By Patty Branco, Director of Training and Technical Assistance with the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. Patty is a doctoral student in Organizational Learning and Leadership.
“It’s in the fire that you will be forged.” - Tanya Denise Fields
As advocates supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, we are no strangers to crises. On a daily basis, frontline advocates identify, assess, and intervene on behalf of survivors experiencing all sorts of crises, including life-threatening situations. At times, advocates may also find ourselves having to navigate experiences of collective fear, danger, and uncertainty: from a natural disaster devastating our communities, to an unprecedented global pandemic, to a major organizational upheaval such as the loss of funding or significant staff layoffs. And if you are an advocate in a leadership position, you may find yourself especially challenged by the shifting landscapes and added complexities brought forth by a major crisis.
For the sake of clarity, it’s important to offer some definitions. In this context, a crisis can be defined as a rapidly developing event that threatens an organization, forcing it to respond to mitigate the consequences of the crisis. In turn, crisis leadership refers to the role of a leader before, during, and after a crisis. Crisis leadership is proactive, not reactive. The crisis leader can see how different crises intersect and can apply their learning to plan for future crises, as well as to improve the organization in the long term. In turn, staff and advocates are used interchangeably here to refer to those working at domestic and sexual violence organizations.
While a crisis brings dread and pain, history shows that iconic leaders have been able to accomplish extraordinary feats in leading missions and movements during times of upheaval. Nancy Koehn is a historian at the Harvard Business School. In her book, Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times, she focuses on crisis leadership and how leaders and their teams rise to the challenges of high-stakes situations. Koehn states that “real leaders are not born; the ability to help others triumph over adversity is not written into their genetic code. They are, instead, made. They are forged in crisis.”
That said, what should leaders keep in mind as they find themselves leading an organization during a turbulent time? How can leaders be best prepared to help the organization accomplish current goals while also ensuring its readiness to meet future challenges? I will not pretend to know the answers, nor will I suggest that there are easy and perfect answers to these questions. Instead, I share some musings below, based on the organizational leadership literature, as well as my own lived experiences as a member of an organization:
Sense of purpose. In crisis situations, it is perhaps more important than ever that leaders provide clear direction and remind advocates of why our work matters. The purpose of domestic and sexual violence work may be fairly evident since advocates provide essential and life-saving support and services to abuse survivors. Prioritizing helping others can be a productive way to offer people direction and a sense of purpose. According to Koehn, “when we help others, even in the smallest ways, our fear ebbs and our focus sharpens.” Still, it is critical that leaders emphasize the key role that each person in the organization plays toward accomplishing current and future goals, as well as sustaining the vision and mission of the movement. As a leader, despite the fear and anxiety that may keep you up at night during a crisis, you too must ask yourself: How am I showing up in service of survivors and the mission of my organization, and why is it important for me to engage in this way?
Holding. Organizational behavior expert Gianpiero Petriglieri states that, during a crisis, people need what psychologists call holding. He says, “Children are not the only ones who need holding to survive and grow. Adults do too, throughout their lives. To face difficult circumstances, master new conditions, and develop in the process, we need holding from leaders and organizations. And we need to hold each other.” Broadly speaking, holding describes the way another person, often an authority figure, demonstrates the ability to soothe distress and help others make sense of uncertainty. In a crisis and beyond, good leaders acknowledge distress and difficulty without giving in to powerlessness. “They think clearly, offer reassurance, orient people and help them stick together.” In practice, holding may look like, for instance, dispelling rumors among staff by offering informed interpretations of how priorities may need to shift, or what staff may expect to happen to their salaries and working conditions given the crisis at hand.
Transparency. While leaders often must balance transparency with privacy concerns and boundary setting, it is also true that transparency builds trust. As a leader navigating a turbulent time, it is important to provide, as much as possible, a clear and honest accounting of the challenges with which your organization and/or community is faced. Recognize that during a crisis, people are likely dealing with losses – both tangible (e.g., loss of income or property) and existential (e.g., fear and uncertainty about one’s place in the world). The more open a leader is about the organization’s goals and challenges, the easier it will be for everyone to understand their roles and how they can individually contribute toward weathering the storm.
