By Karen L. Wade, Ph.D.

The current economic crisis has resulted in widespread anxiety about the security of our future, as individuals and as a collective society. The set of assumptions and expectations that have made us feel secure, or at least optimistic, for a long stretch of time, have been disrupted. For business leaders, these times are a call to provide emotionally intelligent leadership attuned to both the positive and destructive potential of the human psyche coping with uncertainty, fear and anxiety. You can provide the psychological first aid that is deeply comforting and empowering, that minimizes the negative behavioral manifestations of fear and anxiety, while stabilizing your organization and protecting its productivity.

Resilience is the countervailing, positive psychological dynamic to fear and anxiety. Resilience is the ability to absorb high levels of disruption while displaying minimal dysfunctional behavior. Psychologists have identified 5 critical “emotional leadership” behaviors that activate the resilience response in groups coping with unexpected/undesirable disruptions.

1. Make a personal connection. During times of uncertainty people need the touch of an authentic, compassionate leader, someone who can convey an understanding of their experience. To the extent that you can, reach out to people as individuals. Genuinely affirm their value to you and to the organization. Thank them for their contribution.
2. Overcommunicate and anticpate information needs. In times of disruption, people have an almost insatiable desire for communication that allows them to prepare for whatever will happen next. The best communication strategy is to answer questions before they are asked. Make commitments to communicating relevant updates at a predetermined time. When that time comes, repeat what is known, even if there are no updates. Admitting ‘I don’t know yet’ lets people know that you are alert to their desires for information as soon as it becomes available.
3. Be directive. People need to be informed about how their behavior will need to change in response to an event or situation. Communications should direct people’s behavior, reinforcing what to do (the new behaviors) and what not to do (the old behaviors that are being discarded).
4. Manage expectations. A trustworthy leader is a source of emotional security during a disruption. Don’t provide false assurances or overpromise, but do model an optimism that things will work out, get better. Promise carefully. Your promises should be 100% deliverable.
5. Create a sense of community. A natural reaction during a crisis is for people to pull together and be helpful to each other. Facilitate that natural impulse. Look for ways to bind people together around a common purpose and sense of team identity.

These principles are not rocket science. However, by authentically engaging with people in a psychologically strategic manner, you can navigate yourself, your people, and your organization through turbulent waters into calmer seas and be collectively stronger for it at the other side.

Sources: RHR International, Leadership in Times of Uncertainty; Resilience Alliance, Developing Personal Resilence

Karen Wade, Ph.D. is the President of The Long View Partnership in Atlanta. Dr. Wade specializes in coaching executives who are managing organizational transitions and/or who are promoted into larger roles requiring an increase in their leadership impact. She speaks and writes on “adaptive transformation” as a process of becoming the leader who continually evolves to fulfill larger and more complex roles, successfully, with high degrees of personal satisfaction and fulfillment.

©2008 The Long View Partnership, LLC