Anyone can lead when the business environment is status quo. When things are calm we have great market prices, great weather, ample employees to get the work done, and good health.

Sometimes things go completely off course, like the disruptions we all face during this pandemic. And that’s when your leadership is tested. Disruptions can create opportunities for those who lead well through a crisis.

Beyond our control

In life, work and health we often delude ourselves into thinking good outcomes (good crops, great marketing, good health) are within our control. But let’s be honest. Many life and business events are often beyond our control or even our influence. 

So what can be done? Should we go with the flow and get tossed around with every event and disruptions to our business and our lives?

No!

A simple but incomplete response would be, always be prepared. Prepared for what? 

Sometimes the events are beyond anything we have seen before. We have no prior experience to fall back on. We need a strategy that is flexible and can be applied to whatever life throws at us. 

Keep reading below for a checklist you can use to lead your team through any crisis, event or disruption.

Disruptions and major events always have been part of business long before COVID-19 became part of our vocabulary. Think of a disease outbreak in a confinement barn, farm accident, chemical spill, or fire.

Each crisis follows a similar pattern. There is an event(s) that lead to a crisis. But there also is a response from ourselves and our teams. Taken together, the outcome is formed.

Let’s break this down into a simple equation.

Event + response = outcome

It’s easy to get mentally stuck on the event when it happens. We talk about the event that caused the crisis. We focus on the event itself. Maybe we even get emotionally wired about the event.

In turn, our team takes their cue from us and things begin to unravel.

Events happen. We don’t have any control over them. But our response is something we do have control over, and our response is what defines the outcome -- often much more than the actual event.

Let’s look at some ways you can manage through any crisis.

In times of crisis your leadership skills will be tested. It’s during those times it will be clear what you are made of and what your team is made of. Throughout history there have always been times of crisis and the future will also be filled with crisis. The events of today and tomorrow will almost always be beyond our full control.

While the event and resulting crisis is beyond our control, we choose our response, and our response will often determine our future success.

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.