three strategies for leading during crisis

Many organizations in Alberta are into the fourth week of their “new normal” – employees are working from home, practicing physical distancing (personally and professionally), and trying to get through these challenging days while trying hard not to eat everything in their fridges in one day.

Many small businesses have had to close their doors. But for those who remain open, here are three strategies for leading during crisis:

Be the best version of yourself

As a leader, your employees are watching you closely.  They look to you to tell them the truth, to communicate transparently and to be kind.  In such uncertain and unstable times, now is when your leadership matters the most.  My advice to you is to act in a way that makes your employees feel proud to work for you and for your organization.

To do that, you have to

  • Balance head (financial) and heart (people) considerations.  Do everything that you can to minimize the negative impact on your employees while still ensuring the financial stability of the organization.  

  • Connect with your employees often and give them the space to ask questions.  Listen to their concerns.  Answer the questions that you can with the information that you know right now.  Be transparent about the decisions that you have made and those that you are still grappling with.  Explain the rationale for your decisions and the obstacles that you are trying to overcome.

  • Be authentic, genuine and SHOW up for your employees as if lives depend on it.  Ask them what they need the most from you right now and then figure out if there is any way possible for you to give them what they need.  If they need support (child care support, mental health support, technology support), figure out creative ways to help them navigate these personal challenges.

Focus on progress over perfection

Every employee is trying to adjust to this “new normal”.  In addition to feeling physically and socially isolated, many employees are dealing with additional personal and financial stressors.  For example, some employees could be dealing with sick children or parents, others could be trying to homeschool their children while trying to work from home, and still others could have a partner who was recently laid off and be struggling to get clarity of what financial supports they will have access to.  In the face of all of these stressors, it is critical that managers and leaders demonstrate empathy, understanding and care.  

For work, encourage your employees to strive for progress over perfection.  The world as we know it has changed, almost overnight.  So, it’s important that we give our employees some time to adjust, too. Encourage your employees to reach out, to help and support each other in these challenging times.  Encourage your employees to prioritize what is essential, to identify what needs to get done today and to set aside the rest for another day.  Reinforce that you trust your employees to do their best work and to make their best efforts.  Reinforce that working at 80%, is good enough for today.  Reinforce the motto of progress over perfection, because sometimes “done” is better than perfect.  

I’m not suggesting that expectations don’t need to be set or that employees don’t need to be productive during this time or that deadlines don’t need to be met. I’m saying that leaders need to give employees some space and grace to determine how and when they work best, and to support and enable employees to meet expectations, deliverables and deadlines. Now, more than ever, leaders need to provide their employees with positive feedback, coaching for development and appreciation for their efforts.

For example, a friend of mine has a two-year old, her husband works out of town three out of four weeks of the month, and she is trying to navigate working from home while still keeping her child alive - not an easy feat. In order to get her work done, she wakes up really early to get in two hours of work before her child wakes up, she participates in team calls and gets some more work done during her child’s scheduled nap times and she works for another few hours after she puts her child to bed for the night.  She’s exhausted but she’s managing and she’s not letting anyone down at work.  My friend told me that her manager has been extraordinarily understanding and supportive of her situation. He checks in with her frequently to make sure that she is coping and tells her that he appreciates all that she is doing to support the organization during these difficult days. 

What we know to be true is that the current COVID-19 public health crisis is being positioned as a marathon, and not a sprint.  We are likely to be living in our new normal for weeks, if not months.  So it’s important to give your employees some time -  to breathe, to grieve the past, and to adapt, adjust and prepare for the future.  

Be someone’s hero

We are living in the midst of what feels like the plot of the latest Hollywood drama.  In every movie and in every real-life situation, there are the heroes – people who help others or perform a random act of kindness in the midst of difficulties. And in this crazy season of our lives, there are many ways to be a hero to someone.

For example, one of my clients had just returned from overseas travel and was in the midst of completing her mandatory 14-day social isolation at home. She was struggling to figure out what to have for lunch and it looked like that can of tuna from 2017 was the winner until she heard a noise outside of her door. Her manager had dropped off a Dairy Queen blizzard for her. And just like that, her tuna sandwich lunch could wait another day.  

Another leader I know owns and runs a restaurant.  They had to temporarily lay off some of their staff because they were no longer open for dine-in services and were only running their takeout and delivery services.  Each employee that was laid off was given two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice (even though they had been employed for less than a year) and a big box filled with freezer ready meals, a stock of fresh produce, charcuterie meats and cheeses and 4 industrial size rolls of toilet paper. Real heroes don’t always wear capes.  Sometimes they wear chef hats and aprons  :)

Even in the face of great obstacles and crises, every leader can find small wins to celebrate, to identify the heroes that solved a problem or helped to brighten someone’s day and laugh at the CRAZY moments in between.  

This is the time when leadership matters the most and it’s how we will get through these challenging times – TOGETHER.

Stay safe, stay strong, wash your hands and keep physically distancing to flatten that curve!

April 7, 2020


Saira Gangji is an independent licensed Workplace Investigator at hrology in Calgary, AB.  She investigates allegations of discrimination and human rights, harassment, violence and misconduct in the workplace.  For more information about hrology and our process, see the work with me page.