Some of the prime roles of a leader is to ensure confidence, keep people calm and provide clear direction in times of crisis. Great leaders don’t let the people get panicked because it leads to chaos, confusion and all sorts of trouble.
Great leaders don’t let people get panicked!
Shaquille O’Neal the famous basketballer said “Generals don’t panic, then the troops never panic” in relation to his coach Phil Jackson’s ability to remain calm under pressure. Its so spot on! A leaders job is to build trust, integrity and confidence so that there employees, followers and constituents can go about their daily lives confident that the leader/s have a vision for making their lives better, dealing with the problems that occur and providing some clear directions for moving forward.
A leaders job is to build trust, integrity and confidence!
Scott Morrison, Greg Hunt, Peter Dutton, Richard Colbeck, our other ministers and Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy clearly do not understand this. The clearance of toilet paper, hand sanitiser, pasta and tissues from the shelves of Australian supermarkets (while ridiculous) is clear proof that the public are panicked!
These leaders need to get their act together, show real leadership, calm the public and the panic before the corona-virus really starts to take hold and wholesale panic sets in. Chinese restaurants are being avoided when there is no real reason to do so, aged care home employees are under attack. Things are getting crazy. The sales of Corona beer are down by 17% globally, that’s how panicked and crazy people are.
Leaders need to calm the public and the panic!
Great leaders don’t let peoples panic but that’s exactly what our leaders are allowing to happen. Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons set a great example for how not to panic people, how to keep people calm and informed and focused on the task and challenges in front of us.
Here is what great leaders do:
1. Provide clear concise, correct information delivered regularly in a calm yet authoritative manner (tell us exactly whats happening right now, make it clear you know what you’re talking about and you are an authority on the topic)
2. Provide clear direction (do this now and every opportunity you get, reinforce and update this information) Its no good saying don’t panic, because that just makes us ummmmm, panic!
3. Outline what you see as the future of this crisis (tell us to be be prepared for xxxx)
4. This is what we are doing (make it clear that you have this under control, you are prepared and ready and we can sleep easy because of that)
5. If you want to know more, here is where you can get regular truthful updates. (help us get truthful updates from a reliable source ourselves)
6. This is when you will hear from me next (give us regular updates, several times a day if need be, using the formula above so that we don’t get panicked by all the social media opinions)
Do this and people will stop panic buying toilet paper (I still don’t understand why they are) and other items and we can all Stay Calm and Get On With Life!
