The first casualty in a crisis is trust. Crisis is not normal, and when confronted by a crisis the natural human reaction is to look around to see who and what can be trusted. We are social beings, and instinctively we look for the “who” first, and the “what” second.
One critical question which can guide a leader through a crisis is to ask themselves and their response team, “In the days ahead, what process will we initiate that will rebuild trust over the long term?” That puts the “who” and the “what” in one sentence: What process are we going to initiate? The other parts of that guiding question are also important:
- “In the days ahead…” – Crisis response usually requires a commitment of days and weeks, not merely hours.
- “…rebuild trust over the long term?” – Keep the long term firmly in mind. Avoid the temptations of short term “wins” at the risk of squandering long term credibility.
Restoring trust is a leadership responsibility that serves everyone. Of all the urgent tasks on your crisis response “To Do List,” protecting or restoring credibility should be at the very top. If you don’t have credibility, the rest of the list doesn’t matter.
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