Here’s a TEDx talk from Joseph Logan on “The Upside of Crisis”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVtMYpOSNmA (12:30) [TEDx Boulder (YouTube), 16-Oct-2014].
In the talk, Logan notes that crisis creates change, change creates choice. Crisis brings shock and grief and is a shared human experience. A time when an important and difficult decision must be made. Crisis breaks the status quo, it forces us to change. He proposes that change and crisis are the same thing, happening at different speeds. They offer the opportunity to nurture and grow the seed of change inside us. Importantly, the most creative periods of our lives are the ones immediately following crisis. For us, this is part of organisational change management, stakeholder management, management controls, risk management and organisational governance.
Some things to consider:
Trusting our decision making ability. The choices we make immediately following a crisis are tremendously important, though crisis makes it difficult to make choices.
Being uncomfortably comfortable. Choosing what happens next.
Timing change. Out of chaos comes the opportunity.
What values and ideals are you sharing with others? What are you moving forward with? What does your new day look like?
How does this thinking apply to you as a Project Manager? What messes are your teams cleaning up? Who is looking to gain your attention? What structures and communities are you leaning into to share your choices?
Why is this important? Good question. Crisis is messy. It can expose the parts of us that we want to keep to ourselves. It is personal. Leaning into personal and being open to the seed of change provides the opportunity for choice. With choice we can make decisions. Deciding whether now is the right time to grow this seed is the opportunity.
For further reading:
Netflix – Homemade, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JaGmaiKRLA (Trailer, 1:15)
What does every crisis have in common, Steve Gillman, https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/what-does-every-crisis-have-common.html (900 words) [Horizon, 14-Jan-2016]
Taking Care in a Slow Burning Crisis, Kate Ringland, https://medium.com/@kateringlan/taking-care-in-a-slow-burning-crisis-8ab8e05567ef (1,600 words) [Medium, 2-May-2020]
Leading in Disaster Recovery, Elizabeth McNaughton, https://www.preparecenter.org/resource/leading-in-disaster-recovery (328 words + Handbook) [Global Disaster Preparedness Center, 12-Mar-2015]
Inviting you to have a view / read and to have a chat with me about your thoughts.
[Originally posted internally in my role as Project Management Practice Lead at The Warehouse Group.]