"These are the times that try men's souls..."

Thomas Paine, writing in his essay, The Crisis, on December 23, 1776 said, "These are the times that try men's souls."  You've probably heard that quote - it's frequently repeated.  What followed, however, is usually not.  "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

We are in the midst of a crisis of epidemic (sorry for the pun) proportions.  As the CEO of our hospital said during a town hall meeting earlier this week, "Time will forever be remembered as what happened before COVID-19 and what happened after."  The events of these past several weeks (and unfortunately, the weeks to come) will be remembered for countless generations.  Some day in the future, maybe a hundred years from now, people will talk about the COVID-19 pandemic just like we talk about the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918.

Leaders will be measured by how they respond during this crisis.  As I stated in a previous post, "Now is the time to lead".  The great leaders will be able to tame the chaos, while the average leaders will allow chaos to take over.  I have been lucky to work with several leaders over the years who have "tamed the chaos."  Here are some of the key points that I have learned from these great leaders along the way:

1. Simplify the message:  Crisis situations are constantly changing.  What's true one minute may be very different the next.  Information, almost never complete, comes in from several different sources and at several different points in time.  Trying to put all of the pieces together in order to start making decisions about actions is literally like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, only the puzzle doesn't have any picture.  People want answers to their questions, and the answers that a leader can give are usually not the kind that the people want to hear.  The worst possible thing that a leader could do in this situation is to complicate the message.  Clear, concise, simple.  That's how a leader should communicate.

2. Be proactive as much as possible: One of the most difficult aspects of crisis leadership is that the situation continues to evolve.  Leaders in this situation find themselves reacting to each and every aspect of the situation at hand, and there is very little time to think or plan ahead.  I have found that the best leaders in a crisis situation delegate some of these decision-making responsibilities to others so that they can focus on keeping a few steps ahead of the situation.  Leaders should be proactive, rather than reactive.  Think ahead. 

3. Preserve routines and create new ones: The normal daily routines, both personal and professional are often completely disrupted during a crisis.  For example, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the country have shuttered their doors and instructed teachers to use online teaching so that students don't get too far behind.  That is incredibly disruptive - in this situation, trying to preserve some semblance of a daily routine is important.  I have heard of teachers trying to follow a similar, albeit abbreviated schedule of classes so that students recognize the normal daily routine.  If preserving the daily routine is simply not feasible, leaders should try to create new routines.  People like order.  Chaos leaders to fear - order leads to resolve and resilience.

4. Be calm and stay above the fray: The best leaders remain calm during a crisis.  The world could be falling apart (and usually is), but the leader stays calm and above the fray.  Moreover, these leaders let the people see how calm they are during a crisis.  Calmness is contagious, but unfortunately so is panic.

The early Americans had their "sunshine patriots" and "summer soldiers" (kind of like the "fair-weather fan"), but they also had leaders like George Washington.  Those were the times that tried men's souls, but now is that time again today.  We need leaders who won't shrink from their service to our country and our world.  And one day they too will "deserve the love and thanks of man and woman."