The First 48: Why Most Companies Get the First 2 Days Wrong Following a Crisis

Speaker A: Foreign. You are listening to Leading Under Pressure, the podcast where we explore what really happens inside of organizations during moments of crisis, change and disruption. I'm your host, Carmel Brown, and today we're talking about one of the most misunderstood leadership windows in the workplace. The first 48 hours after a crisis occurs. This episode is very important because those first two days determine so much more than most leaders within companies realize. Trust, morale, psychological safety, workplace culture, retention and performance are all impacted by what occurs during those first 48 hours. These 48 hours that I'm referring to, they really do determine whether or not organizations ultimately recover from those, uh, stresses or fractures that occur during the crisis or disruption. Leaders who get this window right, they tend to create trust that lasts within their organization for years. Unfortunately, leaders who miss this 48 hour window often spend several months, sometimes unfortunately, even years, trying to, trying to repair the damage. And I'll be honest with you guys, most of the leaders, even in those well intentioned companies with well intentioned leaders, they tend to get this part wrong. And it's not because they don't care. It's typically because they were never taught or trained on how to lead people through crisis, shock and tragedy. So this first 48 hour framework, it's critically important at this time in our society because currently organizations are navigating more disruption and turbulence than ever. There's layoffs, there are restructurings, uh, companies buying out other companies, social unrest and protests going on around the country. Crisis also unexpected losses that sometimes occur with these things. So employees are carrying both their workplace stress and the strain that occurs in their personal lives simultaneously. So when a crisis occurs, people tend to remember how the leadership within their organization responded. They may not always remember the details of the event, or maybe not all of the details that the event entailed, but they do tend to recall how their managers and supervisors and CEOs and HR personnel responded during the event. The emotional impact of those first 48 hours becomes a part of, uh, the organization's story. So this episode is designed to help leaders respond with compassion. If your role touches the people, the overall workplace culture, if you're in HR or you're in a crisis response role, this is a conversation that you might want to tune into and maybe even share with others. So in that first 48 hours after a crisis or tragedy or some type of organizational shock, leaders truly do set the tone for the entire recovery period. And as I stated, most leaders are well intentioned. But I have to add that most leaders within companies are unprepared. Today we're going to break down some of the predictable errors that leaders tend to make and what effective crisis leadership actually requires during those first 48 hours. So those first 48 hours, I just want to reiterate that these are the first two days after a workplace crisis. And when I say workplace crisis, I want to clarify what I mean by that. This is in no way an exhaustive or comprehensive list of crises. But I'm referring to things like layoffs, sudden death of an employee, some type of traumatic incident, a violent incident or a crime, natural disaster, some scandal that has gone public that may impact the employees and the overall reputation of the organization and any major organizational change. I want to make sure that I mention that your employees nervous systems, they are heightened and possibly dysregulated during those first 48 hours. And most of them are dealing with things like fear and uncertainty, grief, anger during this time, and leadership behavior and leadership decisions during this window. Determine the extent to which your employees trust leadership, as I stated earlier, workplace culture, whether or not they feel safe retention, whether or not they stay with your organization. The psychological impact as ah, leaders, your response and your decisions during those first 48 hours determine the psychological impact of the event. Then these first 48 hours also determine long term organizational health. Unfortunately, most leaders get it wrong. And the difficult truth is that most leaders miss this window, this 48 hour window completely. And it's not because they don't care, because they're careless. It's because most often they're uncomfortable, they're unprepared, and they're trying to protect the organization instead of supporting the people. And that's typically because that's what they've been trained to do. That's what they're expected to do. So I want to just kind of briefly walk you through six of the most common mistakes that I see whenever I go out to support employers and their employees during and after a crisis. The first mistake that I tend to see is leaders feeling a need to rush in to fix or solve or control the narrative. Most often leaders feel pressure to appear decisive, so they jump into action mode. But action mode too early creates emotional whiplash, if you will. And so employees in these circumstances are looking for quick fixes. Really what they're looking for is acknowledgement, acknowledging that you as a leader know what's happened and you understand the impact. The second mistake that I see leaders within organizations make during moments of crisis is communicating facts rather than communication, communicating, uh, understanding of the human experience or the human impact. So when a crisis occurs Then all of a sudden everything becomes an email, a memo, or some perfectly polished statement that sounds like it was probably written by a legal department. Your employees don't need a formal statement. What they need is a human statement. The third mistake that I see leaders making during these moments of crisis whenever I go out to organizations is, uh, going silent. This honestly can be one of the most damaging of all of the six that I'm speaking of today because leaders often think that if they don't have all the answers yet, then it's probably a better idea to wait until they have all of the information or all the facts. But silence can be problematic because what tends to happen when that silence occurs is that your team members, the people that work for your organization, or will fill in those gaps with assumptions and fear and unfortunately, worst case scenarios. So there's a lot of room left for interpretation during these times. And so mistake number four, underestimating the emotional impact. And here's the thing about this. You can't talk people out of shock, you can't logic or reason people out of fear. And I must add, you can't email people into feeling safe. So be present. And then the fifth mistake that I briefly want to mention is sending unprepared managers out to calm people down. Managers often become the face of, uh, the crisis response when something is happening. Unfortunately, they're not really given appropriate guidance. So when they don't know what to say, most often they either overstep, they shut down or they accidentally escalate things. So they make things worse most often. So it's important that your leaders are trained and prepared. The sixth mistake is treating the crisis as a one day event, assuming that because this happened yesterday or last week, the emotional impact is no longer employees. They remember what their leaders did and they also remember what their leaders didn't do during the crisis. I want to wrap this up by saying pause and breathe before you communicate. Acknowledge the human impact that the event has on your team members. Communicate early, not too early, but communicate honestly and with empathy and compassion. And equip your managers and your leaders before they speak to your employees and kind of set the expectation for follow up, letting your team members know that you will give them information as you receive new information or that you'll check in with them tomorrow. That type of thing. Leadership decisions during these first 48 hours. I can't stress enough of how much these 48 hours shape workplace culture. What happens during these 48 hours determines whether employees feel cared for or abandoned. And also whether or not your teams grow closer or or more distant. Remember, silence creates fear. Leaders have to communicate even when they don't have all the answers. Presence matters. Employees remember how they were treated long after the crisis has passed. The Novante Advantage Some of the program benefits are customized consulting to meet your organization's unique needs Expert led training programs to develop resilient leaders and teams Comprehensive crisis response support when it matters most Improving strategies to elevate workplace culture and employee well being. Email us at infouvanteconsulting.com uh, or visit our website at www.nuvanticonsulting.com that's N U V A N T I C O N S U L t I n g.com Building Resilient Leaders and workplaces through consulting, training and crisis response. That's what we do here at Novanti Consulting. We look forward to hearing from you.