Grant Chisnall is a Crisis Advisor, Trainer, Podcaster and founder and CEO of Left of Boom. To read his previous blog click here.

In response to COVID-19, Left of Boom has provided support to help businesses navigate through these extremely challenging times. The current pandemic has reinforced the importance of crisis management planning.

“I don’t like to refer to the events we are seeing here as unprecedented. These things have happened before, they will happen in the future and we need to remain prepared and vigilant”.

Left of Boom has a range of free resources on their website to help business owners navigate their way through COVID-19. You can visit the website by clicking here. Grant recently hosted a webinar for business leaders planning their way through uncertainty. The webinar is called ‘You’ve survived, now how do you thrive?’ and can be accessed here.

“I wanted to do this webinar to help business leaders plan through uncertainty and to assist them with some tools and checklists that will help them in this process. The ADPT model is a planning tool, the Eisenhower Matrix can be used to help prioritise your objectives, and the Adaptive leadership model is really useful for helping leaders to identify the situational leadership roles they can perform.”

The ADAPT process is a mnemonic for Assess, Design/Develop, Analyse Options, Pick/Prime/Prepare and Triggers/Timing. You can access the ADAPT Planning Matrix here.

“Often when we are confronted by such a large problem, it is difficult to step back and see where to start. We can either be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the problem and take too long to respond or automatically think we need to act and get tied up in the problem. The ADAPT process helps leaders take a moment to pause, assess the situation and then pick the right strategy and execute it efficiently. I liken it to when a paramedic turns up at an incident scene. The first thing they do is pause and assess for Danger, Report or call in for any assistance, place on their gloves and then they begin working.”

“The other thing I noticed during COVID is that all of a sudden, our leadership loads have at least doubled. Everything takes additional time to communicate and coordinate remotely, and this has meant leaders are tied up in online meetings trying to manage additional workloads across dispersed teams. One of the most difficult things to do in any crisis situation is to say ‘no’ however this is an important skill for any leader, especially during a crisis”.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a tool that helps businesses decide what tasks need to be delegated, deleted, decided and done based on the task’s importance and urgency. To access the Eisenhower Matrix, click here.

The third model discussed in the webinar is the Adaptive Leadership Model. Great leaders are trusted, and trusted leaders must be able to adapt their leadership styles to different situations. Leaders have three different situational roles that they must take on, the supporter, the inspirer, and the enabler. The inspirer is the guider and leader that most people want to be; however, this is not always the most appropriate role. The enabler is the leader who facilitates work and enables their people to shine. The supporter supports the team members and helps them to be better. The role of the leader is dependent on what the situation calls for, for example, when a situation requires empathy and assurance, the role of the leader is to be the supporter. To better understand these roles and how you can improve your leadership skills through being an adaptive leader, watch Grant’s webinar here.

In addition to these free resources, Grant has launched 'Introduction to Crisis Management' a training course for business leaders who want to ensure their teams are empowered to respond confidently and with purpose in any situation.

“This course is a culmination of over 25 years of military and business crisis leadership experience. The principles of Crisis Management apply in everyday business, and if you can harness these skills during business as usual - you can adapt to any situation.”

For more information on this course, please visit https://crisis-talks.teachable.com/p/introduction-to-crisis-management