There is great importance of authentic leadership during a crisis.
In this crisis management blog series we have looked at different leadership profiles based on their media coverage. From disruptive leaders that charge ahead and promote themselves along with their brand, to corporate leaders who are hesitant to build this kind of profile and instead promote a company wide view.
If a crisis happened today, are you comfortable your organisation has the right plan and the right people in place to respond swiftly and effectively to show authentic leadership?
In our last blog we spoke about the importance of response time during a crisis, with a fast response time being favourable. The next part of our leadership blog series we delve into authenticity and how to leverage it during a crisis. We also further explore high profile leaders, as they carry out their leadership throughout a crisis.
High profile leaders have shown us how crucial presence and authenticity are to ensure actions and motivations are believed, and how these traits need to be nurtured outside of a crisis.
We know that responding quickly during a crisis is crucial, yet coming across as genuine in response to crisis is just as important. Communicating with authentic language shows a genuine kind of compassion that marks a true leader. In our latest Leadership Index: Leading through Crisis, we explore the authenticity of four high profile leaders and how the authenticity of their actions affect the outcomes of their crises.
There are three components an authentic leader should possess:
This includes ways to increase self-awareness as a leader through unbiased processing of strengths and weaknesses, cultivating compassion and transmitting it to others with humility.
This includes acting in accordance with personal principles while setting the tone of change whilst also staying in control. It’s important to thoughtfully choose words and behaviours to resonate with the affected audience.
This includes building an organisation to be authentic with a kind and caring mentality as well as promoting an inclusive identity. A social community should also be created that changes with the current landscape and achieves a uniformed balance.
Leaders today are facing an enormous test of character. Understanding the risks from crises and subsequent actions can be the difference between surviving and succumbing to them. Authenticity is a quality that could differentiate a poor leader from a great one and provides the ability to turn around a crisis.
Authentic leaders are self actualised individuals who are aware of their strengths, limitations, emotions and genuinely lead with their heart, not just their minds. Communicating in a direct manner is critical to successful outcomes, but it’s done with empathy. Directness without empathy is cruel – especially in crises where lives have been lost.
Providing a calm, compassionate and strategic response to a crisis, can portray a genuine message and enable cohesiveness between those who are affected. A defensive and a disconnected message can lead to a narrative of evasiveness and create a struggle to gain trust and believability.
If you would like to learn more about these case studies or how we can assist with crisis management download a copy of our 3rd edition Leadership Index: Leading through Crisis.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are being felt far and wide. During these times of crises, choosing the right brand messaging and behaviour plus executing it at the right time can instil greater meaning to your brand and strengthen customer relationships.
Unfortunate events occur throughout the life of an organisation and in our ever-changing environment, no two crises are the same. This makes effective crisis management a more dynamic and demanding process than many organisations expect.
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