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Being a leader during a crisis

The current situation in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted me to reflect on the role of leaders when there’s a crisis. I’m sure many of you are appreciating the need for leadership currently. Leadership is an integral part of any practice manager’s role. And, whether you like it or not, you’re a role model for your staff, who will observe you to see how you manage yourself and others at this critical time.

So, what’s involved in being a leader? There are three key areas. The first one is to ensure that the team’s tasks get done and the right processes are in place. The second area is to make sure the team’s needs are being met. This involves managing interpersonal relationships in the team, fostering good social relationships, assisting the team to overcome challenges and helping the team to celebrate successes. The third area is to make certain the needs of individuals in the team are being met, such as their own personal needs, through supporting, mentoring and coaching individuals, assisting them to overcome any difficulties in achieving their tasks, helping them to learn and develop, and rewarding and praising them for doing a good job.

The term ‘servant leader’ is helpful when trying to define what good leadership looks like. The ‘servant leader’ serves the team using whatever style of leadership is appropriate at the time. When things are calm and predictable, you can take a back seat and let the team manage themselves, but when there are difficulties or challenges, you need to get involved, facilitating the team to make decisions or resolve problems or conflicts. The trick is knowing when to get involved and to what level. If you get involved too much, when it’s not really needed, you’ll end up micromanaging and not allowing the team to work out their own solutions. However, if you don’t get involved at all or when it’s too late, you’ll have allowed situations to deteriorate, which is frustrating for the team and may take longer to sort out ultimately. Knowing when to get involved means being acutely aware of your team’s needs through gaining the right information, through observing, and through getting feedback from the team and others.

There’s also the concept of ‘team democracy’. This involves allowing the team to work out its own solutions and ways forward. This means the team is able to discuss issues together, ensuring everyone is involved, and come up with their own democratic decisions. During normal times, this process is often successful and only requires you, as a leader, to facilitate the process without imposing your own ideas or solutions. The more the team members are involved in the issues and the decision-making, the more likely they are to be committed to carrying out the solutions, and the more job satisfaction they’ll gain from feeling involved and in control.

However, when there’s a critical situation, there’s often not enough time to have a democratic discussion about what to do and the team will look to the leader to make decisions on their behalf. At these times, you’ll need to act promptly and confidently to investigate the issue, weigh up the possible solutions and direct the team. The calmer and more positive you can be, the more the team will feel supported and secure to carry out their duties. Like a swan, you might feel you’re frantically paddling away below the water, but above the water you’ll need to appear serene and in control.

Even in the direst circumstances, it’s important for the team to laugh and have a sense of fun. This is often what gets us through a crisis – as we’ve seen in the wonderful videos of front-line hospital staff singing, dancing and laughing together during this COVID crisis. It may seem incongruous, but it’s what helps people to bond and cope with traumatic situations. So don’t forget to foster light-hearted banter between colleagues at critical times, without of course distracting from the professional and serious job they’re undertaking.

Once the crisis is over, effective leaders ensure they reflect on how they managed the situation themselves and how the organisation coped. It’s good practice to carry out a review to identify key learning points – what went well and what you could have done differently. It’s a great opportunity to congratulate the team on overcoming the challenges and to thank them for their hard work. This doesn’t have to involve more pay – words are often enough, although small gestures or gifts, such as cakes, chocolates or a shopping voucher, can go a long way to making the team feel appreciated.

Here are some of my top tips for being an outstanding leader during a crisis:

  • Be prepared
  • Be supportive
  • Be motivating
  • Be proactive
  • Set an excellent example
  • Be reflective
  • Don’t be afraid of making mistakes – you can learn something from every experience and the team will respect you if you own up to not getting things right every time

Written by Patricia Gray. More information on Patricia’s coaching programme can be found here.

 

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Patricia Gray

Former practice business manager, HR/practice consultant, recruitment consultant, facilitator and trainer will write the blog each month. Patricia has recently retired from her consultancy to concentrate on providing executive and leadership coaching to GPs and practice managers.

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One Response to “Being a leader during a crisis”
  1. Javed Says:

    Good article. One important thing you have missed out is that some managers have been forced to work from home due to various reasons. Physical presence is also essential for effective leadership, which is not possible if the manager is working from home.

    Reply

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