Are You Wasting the Crisis?

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Over the past year we have all felt the ground beneath us tremble, shake, and at times dangerous chasms have come into view. Depending on the sector you work in, you may have had to deal with booming demand, significant layoffs and downsizing, loss of revenue, market expansion and/or significant shifts in your service model. When a wave of crisis comes it can feel like getting slapped in the face and yet the best leaders and organizations find ways to ride the momentum of change into a more prosperous future.

President Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel once said “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” While you may or may not agree with the Obama political agenda, this principle of leveraging a crisis for opportunity goes far beyond politics. In 1976, M.F Werner published an article in the journal Medical Economics titled “Don’t Waste a Crisis — Your Patient’s or Your Own” encouraging doctors to leverage health crisis for the good of making beneficial changes. Amidst a moment of crisis or high change we feel that the rules have changed, the old ways of doing things are not working, our existence is threatened, and we urgently see the need to adapt.

Some of you may be familiar with John Kotter’s change management model which after years of observation and research poses eight necessary steps for implementing change. First among these steps is to create a sense of urgency that will engage and convince stakeholders of the need for change. A moment of crisis (particularly when it is of large proportions like the current realignment spurred by the pandemic) can rattle even the most staunch supporter of the status quo into seeing the need for change.

Early in the pandemic many of us in positions of leadership were likely in damage control mode. As we approach a year after widespread shutdowns and job losses, ask yourself a simple question, have I fully leveraged this moment of change or am I simply letting it wash over me? What have you know that needs to change that can be aggressively pursued in this moment? Take a look at you service model, staffing, strategic plan, and/or programs. Now is a great moment to get done what has long needed doing or take that visionary next step. Will you still need to rally the troupes and lead the rest of the change management process? Yes! But you won’t have to create the momentum.