How to Keep Calm in a Crisis

© GettyImages
johnnorth

Stay calm, strong and resolute to weather any storm.

How do you react in an emergency? Do you freeze, or rush around to try to solve the situation, or flee the scene as quickly as you can?

None of those responses will help you or your team.

The word "crisis" conjures up images of floods, storms and wildfires, or maybe a banking crash or terrorist outrage. In business terms, though, it can be used for any number of situations, from an urgent product recall, to claims of fraud – to a market collapse.

At a local level, a crisis could be triggered by having key members of your team on sick leave at the same time, or by rumors of layoffs. These may be small issues in global terms, but they can critically impact your team or organization.

You need to be organized and swift in your response to any crisis. But, above all, you need to stay calm. This article will help you to meet difficult times head on, and to think clearly as you do so.

We look at crises in two stages: before they erupt, and while they're in full swing.

Before a Crisis Erupts – Be Prepared

The better prepared you are for a crisis, the more effective your response will be if it happens. If you put in the groundwork and have a tried-and-true plan in place, you and your people will more likely be able to stay calm and levelheaded if you're "blindsided" by a disaster. There's comfort in knowing that there are procedures to deal with it.

These six steps can help you to prepare for a sudden and unexpected threat to your organization:

1. Get the Right People and Systems in Place

If your everyday operations run like clockwork, you'll be less vulnerable in a crisis. An organized, efficient and coordinated team will likely be disciplined and able to function effectively in difficult circumstances.

Team members who work well together and know their processes inside out will be more aware of any "creaks and groans" in the system. Don't ignore these, as they may be warning signs of more serious problems ahead.

Recruit, train and support enough skilled and motivated people to run your department or business effectively. This will give you a solid base for dealing with anything out of the ordinary.

2. Embrace Uncertainty

The business landscape changes constantly, and sometimes change is sudden and unpredictable. Such an unstable environment has been called VUCA   , standing for conditions that are Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous.

Managing in such times can be daunting and frightening, and you may be tempted to simply ignore or resist difficult change. But if you embrace that challenge, you'll be better able to identify and manage any potential crises.

You can counter the four negative elements of VUCA by developing four positive qualities, also with the initials V-U-C-A:

• Values, which you need to stick to even when times get tough.
• Understanding of the situation that you're in.
• Communication with your colleagues and stakeholders.
• Agility in the way that you react and adapt.

3. Plan for a Crisis

You need to understand what crises could affect your organization, and draw up strategies for dealing with them. You also need to plan how you'll recover from them.

There are four stages to planning for a crisis:

1. Establishing a crisis team. This needs to be in place before any crisis happens.
2. Identifying the key risks. As well as potential major catastrophes, think about what everyday situations could develop into a crisis, and the likelihood of those things happening.
3. Developing your crisis plan. Consider how you'll respond to each key crisis.
4. Planning for full recovery. Determine how to bring critical operations back online after an emergency, so that you get back to "business as usual" as quickly as possible.

4. Plan Effective Communication

It can be difficult to think about communication when you're in the midst of a disaster. So knowing how you'll communicate in a crisis   is an important part of crisis planning.

A bad situation can worsen if rumors and speculation fill the void that's created when official communication is absent, unclear or inconsistent. Effective, swift and concise communication can calm and reassure team members, customers and other stakeholders.

You need to think about the key message that you want to communicate. For example, you may want to reassure customers that you're able to meet their existing orders, or that the products you're selling are safe.

Other steps that you can take to make your communication as effective as possible include anticipating people's questions and preparing your answers to them; appointing an informed and credible spokesperson; and being honest and open about the situation.

If you can be clear, coherent and sensitive, you'll make the business of delivering and receiving bad news easier for everyone involved.

5. Look After Yourself

A crisis strikes at one of our most basic needs   – the need for security. A sense of insecurity, whether physical or psychological, can trigger strong emotions, such as fear and panic. You can protect yourself by developing resilience   and learning how to head off stress   .

Finding a good work-life balance   and putting aside time for activities such as meditation, exercise and journaling   can also help you to develop inner strength for when things get tough.

Finding This Article Useful?

You can learn another 79 stress management skills, like this, by joining the Mind Tools Club.

Join the Mind Tools Club Today!

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Receive new career skills every week, plus get our latest offers and a free downloadable Personal Development Plan workbook.

Read our Privacy Policy

6. Build Trust and Team Loyalty

A team that pulls together in a crisis is far more likely to come through it successfully than one that's made up of isolated or self-interested people. You can boost your people's confidence in themselves and one another with the help of our article, Building Confidence in Other People   .

It's natural that your team members will look to you for guidance when a crisis strikes. Our article, Leadership in Hard Times   , explores strategies that you can use to rise to the challenge.

How you and your team members respond to a crisis will also depend on how much you trust one another. As we say in our article, Building Trust Inside Your Team   , "A team without trust isn't really a team… However, when trust is in place, each individual in the team becomes stronger [and] the group can achieve truly meaningful goals." You can earn the trust and loyalty of your team members by demonstrating high-quality behaviors such as honesty, integrity, respect, and loyalty.

Having explored what you can do to prepare yourself, your team and your organization for a potential crisis, let's look at how you can stay calm and cope should the worst happen.

Coping During a Crisis

Laying the foundations for a theoretical crisis is one thing, but dealing with the reality of one is quite another.

Here are four key things to do when crisis strikes:

1. Manage Your Feelings

You may experience a rush of adrenaline as you try to take stock of what's happened. So, before you leap into action or make any knee-jerk decisions, give yourself time to gather your thoughts and to take an objective look at your situation. Take a deep breath – and another!

Calm your mind and body with physical relaxation techniques   such as deep breathing, relaxing your muscles, and centering   , and by harnessing positive thinking with affirmations   .

Then, follow The TDODAR Decision Model   to cut through the panic, so that you can make good decisions under pressure. Visualize a point beyond the crisis at which you'll achieve success. And don't be afraid to ask for help   .

2. Put Your Plans Into Practice

If you've got a crisis plan in place, now's the time to test it in a real situation. It may be "panic stations" all around you, but this is the time for you (and your crisis team) to move your systems into "controlled emergency" mode.

Focus on managing the things that you can control. Don't waste energy and effort trying to change things that you can do nothing about.

3. Support Others

You'll likely be dealing with worried and emotional people, so do your best to stay positive and confident. Your team members will take heart from the calming presence of someone who's organized, prepared and decisive. Show that you'll stand up for your team   .

Remember, while you may need to be assertive and strong, and to demand immediate actions from your team members to resolve a crisis quickly, try to remain aware of their feelings and concerns.

4. Guard Against Negative Behaviors

When the waters get rough, some people tend to seek refuge in self-serving behaviors that can make the situation worse. Guard against the following behaviors in particular:

• Abandoning the team to "cover yourself."
• "Clamming up" and forgetting the principles of effective communication.
• Blaming others.
• Forgetting procedures or processes in a state of panic.

Instead, contribute wholeheartedly to meeting the immediate needs of your team or organization. And be flexible, ready to go beyond what you might normally offer.