The critical move most leaders miss after a crisis

For most leaders these last five years have been ones of great volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Political dynamics, economic shifts, massive layoffs, strategy pivots, technology disruptions, and more are shaping how we lead and what we can accomplish together. Leading through uncertainty is no longer a mere possibility, it’s core to the job description. 

Times of uncertainty call for fast executive decision-making with limited information, “good enough” risk assessment, and repeated pivots. I know this because I led a global philanthropy network while the world shut down in 2020. During those initial months, I relied less on staff input to determine our direction, despite deeply valuing a culture of co-ownership. My choices as an executive during this period had to be fast and decisive to keep us afloat, but also had significant ramifications. 

While I was able to effectively pivot to help our organization survive the crisis, I noticed that the staff who previously had driven programs now lacked ownership and motivation to move things forward. They deferred to me when I needed them to own their expertise. They didn’t have audacious goals that matched our big North Star. They didn’t bring ideas to brainstorms on how we could further innovate. 

At the time this frustrated me; I was exhausted and burnt out from managing the crisis without much support and I desperately needed my board and staff team to step up. 

What I’ve learned since is just how common this is. After a period that requires a more top-down approach to decision-making, organizations and leaders rarely snap back to a high agency and collaborative culture—even if that’s what they value. Why? Because teams have become conditioned to defer to others to make decisions, and we exist in a culture where this is the norm. 

What leaders need to do is find a way to reinvigorate that distributed leadership as quickly as possible after the initial crisis management. How we lead during these moments can set us up to become more nimble, adaptable, and creative. Given the continued volatility we are all experiencing, leaders who can embrace uncertainty as the time to share and shift power will find themselves better supported and prepared to navigate ongoing turbulence. 

Here are three strategies I have observed and learned to use with boards, staff teams, and leaders as soon as possible after or during periods of uncertainty to help organizations move through the crisis while deepening a culture of shared agency.

1. Disrupt any top-down culture creep 

If your crisis management plan or campaign requires a tight-knit group of leaders to make decisions, look for ways to redistribute that power as quickly as possible. 

This might mean delegating some of the lower risk decision-making opportunities to team members and fully getting out of their way. You could also try taking yourself out of the picture temporarily to help disrupt the well-grooved habits that people might have in relying on your input. Leaders who step away for a week or two off while putting in place an interim leadership structure often come back to find that their teams have rebuilt more trust and agency.

One executive I worked with faced a strategic crisis at the same time as their pre-planned time off. While some leaders might have cancelled their vacation, I encouraged the leader to take that leave. They put in place an interim leadership team, created a point of contact for the Board to rely on if things escalated further, and quickly distributed power and authority. Now, the interim leadership team continues to be an important brain trust, supporting a more distributed approach to decision-making. The new relationships and capacity built during that crisis moment have helped the organization adapt as circumstances continue to change.

It’s important to remember that top-down leadership is the culture we’re swimming in, and it is the obvious choice. Distributed leadership requires active planning, focus, practice, and a counter-cultural approach. When done well, strategic leadership redundancy allows for organizations and leaders to be more nimble and resilient. 

2. Re-orient to story and purpose

Crisis often narrows our point of view to daily or weekly operations. Leaders, however, need to quickly get back to being the “chief visionary officer.” Teams rely on leaders to provide this perspective, inspire them to connect to each other, and work towards a shared purpose. 

Over the years, I’ve talked to numerous teams during times of crisis and transition. One thing that I hear is that leaders have to default to being “doers” during this time, despite the fact that their genius lies in being storytellers, visionaries, strategic dot connectors, and community builders. When I talk with the people around these leaders, a common thread is that people want to feel inspired and connected to the vision that brought them to the work in the first place. 

Look for opportunities to remind people of your shared values or help connect them to the bigger picture of where they are going. When you tell the story of what you are building together, you refocus and reenergize people to bring their best selves in working toward your shared North Star. 

As leaders, it’s not always easy to prioritize this kind of vision and value-setting work. It might seem more frivolous than the clear tasks and list of items you can easily check off. But over my 20+ years in social change and public sector roles, I’ve seen that executives who lead with this kind of visionary approach first are the ones who are able to build teams of people enthusiastic about navigating uncharted waters. 

3. Engage openly in learning and reflection 

Uncertainty necessarily moves many leaders into a control-oriented mindset. However, navigating uncertainty and sharing power over a long period of time requires curiosity and a beginner’s mindset. 

Reject your knee-jerk reaction to have all the answers. Instead, model holding uncertainty and curiosity to the people around you. Admit where you have learning edges and acknowledge the questions you’re holding. 

Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and author of Tiny Experiments, shares this wisdom: “Leaders need to optimize for curiosity by creating an environment where it’s safe to experiment and learn in public. When teams see their leaders openly sharing their learning process, including the missteps and uncertainties, it creates psychological safety, which encourages everyone to embrace their own curiosity. This is how you can create a virtuous cycle of continuous reinvention.”

Curiosity is also power-sharing in practice. This shifts leadership from being about “I share answers and direct people around me to complete tasks” to “I identify questions from my perspective and enable people to come together to experiment, learn, and find solutions together.” From here organizations get better results and can navigate uncertainty with more relationship and trust. 

Together these three practices help break down any unhelpful power dynamics, create trust, and reinvigorate teams to co-own and co-create. Better yet, leaders who implement these practices before a crisis will find themselves well-equipped to navigate uncertainty with creativity, clarity, and courage. 

Good leaders can use their power; great leaders know when to give that power back.