Leading a team through difficult situations requires some core crisis management skills that not everyone has.
Whether it's a public relations crisis, a natural disaster, or an internal issue, a business's response efforts are only as good as those in charge of the problem.
Get it wrong, like BP during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and your company's reputation can be tarnished permanently.
The problem is, not everyone is good at crisis management. Some people might excel in clear communication, but not understand how to handle data. You might be great at handling media relationships, but have no experience in creative problem solving.
Having the right mix of leadership skills in your crisis team means you can get the most from everyone's abilities, and respond quickly and effectively when problems arise.
Whether you're looking to hire crisis managers, plan to appoint a leadership team from within your staff, or want to train as a crisis manager yourself, this guide is here to help.
We'll walk you through the leadership skills required to be trusted in a crisis situation, and the crucial role you can play in resolving complex situations.
Why Crisis Management Skills Are Critical in Today's Business Environment
Having a crisis management plan has always been a requirement for business. Just ask the Johnson & Johnson employees who handled the Tylenol issue in 1982.
These days, it's even more important because of the internet. Crisis communication is made harder when criticism, scandals, and disinformation spreads so far, so fast.
It's important to be ahead of the game and develop strong crisis management skills across your leadership team, so you can stop public relations disasters before they spiral out of control.
Without proper crisis management, your brand’s reputation could take a serious hit.
Strong leaders don't need to be perfect at crisis management – but the team does. From making sound decisions in the planning stage, to being able to apply a response plan in minutes. Businesses that invest in crisis management skills training and critical thinking are in the best position to recover.
In This Guide:
Top Crisis Management Skills Every Leader Should Master
How to Develop Crisis Management Skills
Common Challenges in Crisis Management and How to Overcome Them
This guide is aimed for those who are looking to build a team, take on a new employee, or develop their own crisis management leadership abilities.
Top Crisis Management Skills Every Leader Should Master
Big corporations are able to appoint large teams to execute their crisis management plan, with each member bringing their own specialization to the table. Smaller companies might need a leader who has a broader range of skills, to cover all bases.
No matter your specialization, it's important you develop the six skills below so you can become a crisis management expert.
1. Communication Skills
Effective communication is just as important as good planning during a crisis. You need to share information quickly and accurately with your team, stakeholders, and the public.
Get this wrong and your plan could fall apart, before you've even begun to execute it.
So, what communications skills are required from leaders? Being clear and concise in all messaging is a good start. You might need to be direct when dealing with others in your team, but more nuanced and empathetic when speaking to the public and media.
Practice active listening to understand concerns and respond appropriately.
Transparency is also paramount. Businesses that don't face up to crisis scenarios often make things worse.
If you want to learn more, start by understanding crisis communication and the strategies behind it.
2. Emotional Intelligence
Your ability to manage emotions and remain calm is crucial in a crisis. Stress can overwhelm even the most competent crisis managers.
Stay calm under pressure and help others do the same. It's important to remember you're part of a team, even if you're the one leading it. Recognize and address the feelings of your team and those affected by the crisis.
Effective crisis managers are good at showing empathy towards those impacted. It's why they're often a good spokesperson. This helps build stronger connections and fosters a supportive environment.
Be aware of your own emotions and how they might affect your decisions. Emotional intelligence comes through training and self-care.
3. Problem-Solving and Creativity
Having strong emotional intelligence means you can also be more flexible and more creative during a crisis. You might need to provide innovative solutions that aren't built into your strategic planning, and communicate effectively what you're thinking.
If this happens, then being able to break down complex problems into smaller, manageable parts is crucial. You need to act fast, but also correctly. It's not easy but a clear, creative head can do anything in a crisis.
4. Adaptability and Flexibility
A crisis manager must be ready to pivot quickly because crises are, by their nature, unpredictable. Sticking rigidly to a crisis plan isn't an option. Your plan helps guide you, but can't dictate your every decision.
Remain flexible in your approach and consider alternative strategies when initial plans don’t work. You can always feed this back into your strategic planning for next time.
Encourage your team to be adaptable and resilient too. This can be difficult to do in the moment, so make sure you provide training and run through simulations so everyone has the necessary crisis management skills.
5. Relationship Management
Crisis leaders know that relationships must hold strong during problems. You need to do the groundwork here so that key stakeholders are supportive before, during, and after crises.
Maintain open lines of communication and address conflicts promptly. Work closely with key partners and stakeholders to coordinate efforts and share resources when you need to.
Remember, this is about relationship management that begins long before a crisis comes along. Therefore, be sure to build a network of experts you can turn to for advice and support during challenging times.
It's also important to recognize and appreciate the contributions of your team members. This feeds back into strong emotional intelligence. Praise is one of those management skills that sometimes gets overlooked, but it boosts morale and strengthens relationships, which is essential for effective crisis management.
