When an organization is in the midst of a crisis, it is essential to have a capacity to adapt and respond very quickly. While many organizations may not have a formal organizational resilience initiative in place, most can learn and adapt quickly. These events help to build the “resilience muscle” and organizational memory, which give the ability to anticipate and prepare for crisis situations.

Building a formal organizational resilience initiative takes time and cultural adaptation. It is an organizational umbrella which requires operational resilience programs – including business continuity planning, disaster recovery planning, crisis management and response planning, and organizational change management – supply chain resilience, information resilience, financial resilience, and several other underlying attributes that are driven by organizational leadership and culture.

The question we get when economic uncertainty and financial disruptions like tariffs and trade wars threaten the stability and viability of many organizations is, what can we do right now? How do we build resilience in the face of financial disruptions that are outside of our control with very little notice? The truth is that without some planning and preparedness, it is time to adapt. The two keys to adaptability are organizational leadership and communication. Building supply chain resilience and understanding and mitigating financial risks will be paramount, and that requires strong, adaptive leadership and open, candid communications with current and prospective trade partners. Let’s delve into how that’s done in practice.

Time to Lead

Leadership is critical to bringing organizations and people through a crisis. Arguably, strong, adaptable leadership is the single most important attribute needed to see an organization, its employees, and its partners through critical events. Making good decisions quickly and rallying the leadership team and employees will be essential, and the most accurate and current information is required to make good decisions. If your organization has current and comprehensive business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis response plans in place, they should be followed, and response teams must be in constant communication before, during, and even immediately after the critical event.

What if the organization does not have current and comprehensive response plans? This is the time where strong leadership is even more critical. IT leaders can truly be organizational leaders during a crisis, and the organization needs that leadership now more than ever. There are several examples of ways that IT leaders can help the organization in a crisis:

• Contact key executives and offer help in any way you can – be prepared with specific examples of how you and your team can help.
• Ensure that leadership has a mechanism to communicate with employees, suppliers/vendors, partners, and customers/citizens.
• Provide communication plans to the executive team quickly.
• Think outside of the box and adapt to challenges like supply chain disruptions, communications with vendors, partners, and customers/citizens.
• Communicate with key members of your team to the best of your ability, and brainstorm and document the challenges and how you can help the organization overcome them.

In a recent Forbes article, “A Leader's Guide to Navigating Through Crisis,” the author, Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio, notes that leading through a crisis requires “a blend of quick action, rational planning, clear communication, compassion, and an adaptive approach to the ensuing ‘new normal.’” This quote also links to a Harvard Business Review article, “In a Crisis, Great Leaders Prioritize Listening,” which emphasizes the importance of compassion and listening in times of a crisis.

These leadership attributes may not be intuitive for some in the midst of a crisis, but they are essential, and leaders must be very mindful of them during stressful crisis events. The key to being an exceptional leader during a crisis or in times of rapid change is being adaptive, as Info-Tech Associate Vice President, Research, Carlene McCubbin highlights in her Info-Tech LIVE 2024 keynote speech, “Adaptive IT Leadership.”

Communicate Early and Often

Leadership and communication go hand in hand during a crisis. Great leaders intuitively know that they must communicate with employees, suppliers, customers, and citizens during times of economic uncertainty. The focus for IT leaders should be to ensure there is a communication plan and the ability to communicate, particularly with employees, in times of critical events like financial disruptions that can be caused by tariffs and trade wars. If your organization does not have a formal crisis response plan, or if your organization has one that is dated or incomplete, this is the time to adapt. Hopefully you’ve anticipated scenarios, but if not, take the lead on finding ways to ensure leadership can communicate with key employees and executives, vendors, partners, and customers and citizens.

While it may not be possible when a crisis is in progress, consider the following as a preparatory measure and include it in a BCP.

Recommendations

In the midst of a crisis, it is difficult for anyone to remain calm and be a leader. It is stressful for everyone impacted, no matter the crisis. If IT leaders can do these three things, they will help their organization weather any storm.

• Offer help to organizational leadership with suggestions of what IT can do to help lead the organization through the crisis. Prepare ahead of time, no matter what formal plans are in place. If you haven’t prepared, then lead from knowledge and expertise – you have what the organization will need to get through the crisis.
• Focus on communication with your team and the organization. Use the tools at your disposal to create a communication plan. Even if it’s “quick and dirty,” it’s better than nothing, and it will help get important information to your team and organization.
• Be empathetic and compassionate in your communications with everyone, especially employees. Many people are going through the same or worse, and it’s essential to listen and ensure that communications consider the dire situations many employees may be experiencing during a crisis.

Bottom Line

Organizational resilience is a complex, organization-wide leadership and cultural initiative that takes time and effort to fully flesh out. However, there are key tenets that any organization can execute on quickly, given the appetite and aptitude. It is the time for IT leaders to really step up and be organizational leaders, and communication is paramount. In short, lead and communicate.