Approaches To Crisis Management: When The Problem Isn't The Real Problem
What comes to mind when you think of the word "crisis?" Do the words "opportunity," "personal growth," "improved performance" or "learning" come to mind?
I am humbled by the many opportunities I have to speak with individuals who kindly share their stories and experiences in combat situations, dealing with addiction or any number of traumatic life events and how they have overcome them. Their strength, resilience and sense of gratitude are awe-inspiring, and I find their words to be inspirational and uplifting. I always ask how they began the process of taking steps to confront and resolve their crisis. The vast majority say it began when they realized the "problem" wasn't the real problem. The problem was their failure to acknowledge and change behaviors that created the problem. This led them to see the link between changing their behaviors and getting the outcome they desired.
I totally relate to that concept because I, too, have experienced it. I became an emancipated minor at age 15. My father died in a tragic accident when I was three, and my mother was mentally ill and hyper abusive. As I started to rebuild and "re-brand" myself, the process began by seeking out people and situations that modeled the behaviors I believed would be beneficial to me personally and professionally.
As I progressed through the process, I discovered my passion and mission in life was service to others, and I was gifted with a sense of profound gratitude, self-awareness, acuity and empathy in reading both situations and people. I learned and developed these behaviors as personal survival skills. The more I deployed them, however, the more they became my greatest professional strengths.
I was asked during a recent interview what was the biggest surprise I encountered when I started my second company. The answer was easy. I was shocked by the number of individuals and organizations that were looking for comprehensive and high-quality crisis management services. As time passed, I learned that the behaviors and tactics I use to solve personal or business problems, infinitely intuitive to me, are infinitely counterintuitive to many individuals and organizations.
Successful consultants and coaches get paid because they do one thing well — they excel at leveraging their knowledge and expertise to solve problems. Crisis can be defined as a time of intense difficulty, trouble or danger. Behavior can be defined as the way a person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus. Process can be defined as a series of tasks or steps that produce a good or service. While each crisis and its solution are unique, solutions to virtually every business problem can be found by using a simple and systematic process.
However, simple doesn't mean that it is easy. Execution is everything, and that is where our behaviors as an individual, or as a consultant or coach, drive our clients' outcomes. It's intuitive to me to approach any problem by connecting with the individual or organization to build trust, investigate and research the problem exhaustively to develop a solution and to execute and manage the solution to ensure sustainable behavior change and issue resolution. Conceptually simple? Of course. Can behaviors or processes be learned? Absolutely!
Marianne Williamson said, "People hear you on the level that you speak to them from. Speak from your heart, and they will hear you with theirs." Connection is the critical first step to finding a solution. It is easy to tell people or companies that the best solution to their situation demands that they be infinitely truthful and totally transparent. It's a simple and obvious statement of fact.
Many times, however, the outcome they expect is focused on minimizing or avoiding having to do those very two things. The onus to ensure truth and transparency lies with the consultant. Client behaviors won't change until our behaviors create a connection that allows them to trust us, to see us as credible and authentic and to believe we are their advocate. This demands that we speak in a way that conveys we are listening intently. We must respond with answers and questions that convey empathy. We must find ways to show that we are aware and sensitive to the emotional process they are going through. We must be able to challenge and confront their words and behaviors to gain information and context without conveying judgment.
According to Steve Jobs, "If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution." Truth and transparency are essential to effective and efficient solutions. Too often, your agenda as "the fixer" is at odds with the client's not-so-hidden agenda to minimize personal/company accountability and legal liability. Unfortunately, there is no right way to do the wrong thing. While the tactics and tools you deploy to define the problem are unique to each situation, the specialized knowledge and expertise that you and your team have are key to your success. Building trust and credibility and clearly communicating the "why" behind your questions are just a couple of examples of behaviors that remove barriers to problem definition and finding the best solution.
I love these words from Colin Powell: "Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand." The ability to translate complexity to simplicity is an elite communication and solution-finding skill. Simplicity maximizes understanding of "the why," creates buy-in and is critical to eliminating the fear of behavior change. If you can't accept the need to change the behaviors that caused the crisis, what's the point?
You might have noticed a pattern in this process. Finding a solution is all about your ability to communicate. Do you listen aggressively and attentively? Can you respond with empathy? The data suggests that the disparity between our perception of our communications skills and the client's perception of our communications skills can be quite large. Your behaviors drive client outcomes. How are you doing when it comes to communicating?