Radical imagination. Radical imagination is the courage to envision a future that is completely different from the world we have today – a better and radically different world. By practicing and encouraging radical imagination, leaders can be hopeful and optimistic about the future even in the face of immense challenges. It is important that leaders show resolve and confidence that they and their teams/communities collectively possess the resources that are needed to meet current and future threats. Such resources include, but are not limited to, creativity, determination, resourcefulness, compassion, solidarity, innovation, and resilience. And can you think of a more resourceful and resilient group than a room full of advocates?
Improvisation. Most of us are probably familiar with the term improvisation, which refers to making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. In a crisis, leaders are called to improvise. In uncharted situations with high levels of uncertainty, leaders need to experiment to figure out what will work. And we all have witnessed advocates’ ability to improvise. In response to COVID-19, domestic and sexual violence organizations adapted services and launched or strengthened innovative practices such as mobile advocacy, telehealth services, and virtual operations to continue to meet the needs of survivors during a global pandemic.
Vulnerability. As a leader practices transparency within their communities and organizations, vulnerability should also be welcomed and celebrated. In times of uncertainty and despair, it is okay for a leader to say with sincerity, “I don’t know all the answers” or “This is a very difficult decision to make.” It is more than okay for a leader to show up in their full humanity, especially when they can’t fully control a situation or its outcome. The willingness and ability to lean into vulnerability is essential for building courageous leaders. Brené Brown states that “our ability to be daring leaders will never be greater than our capacity for vulnerability.” On her website, leaders can find the free Daring Leadership Assessment, as well as workbooks and other materials for building the skills necessary for courageous leadership.
Perspective. Wise leaders know that they don’t know everything. If they are trying to figure out the best way to support someone, they should simply ask. A leader navigating uncertainty must engage in perspective getting, a term I’ve learned from psychology professor Geoffrey Cohen. Accurately understanding the mind of another person is best enabled by perspective getting. That is, leaders can better provide support to those they lead by asking what they need (perspective getting) rather than by trying to make assumptions based on their own perspectives (perspective taking). This means that leaders must ask good questions of advocates and survivors and listen with great empathy to fully hear their humanity and understand their needs. In arguing for the importance of listening to others to gain perspective during uncertain times, leadership experts Erika James and Lynn Perry Wooten offer three questions that leaders should ask themselves in order to widening their perspective and obtaining input from others:
- Do you currently have access to diverse voices and sources of information within your team or organization, or even beyond its boundaries?
- Do you routinely build other team members’ ideas or feedback into your decision-making?
- What systems or processes might you need to put into place to surface and capture multiple perspectives?
Resilience. Times of turmoil demand great resilience from leaders. One of the primary ways of building others’ capacity for resilience is by being a resilience role model, which is demonstrated in both actions and words. In the video below, Nancy Koehn reflects on how legendary leaders have discovered resilience within themselves and strengthened their resilience muscles to overcome adversity and accomplish extraordinary things.
Research by Rob Cross, Karen Dillon and Danna Greenberg suggest that resilience is enabled by strong relationships and networks. In other words, connections can help us become more resilient when we encounter major life or professional challenges. These authors state: “When we talk to people who have shown exceptional resilience, it’s clear that they often have cultivated and maintained authentic connections that come from many parts of their life — not only through work, but through athletic pursuits, volunteer work, civic or religious communities, book or dinner clubs, communities of parents they’ve met through their children, and so on.”
Self-care. Especially during difficult times, the importance of engaging in practices that restore one’s mind, body, and soul is critical. Much has already been said about how self-care looks different to different people. Leaders must nurture themselves (literally and figuratively) to inspire, mobilize, and care for their staff, particularly when the world feels chaotic and scary. However, I find it important to repeat here the well-known expression that “with great power comes great responsibility.” As leaders set boundaries and create spaciousness to restore their body, mind, and soul, their self-care must be balanced with the well-being of those they lead. For example, your staff will likely need you to be available and prepared to engage and process their fears, thoughts, and questions in one-on-one conversations or group settings, and it’s essential that you show up for them.
Conclusion
Crises are often inevitable, and every organization endures some upheaval at some point in their lifecycle. How leaders in our movement navigate a crisis will determine the impact of such crises on the organization, as well as the advocates they employ and the survivors they serve. Petriglieri states that people will never forget how organizations, leaders, and peers hold us through a crisis — or fail to do so. For more information, see How can advocates maintain hope during tough times?, which offers strategies for cultivating hope when things feel challenging in our work to address and prevent domestic and sexual violence.
“When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” - Audre Lorde
