Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership: The Role of Spirituality in Organizational Response [1st ed.] 9783030449544, 9783030449551

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-ix
Introduction (Steve Firestone)....Pages 1-6
What Is Crisis Leadership? (Steve Firestone)....Pages 7-21
Importance of Organizational Culture to Crisis Leadership (Steve Firestone)....Pages 23-34
Personal Crisis and Its Relationship to Organizational Crisis Leadership (Steve Firestone)....Pages 35-43
Spiritual Leadership and Crisis (Steve Firestone)....Pages 45-56
Scripture as Guide and Comfort During a Crisis (Steve Firestone)....Pages 57-64
Importance of Communication During a Crisis (Steve Firestone)....Pages 65-74
Steps to Take During a Crisis (Steve Firestone)....Pages 75-83
Growing and Improving from a Crisis (Steve Firestone)....Pages 85-94
Crisis Leadership and Development of Organizational Resilience (Steve Firestone)....Pages 95-103
Servant Leadership and Crisis Leadership (Steve Firestone)....Pages 105-117
Conclusion (Steve Firestone)....Pages 119-122
Back Matter ....Pages 123-125

Citation preview

CHRISTIAN FAITH PERSPECTIVES IN LEADERSHIP AND BUSINESS

Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership The Role of Spirituality in Organizational Response

s t e v e f i r e s t on e

Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business

Series Editors Doris Gomez Regent University Virginia Beach, VA, USA Kathleen Patterson School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship Regent University Virginia Beach, VA, USA Bruce E. Winston Regent University Virginia Beach, VA, USA Gary Oster Regent University Virginia Beach, VA, USA

This book series is designed to integrate Christian faith-based perspectives into the field of leadership and business, widening its influence by taking a deeper look at its foundational roots. It is led by a team of experts from Regent University, recognized by the Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities as the leader in servant leadership research and the first Christian University to integrate innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship courses in its Masters and Doctoral programs. Stemming from Regent’s hallmark values of innovation and Christian faithbased perspectives, the series aims to put forth top-notch scholarship from current faculty, students, and alumni of Regent’s School of Business & Leadership, allowing for both scholarly and practical aspects to be addressed while providing robust content and relevant material to readers. Each volume in the series will contribute to filling the void of a scholarly Christian-faith perspective on key aspects of organizational leadership and business such as Business and Innovation, Biblical Perspectives in Business and Leadership, and Servant Leadership. The series takes a unique approach to such broad-based and well-trodden disciplines as leadership, business, innovation, and entrepreneurship, positioning itself as a muchneeded resource for students, academics, and leaders rooted in Christianfaith traditions.

More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15425

Steve Firestone

Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership The Role of Spirituality in Organizational Response

Steve Firestone Regent University Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business ISBN 978-3-030-44954-4 ISBN 978-3-030-44955-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2020 Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

A crisis has a way of making us all feel vulnerable. There is something about the change that comes from a crisis and the lack of knowing what comes next that can make us feel uneasy. As I write this dedication the world is going through a crisis associated with the Coronavirus (Covid-19). During this crisis we have seen all sorts of reactions and a multitude of different leadership styles. This crisis has also caused us to evaluate how we treat those around us, in our organizations, in our communities, and even in our families. Extraordinary events cause each one of us to act in different ways and it forces leaders to evaluate their actions and words. I hope this book causes leaders to better understand that we need to seek God during crises and the times that make us uneasy. Writing is also something that can make us feel vulnerable. Though maybe not to the same extent that we see during a crisis such as the Coronavirus, writing can at times seem like a crisis to the author. When we write we put ourselves and our thoughts out for everyone to read and evaluate. We are vulnerable during this process because we are unsure of the reaction that we may get from our efforts. Will it be accepted, ignored, or possibly ridiculed? Here too, there is an element of not knowing what is next in terms of the writing, editing, and publishing process. All of this can make the author extremely uneasy. I am grateful to those who have put me at ease a bit and have made this process seem less like a crisis and more like a persistent endeavor to uncover information that will help today’s leaders. I am deeply indebted to Drs.

