Every working day is different. When you wake up and take a sip of your morning coffee, you do not know what might be around the corner. Accidents, slip-ups, and mistakes happen. You might have to deal with a momentary crisis, like a project that is running behind schedule or something large scale like the COVID-19 pandemic. Whatever might happen, you want to be able to guide your team through the crisis and out onto the other side. When employees know you can deal with a work crisis, they’ll have the confidence to turn to you as soon as something goes wrong.
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Keep It Positive
It’s easy to become overwhelmed in a crisis and think everything is going wrong. You want to stay in a positive mindset to keep morale amongst your employees and assure them you can find a solution. Staying positive will also help you stay calm and think clearly through the crisis. Nothing is too big a problem for you to sort by looking at it rationally.
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Stay Informed
Whatever your crisis is, you want to stay informed. Whether it’s by staying in an email chain or keeping on top of public health information, you want to make sure you know everything about the situation. If there’s an ongoing crisis inside your company, you want to check in with your employees to stay up-to-date with what’s happening. Staying informed means you won’t have to deal with any nasty surprises down the line.
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Focus on Your Team
When you’re dealing with a work crisis, you want to focus on your employees. They’re the backbone of your business, and their development is essential for its future. Everyone can make a mistake, or a crisis might have been caused by a third-party. You can use a crisis as an opportunity to help educate your employees by showing them how to tackle complex situations. Crisis management is an essential part of mentoring, with 97% of employees saying that they benefit from such in-house development.
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Be Flexible
During the COVID-19 pandemic, around 24% of employees swapped to working exclusively from home. Staying flexible allows you to face a crisis head-on and find a solution that fits everyone’s needs. While your employees can work comfortably from home, you get the benefit of their extra productivity. You want to stay flexible with your options throughout your work crisis, knowing that no one is going to get everything they want.
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Know You Can’t Control Everything
Not everyone can solve a problem with the flick of their fingers. You won’t be able to control everyone who is dealing with the crisis. You might not be the best person to deal with every issue. Identify what you can do to tackle or resolve the crisis early on so that you can focus on how you can make a difference instead of trying to control every aspect.
About the Author
Simon Chou is the Vice President of Operations and Growth at BCjobs.ca. Over the course of his career, he carved a niche in brand development, marketing strategy, and online presence for startups. Prior to joining BCJobs.ca, Simon was an advisor for several global blockchain projects including Litecoin, NEM, and Ripple. In the past, he also worked with Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare space through SM Digital—a global marketing agency.
