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Social leaders are guiding the world through this crisis. Want some help? Harvard Business School is providing very useful free learning resources. They apply not only to the coronavirus, but also to every emergency situation an organization can experience. I would recommend them for every country leader, CEO, non-profit Executive Director, community leader and head of household. Check them out!

Free Course: Crisis Management for Leaders

I took this course and found it incredibly enlightening. Although it was designed for HBS alumni, you can watch the lectures and download the materials. The class, focused on the pandemic, provides proven frameworks to address emergencies. These frameworks help leaders prepare for future crises, as well as respond to the current one.

Here are some of my main takeaways from the course (yours might be different!):

Assemble a multi-disciplinary crisis response team. Include experts on the particulars of the emergency.

Be honest, transparent and give pragmatic hope.

Foster an organizational culture that encourages people to speak up. Others can probably spot problems before you.

Encourage devil’s advocates and dissenting voices.

Before emergencies, run pre-mortems (looking at causes of possible failure) and crisis scenarios.

Have a Chief Worry Officer, who is always looking/preparing for trouble.

In a crisis, focus on having the right people and process, instead of resources.

Analyze what you know, weigh the alternatives and take swift action.

Be true to your values, especially when dealing with employees and customers/participants.

Look deep into your supply chain (ie. the suppliers of your suppliers’ suppliers).

Don’t carry too much debt.

Cut non-labor costs first. Try to protect your employees.

Lead by example and with humanity.

Resource Page: Managing Through Crisis

This HBS page has wonderful resources centered around the pandemic. It provides information on the emergency as a whole. Yet, it also has articles on how this crisis impacts your team, your family and your well being. You will find many practical tools to help in all aspects of your life.

I hope you find these resources helpful. Please let me know what you think of them. Remember that my blog also contains many how-to’s for social leadership in tough times. Do you have other pages from unusual sources worth sharing? I would love to hear about them!

Be safe. Be strong.

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