Crisis Leadership & Messaging

Bring your leadership team (citywide, departmental, divisional, etc.) together (in person, Zoom, etc.). Deliver these messages in your own words:

1. Thank you for all you do…I know you are tired. I appreciate you and all your efforts.

2. We are leaders of the Department. We all need to be leading the dep’t and our divisions, and modeling the behavior we expect. That means:

   1. We are here (omit this if not relevant)

   2. We arrive early or on time to meet the day; take a few minutes to get focused and clear on the day’s priorities (omit this if it’s not relevant)

   3. We will start and end our day (or our week – frequency will depend on the nature of your work and/or the frequency of new direction from CM) together (in person meeting or Zoom) to establish/track our priorities for the day or week, troubleshoot, help and encourage one another and hopefully laugh a little 

   4. We deal in facts. We have access to solid, reliable information and we will continue to leverage it. By not engaging in speculative, catastrophized discussions with our team, we will provide a much needed sense of calm

   5. We will be visible in our department/divisions – that means walking the floor/halls at least once a day to offer assurance to the team

   6. We will deliver the messages coming from the CM’s office

   7. At the end of every day/week (again, select the frequency that makes sense) we will convene to evaluate how we have delivered on the goals we set for the day/week. To prepare, be ready to share what you think worked/didn’t, and what the takeaways are. We will also talk about how to apply those takeaways to the day/week ahead

3. I know it’s been chaotic, but we are going to find our groove. We will normalize, even in the midst of this

4. We are going to emerge from this with a lot of new strategies and processes that will serve the organization well long after the virus is over

5. We are going to come out of this an even stronger team. I can’t imagine anyone else I’d rather be on the front line with…Thank you – I am incredibly proud of you!