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The best response to an unfamiliar crisis may be counterintuitive. Here’s why

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Deliberate calm in a crisis

In the news

•

An essential skill. Technical skills are important, but emotional intelligence is essential for leaders. If managers are unable to foster collaboration, communication, and a supportive environment, technical prowess cannot make up for it. Indeed, a lack of emotional intelligence harms employee satisfaction, engagement, and a company’s bottom line. But leaders can develop greater emotional intelligence by, for example, relating to others on a personal level and being willing to express their own emotions. [Fast Company]

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Moving past fear. Executives are dealing with added pressures this year. Navigating a hybrid-work world and dealing with the climate crisis isn’t easy. In addition, social and political unrest is increasing. Many leaders are feeling fearful of the future, which may cause counterproductive behaviors like procrastination, notes one CEO coach. Figuring out one small step to take next can help leaders who tend to put off making decisions because of anxiety over making a situation worse. [HBR]

“Leaders trained in deliberate calm showed three times better adaptive behaviors and outcomes and an improvement of seven and a half times in well-being versus the control group.”

On McKinsey.com

•

Pause, don’t pounce. When faced with an unfamiliar crisis, the best response might be counterintuitive, reveal McKinsey senior knowledge expert Jacqueline Brassey and senior partner Aaron De Smet, coauthors of Deliberate Calm: How to Learn and Lead in a Volatile World. “If you’re in a truly uncertain environment, the thing you would normally do might not be the right thing,” De Smet says. “Deliberate calm is a set of skills that helps leaders make the best decisions, even when it’s tough,” Brassey explains.

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Dual awareness. Practicing dual awareness can help leaders break their habit of falling back on what they know when encountering a stressful situation. When people understand the connection between self-awareness and situational awareness, they pay attention to what’s going on internally while also focusing on the crisis at hand. “Navigating conditions of great volatility and great uncertainty almost always requires a higher degree of dual awareness,” De Smet notes. Learn how practicing deliberate calm benefits leaders.

Maintain calm in a crisis

— Hanna Carney, editor, New York

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by "McKinsey On Point" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 11:43 - 11 Dec 2022

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What in the world is going on? A leader’s guide to global flows

The best response to an unfamiliar crisis may be counterintuitive. Here’s why

Deliberate calm in a crisis

In the news

“Leaders trained in deliberate calm showed three times better adaptive behaviors and outcomes and an improvement of seven and a half times in well-being versus the control group.”

On McKinsey.com

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Enjoy unlimited access to McKinsey Explainers

What in the world is going on? A leader’s guide to global flows

The best response to an unfamiliar crisis may be counterintuitive. Here’s why

Deliberate calm in a crisis﻿

In the news﻿

“Leaders trained in deliberate calm showed three times better adaptive behaviors and outcomes and an improvement of seven and a half times in well-being versus the control group.”

On McKinsey.com

Deliberate calm in a crisis

In the news