6. Decisiveness
Critical events need decisive action. Your public relations crisis might not harm anyone, but it's still crucial you make the right decisions.
Good crisis managers trust their judgment and are confident in their choices. They don't get worried about analysis paralysis, but instead set clear priorities and focus on the most critical issues first.
Decisiveness is about understanding what you can do and what other stakeholders can help with. Delegate tasks to trusted team members to ensure efficient problem-solving and be prepared to take calculated risks when necessary.
A decisive leader cannot work in a silo, though. You must share your decisions clearly to your team and others, providing context and reasoning for your choices.
How to Develop Crisis Management Skills
Now that we know what skills are required for crisis managers, it's time to look at how you acquire them. Some people naturally have better emotional intelligence, interpersonal, communication, and critical thinking skills than others. They're born to manage crises… but they can't do it alone.
Instead, a team of experts is the best way to go about structuring your crisis management response. So, if you don't feel you can develop all the above skills, then just focus on perfecting one or two. Even soft skills come to the fore during crises.
The easiest way to boost your crisis management skills is through practice and preparation. Start by creating a crisis management plan for your organization and outline roles, responsibilities, and steps to take during different types of emergencies.
Simulate a crisis and see how you performed. Were you able to deliver your contingency plans and how did you rate your situational awareness? Look back at the skills we mentioned:
Communication
Emotional Intelligence
Problem-Solving and Creativity
Adaptability and Flexibility
Relationship Management
Decisiveness
Where did you excel and where did you fall short? These exercises can reveal gaps in your planning and help you improve your response, as well as showing you what skills you personally need to work on.
Remember, crisis management skills improve with experience. Learn from each challenge you face – whether that's during a simulation or in the middle of a crisis – and use those lessons to refine your approach for the future.
Common Challenges in Crisis Management and How to Overcome Them
Crisis managers have a difficult job. They can spend years preparing and refining their emergency response to known issues, run every risk assessment possible, and inform others of what to do in a critical event.
Then a crisis hits and it all falls apart. Poor communication often tops the list of the biggest hurdles. To fix this, set up clear channels for your team and stakeholders and simulate the communication.
Time pressure can also lead to bad choices. You can avoid this by making a crisis decision-making framework that sits in your response plan. It should outline key steps, who's in charge, and crisis communication channels. This lets you act fast without losing focus.
Dealing with the media is another tricky issue. Reporters and journalists are ready to jump on these types of stories. So, train your spokespeople to handle tough questions and think in the moment.
Finally, stress and burnout affect almost all crisis teams. The 24/7 nature of online news and social media means you can't ever take a breath.
Your business operations go into overdrive, you need to constantly be making swift decisions, and new challenges pop up all the time. Once the story changes, the media have a new angle. An organization can quickly encounter a public relations disaster based on their crisis response, rather than the crisis itself.
This level of stress isn't good for anyone. Crisis managers need to establish systems so there's always someone on the issue, while others can take a rest and recharge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crisis management requires specific skills and strategies to navigate challenging situations effectively. From effective communication to forming recovery strategies, there's a lot to think about.
Leaders must be prepared to handle various aspects of a crisis while maintaining clear communication and decision-making. Here are answers to questions that we often get asked about crisis scenarios.
What key skills should be highlighted on a resume for effective crisis management?
Resumes for crisis managers and similar positions must showcase an ability to stay calm under pressure.
Strong communication skills are crucial, and you'll need to include examples of how you've led teams through difficult situations - from preparation to implementation of a crisis communication plan. A manager needs to cover everything.
Problem-solving and quick decision-making are also valuable traits.
How can examples of successful crisis management inform our current practices?
You can learn a lot from past successes. Look at how other companies handled major public relations issues, natural disasters, or product emergencies.
Pay attention to their communication strategies and decision-making processes, and try to find case studies relevant to your industry. See what worked well and what didn't, before assessing your own preparedness. Apply those lessons to your crisis management plans so you're ready for the next problem.
Can you identify six core skills essential for leadership in high-pressure crisis situations?
You should focus on developing these key abilities:
Clear communication
Quick decision-making
Emotional intelligence
Adaptability
Problem solving and creativity
Relationship management
A crisis manager alone doesn't necessarily need all of these skills. However, each skill must be covered by someone in a crisis management team.
How can mental health considerations influence the strategies used in crisis management?
You must think about the psychological impact of a crisis. Stress levels will be high for everyone involved, and so your strategies should include support for employee mental health.
This includes rotating employees fairly, so everyone gets a rest. Consider offering counseling services or stress management workshops in preparation for a crisis event, and make sure your communication style is empathetic and reassuring.
