INSIGHT EXTRA: CRISIS MANAGEMENT
CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Supporting HR Leaders By Lucy Adams
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s an HRD of some fairly big organisations, I would have said I was well use to leading HR through crises, whether it was the fall out of the global recession or something a bit more isolated such as the Savile crisis whilst at the BBC. But clearly nothing has prepared HR for what we’re going through now.
Now, more than ever, HR can help leaders more by NOT providing detailed prescribed rules and instead treating them as adults who are more than capable of using their judgement wisely and effectively. Moreover, we are currently witnessing how people at all levels of the organisation are capable of amazing things when freed from traditional constraints; their creativity, their energy, the things they can achieve with very little, how they can adapt to change really fast. We can support our leaders by helping them recognise that the way to get through this crisis is not necessarily through traditional command and control approaches. They can’t possibly have all the answers right now and need to trust their people to do the right thing, to know more about what might be needed on the ground and to have the ideas to help the business get through its darkest period.
Many of you are under huge strain as you attempt to support your organisation and lead through the current crisis. The HR people in my network are up to their necks in furloughing staff, coping with the challenges of remote working or handling the personal crises of their leaders and employees – all whilst worrying about the looming cloud of recession and balancing their own personal needs of parents, children and friends.
In a great recent article by McKinsey, a number of leaders talked about what had worked for them during previous crises and one thing that all agreed on was the need for leaders to empower and trust – often at the very moment when our inclination is hold on tight and impose even greater control. For example, Manley Hopkinson, who served as an officer in the Royal Navy during the first Gulf War says, ‘It is vital that a leader resists centralising control. The temptation in a time of crisis is for leaders to put themselves at the centre of all activity… even though precisely the opposite is needed.’
It can be tricky to transfer the tactics we deployed in previous difficult periods when there are so many aspects to this that are different or further reaching but there are some that we can re-use and adapt. Throughout, HR is going to be asked to provide absolute certainty and clarity – to provide rules and process – and of course, in some instances this can be useful. But during a crisis it is more important than ever to avoid the temptation to position HR as the panacea to all leaders’ dilemmas.
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