Crisis in Action

Rosemarie's Everyday Heroes post reminded me of the value of crisis in not only leadership, but also in teamwork. When crisis occurs, we are often brought above and beyond the call of duty. We see this behavior in police officers, firefighters, and emergency personnel in hospitals or ambulances. Adrenaline kicks in and our behaviors shift to support the situation at hand.

My mother recently suffered a respiratory attack while visiting my sisters in Georgia to celebrate Easter. "Respiratory failure" is the medical term, but in the eyes of my sisters and my dad, she stopped breathing. This was terribly frightening and it called my sister into action to use her nursing skills and perform CPR to bring her back to life essentially. The family-team there in Georgia worked together doing whatever was necessary to save my mom's life. A crisis at hand indeed.

In Patrick Lencioni's book, Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars, he uses the crisis situation as an opportunity to support teamwork and leadership. While no organization wants to have crises all the time (except for those in trauma wards where they have little choice perhaps), there is the indirect benefit of teamwork. Patrick calls this the "Rallying Cry" that brings a leadership team together to focus on a critical issue or goal and bring it to conclusion.

You could say the rallying cry for Cate's heroes Kim, Doug, and Bob was "Help the Hiker". Without being deliberate in stating that cry, these heroes jumped into teamwork and action to manage the situation at hand. In fact, I think that Kim, Doug, and Bob are probably an informal team of hikers. You can imagine that their planning for a hike might even be a rallying cry. They may be thinking things like "Take the Hill" (we've heard that before in civil war history), or "Climb the Highest Peak" to drive their efforts and bring their thinking and actions together.

With the context of crisis and teamwork at hand, it is helpful to review Lencioni's models and see what a rallying cry (or Thematic Goal to be more organizationally proper) might be for your team/company/business. In my work as a consultant, the unintended outcome of silos between functions, politics in an organization, and resulting turf wars seems to be quite prevalent in the work place. The roles and responsibilities of an organization typically drive this behavior. However, the crisis mentality can support a changing of the face in an organization and how teams work together toward a common goal. It looks at how roles and responsibilities support one another versus differentiate or separate one another.

I highly recommend Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars if you would like to drive proactive crisis into your organization. Click here for the Amazon link. The rallying cry model drives teamwork, leadership, and results.

By the way, my mom is back home in Florida and doing great. Apparently, the Atlanta area had the worst pollen they had seen in 10 - 15 years! Not a good time for anyone with respiratory issues.

Questions to Ponder: When have you been called into crisis unintentionally, and how was the teamwork? Did one particular person emerge the leader, or was everyone a leader? How did this crisis affect how the group of individuals acted after the crisis was cleared?

Iron Sharpens Iron

At a meeting earlier this week, a friend and colleague encouraged all of us present to participate more fully and more frequently to make ourselves better at our crafts. He didn’t cite the bible, but he quoted from Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron”, he said, implying the rest of the passage, which reads “… and a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
He really made me think. This is powerful wisdom for the leader within us. We must stay sharp, on top of our game, strong and tenacious. And we cannot do this alone. We need the company of like-minded people to keep us on the path toward our goals.

As we spend time with each other, we share our hopes, our dreams and our fears. Together, we find ways to make our dreams come true, to overcome our fears and to fulfill our hopes. Together, we improve our skills and develop new ones. We learn from each other, lift each other up and become better people because of each other.

When I researched this passage, I learned that there are many organizations that use “Iron Sharpens Iron” as an axiom for their organization – joining together in a bond to strengthen their skills, practices and beliefs. Many of these organizations are secular law enforcement associations. Some are musical associations. All use the adage to remind themselves of why they exist together – to make each other, and themselves, better.
Some make the point that simply rubbing iron against itself will not sharpen either piece. Instead, the two pieces must meet at the right angle and then move carefully in order to sharpen and not to chip, dent or break the other. They use this metaphor to warn against argument and judgment, to seek understanding and common ground as a first step toward “sharpening” each other.

There is much to learn and consider from this “iron” wisdom. The first step, though, is to get out there and mingle with others who can sharpen and us and who, in the process, we can help sharpen.

Questions to ponder: With whom are we spending time in ways that sharpen us and we sharpen them? Where else could we be spending time to be with people who sharpen our skills, our values, our beliefs and our common goals?

Fight Like a Woman!

My friend, Domini, is literally recovering from brain surgery -- she had an aneurysm that would have killed her if it wasn't removed immediately. My uncle had the same surgery over ten years ago -- by the same, brilliant neuro-surgeon! This “coincidence” has bonded us through her journey and I have learned many things from her.

We visited at her home last week. She amazed me by greeting me at the door, herself. She is much thinner than the last time I saw her. Other than that, she looked wonderful. She guided me to her back porch where she had water, tea and cookies all ready for us. I can only imagine the amount of how tiring it must have been for her to prepare for my visit.

The gift I brought her was clever and unusual. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the right gift for her. Little did I know how appropriate this gift was. It was a miniature pair of pink leather boxing gloves embossed with the words, “Fight Like a Woman”. When Domini opened her gift, she exclaimed with all the expected oohs and aahs. But the conversation that followed was the real gift.


By then, Domini’s sister, Kim (who is also my friend), had joined us. She commented how apt those words were for Domini’s situation. She said that the grace and courage with which Domini and her husband, John, had handled the entire crisis had set the tone for everyone involved – their children, their family, their friends … and even their medical staff. Their light-hearted approach, caring for others, positive attitude, strength and faith kept everyone else strong and positively focused.


I had not considered before how much power a patient has … the choice to be a leader even in what some might consider the least powerful position a person can be in. A patient is a leader when s/he takes responsibility for a situation rather than becoming a victim to it.


We went on to talk about what it means to “fight like a woman”. Domini’s strength certainly came from her faith in God; but, she was also committed to conquering her challenge because her husband, children, family and friends needed her. She was fighting like a woman – not out of competition or anger but out of love.


A parent is a leader whose actions are motivated by love, guidance and protection.


Questions to ponder: When have we fought “like a woman” (even if we are male)? In what areas of our life do we feel like a victim? How can we change the situation and become a leader within it, rather than a victim to it? How might “fighting like a woman” change the situation?

The Depression that Made Us Great -- Part 1 in the Wisdom from Commercials series

When I was growing up, the “Great Depression” was something that my parents and their friends frequently discussed. We learned about the Great Depression in school.

Now, as we are experiencing a huge economic downturn, many are making comparisons to the Great Depression, wondering whether our experience is as bad as – or worse than – the Great Depression. Some are even cautious about using the word “depression”, for fear we will plummet even further.

Then, I heard a commercial. I cannot tell you what the commercial was trying to sell me. But I do remember very clearly one comment they made: this could be another “Great Depression” OR this could be “The Depression that Made Us Great”!

Now, why didn’t I think of that? That motto describes perfectly what Janet and I are trying to do through this blog and the coaching work that we are doing!

This economic downturn has the potential to be a huge depression, a terrible legacy to leave our children. Or, it can be the wake-up call that causes us to look very candidly at how we got here – and, more importantly, what we need to do to turn things around … and never return!

I, for one, want to make this the “Depression that made us Great”. And to do this, each of us must become a leader in our own worlds. We must take responsibility for doing the right things and for doing them right. We must focus on more than money and things and profit and consumerism. We must look deep inside ourselves and find the true gifts that God gave us – and then use them to make the world a better place.

When I look back thirty years from now and tell my grandchildren about this era in our history, I can hardly wait to tell them about this “Depression that made us Great”!

Question to Ponder: What can you do, right now – today – to start making this the depression that made us great?