ARE:A Renewal Enterprise

Leading Through (Any) Crisis

How do leaders lead through times of trouble, uncertainty, and crisis? We have five suggestions that can help leaders in any organization. But we were sparked to make this list because several of us on the ARE team are members of a religious denomination that has been rocked by a recent change in policy. In the aftermath, some people in the denomination are rejoicing; some are frustrated and angry. A few have left the denomination and/or are considering leaving. What concerns us is that so many of our leaders are allowing this latest crisis to knock them off track. Some of them are running around like fire fighters without a chief, madly trying to put out every flame they see without aim or effect.

Notice we said "this latest crisis." 

This isn't the first. It won't be the last. It may not even be the worst.  AP religion writer Rachel Zoll reports that The Great Recession has made things even harder than they were before for financially strapped faith-based organizations and communities across the religious spectrum (both liberals and conservatives) --- and that it doesn't look like things will improve even after the economy begins to turn around.   (Read the rest of Rachel's article here.) 

The fact is, if you're a leader - in any organization - you're going to face all types and sizes of crises, some caused by things beyond your control and others of your own making. Here are five suggestions to help leaders in any organization lead through troubled times and unexpected circumstances:

The Trouble At Hyatt (could be your trouble, too)

In our new book, The Future Starts Now, we argue that something important has changed in the way people think about themselves --- and that means leaders (even the church kind) have to rethink the way they lead. No more bossing people around, keeping people in the dark, assuming they'll be happy just to have a job (even if it's sucking the life out of them), taking for granted that people will listen to you just because you have the title and the corner office (or the clerical collar), or wasting their gifts and passions. Leaders in this emerging future will have to learn to live and work with people in new - renewable - ways.

Don't believe us? Ask the executives at the hotel chain, Hyatt, these days.

Make The Shift

Making the shift from a consumable to a renewable way of living and working together includes moving away from top-down, command-and-control leadership toward decentralization, collaboration, and empowerment. Our new book, The Future Starts Now, has been written especially to help leaders in faith-based communities and organizations make this shift (see an excerpt below). But it identifies seven practices leaders in every organization can use. One of these practices - Using Participative Processes - includes learning how to listen to and learn from the people you're working beside and creating healthy space for them to listen to and learn from each other. The creator of Famous Amos Cookie Co. discovered the importance of this practice the hard way.