It seems that the world’s attention is on COVID-19. We receive a daily barrage of information, directives, and perspectives on how best to manage this new reality of shelter-in-place. Watching local, regional and national leadership try to manage the situation reminds me of the times I have faced challenges in the school environment.
The challenges have run the gamut. While I was in Boston, we negotiated a gutted endowment by making major cuts to programs and personnel. We purchased protective gear in order to care for children and staff who might contract H1N1. We implemented a boil-water order in response to a contaminated drinking water source. We confronted children’s deaths, extended staff and family supports. We faced the reality of the Boston Marathon bombings, and sheltered in place when one of the perpetrators escaped to a place mere blocks from campus.
Leadership in these situations requires many things, but first and foremost, it requires calm. It requires the leader to learn as much as she can about a situation before she reacts to it. It requires precise communication that not only shares facts and potential solutions, but is reassuring to staff, students, and families. And it requires an outward appearance that is poised, positive and focused.
One of my favorite children’s stories was about the chick that was hit in the head by something while taking a walk around the farm. Chicken Little immediately assumed that what had happened to him was monumental, when in fact it was an acorn that fell from a tree and hit his head. As the story goes, he ran around the farmyard shouting, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” creating hysteria in those who listened to him.
I’ve worked with a lot of Chicken Littles in my leadership career, ones who take a panicked or fatalist stance whenever things are unknown or seemingly insurmountable. Whether the situation is real or perceived, my reaction is typically the same. Stay calm. Question. Plan. Communicate. Implement.
Why is “stay calm” at the top of this list? The answer is simple, if often overlooked. When a leader responds to a challenge in a hyper or panicked way, she shifts attention away from the problem and onto herself. And that shift neither supports nor inspires onlookers.
I was at a regularly scheduled meeting once where the leader had spent a good deal of the day responding to a critical shift in events. He presented his scattered self to the meeting attendees in full view, talking about how distracted he was by the issue and what he was going to do to address his own self-comfort in order to get through it. Needless to say, the meeting was unproductive. Even attempts by attendees to help the leader address the critical issue were met with mild hysteria. The leader was so wrapped up in his own feelings that he could not hear.
Presenting a calm self is the first and most important thing a leader should do when confronting a tough situation. You might ask, “but what if I am not feeling calm? What if I am scattered like the person in your story?”
I am not saying you won’t be flustered or anxious or scattered. I’m saying that regardless of what is going on in your head, you need to present a calm and focused outer self.
When my mother was dying, I looked over at my dad, who was moving calmly from one task to the next. I commented on his calm. He said, “I’m like a missile: focused and ignited on the outside, exploding on the inside.” (My father launched missiles as part of his career in the Air Force.) Another way I’ve heard this described is being like a duck: gliding across the water while its feet are moving frantically underneath.
Whether you’re a missile or a duck, the point is that an effective leader is one who focuses not on herself, but on the problem and the people she supports during a time of crisis. Call on a mentor or a friend to help you self manage, and thoughtfully gather the colleagues you need to help you work toward solving the problem at hand.
If the sky really is falling, you’ll be prepared. And you’ll impart that sense of preparedness to those you lead.