evaluate the Situation to Flexibly Adapt to it
One of your key responsibilities during a crisis is to ensure that you have loyal and competent people around you who will put things into line for you and help you work out of the crisis.
Once you clearly evaluate the situation, approach the problem with a flexible mindset. Pick one problem at a time and try to find solutions.
If you find yourself at a loss, take ideas from other organizations with similar experiences. Be open to ideas and suggestions. Alter them to the need of the hour.
Wrap It Up!
A crisis period at your workplace, just like any other problem, is a temporary one. So, just be patient and organized in your approach, even if it intimidates you.
Start with the tips mentioned here and try to work your way out of the issue. Be open to changes, suggestions, and criticisms. You may never know where you might find the solutions!
