67% say uncertainty is the biggest challenge: Leading with resilience in a time of crisis
by Nicky Budd-Thanos, on April 24, 2020
Yesterday, Alex Budak, lecturer at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and expert on crisis leadership, joined Crew COO, Scott Van Brunt for a free webinar on how to lead with resilience in times of crisis. The recording is available to watch at any time and is full of insight and expert tips on how to navigate and lead through these uncertain times with your team. We encourage you to watch and share!
According to a poll during the webinar, 67% of attendees report that the biggest challenge of the crisis so far has been dealing with the incredible amount of uncertainty. The full webinar is packed with actionable steps to lead through uncertainty, but we picked out three highlights from Alex’s contributions:
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What it means to be a changemaker - and why it matters during COVID-19. Alex kicked off the webinar by explaining his concept of ‘changemakers’: “people who are able to step up with a sense of agency, who can provide courageous leadership, act with resilience and leave the world, their companies and their teams a little bit better off than they found them.” The world is grappling with unprecedented challenges as the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold, but being able to reframe these challenges as opportunities to lead your team with courage and with an agile, adaptable mindset will undoubtedly be an advantage.
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The important role of purpose. According to Gallup research, only 13% of people globally report feeling engaged at work. While ensuring that your employees feel connected to the company’s overall mission and purpose can play a big role in keeping employees engaged under normal circumstances, this is especially game-changing during a crisis. In Alex’s words, “Connecting with the purpose of your organization allows people to execute at an even higher level. And that’s what we need right now: people who are executing. Purpose is an incredible way to drive that engagement.”
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Why cultivating dispositional flexibility is crucial. During the webinar, Alex outlined three types of flexibility that are key to strong leadership: cognitive, emotional, and dispositional. While each type plays its own important role in adapting to a crisis situation, Alex explained that, in his opinion, dispositional flexibility is the most important one for leaders to focus on during a crisis. The ability to remain both optimistic and realistic, dispositional flexibility is all about recognizing that, while this is a challenging time with yet more real challenges ahead, leaders can also maintain optimism and agency in ultimately overcoming these challenges.
Don’t miss out on the rest of Alex’s insights and actionable tips for improving your team’s communication, resilience, and leadership abilities: listen in to the webinar recording and share it with your team now.
We’re planning more insightful events and content coming soon, including a webinar next week on Thursday, April 30 with an overview of new Crew features that contribute to more secure, real-time team communication.