Winston, Oster, Patterson, and Gomez for their help as editors of this book series and for their guidance during the process. I am honored to call them, and the other faculty and staff at Regent University, my colleagues. I am especially indebted to my wife, Roma, who put up with my uneasiness during the writing process and assisted me in preparing the references for the final manuscript. She has been a rock through the multiple crises we have encountered during our life together. Roma and I have experienced many crises together as have many couples who have been married for as long as we have. We were together through the events and aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, we evacuated our New Orleans home with our infant children during Hurricane Katrina, and we have seen numerous medical crises affect those in our immediate family and among our loved ones and friends. Throughout all of these events, she has shown me how relationships are what matter when we are faced with tough times and how love, along with our faith in God, can get us through any crisis that comes our way.

Contents

1

Introduction

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2

What Is Crisis Leadership?

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3

Importance of Organizational Culture to Crisis Leadership

23

Personal Crisis and Its Relationship to Organizational Crisis Leadership

35

5

Spiritual Leadership and Crisis

45

6

Scripture as Guide and Comfort During a Crisis

57

7

Importance of Communication During a Crisis

65

8

Steps to Take During a Crisis

75

9

Growing and Improving from a Crisis

85

10

Crisis Leadership and Development of Organizational Resilience

95

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CONTENTS

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Servant Leadership and Crisis Leadership

105

12

Conclusion

119

Index

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List of Tables

Table 2.1

Table 2.2

Examples of crisis events (Author’s creation based upon Coombs 2007; Lewis 2006; Harvard Business Essentials 2004) Differences between crisis leadership and crisis management (Author’s creation)

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ix

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

My Christian brothers, what good does it do if you say you have faith but do not do things that prove you have faith? Can that kind of faith save you from the punishment of sin? What if a Christian does not have clothes or food? And one of you says to him, “Goodbye, keep yourself warm and eat well.” But if you do not give him what he needs, how does that help him? A faith that does not do things is a dead faith. (James 2:14–17, New International Version)

Everyone who has existed on earth has experienced crisis. We should not forget that both birth and death are very real crises that we must go through. We all have also experienced crisis in the form of birth, death, injury, and pain to the ones we love. Just as everyone is unique, everyone’s response to crisis is different. Some respond to crisis by rushing at the problem and trying to solve any issues present, while others shrink from the challenges due to the overwhelmingness of them. Crisis response is much more than this “fight or flight” response. While we have all experienced crisis very few leaders have worked to better prepare for them. This book is intended to show leaders how their faith and an understanding of crisis leadership principles will help them deal with the inevitable crises that will come. Think back to a time when you experienced a crisis. How did you respond? Were you ready for the events that followed the crisis? Did you have a plan to follow when the crisis hit? If you are like most people you answered no to these questions. The very fact that you found this book © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_1

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and opened it means you believe you could be better prepared for a crisis. My hope is that this book will provide you with the resources that will prepare you for the next crisis you face and will make you a better leader during a crisis. Now think about the last time an organization you were a part of had a crisis. How did the organization respond? Was everyone ready for the events that followed the crisis? Was there a plan for the organization to follow when the crisis occurred? How did the leader respond to the crisis? It is this last question that is at the heart of this book. If in the last scenario you were the leader this book should be a great chance for you to review your leadership response during the crisis. If you were not the leader in the last scenario this book will provide you the foundation for being a Spiritual crisis leader who will be ready when the time comes. Similar to how every person has experienced a crisis, every organization has experienced a crisis. Organizational crises range from the challenges seen during the organization’s creation to public relations missteps to personnel and financial challenges. Just like every person’s response to a crisis is different, an organization’s response to a crisis is just as varied. What is similar between the two is the typical lack of preparation for such crisis events. Humans have experienced crises since the beginning of time. History tells us that since the earliest crisis, mankind has attempted to deal with these incidents, survive, learn from them, and be better for having survived them. Leadership theory dates to the mid-nineteenth century and the industrial revolution. While leadership theory has developed extensively since it was first begun, crisis leadership theory has not developed on pace with general leadership theory. Additionally, most of the books on leading during a crisis neglect to discuss how Christian leaders can use their faith to help their organizations through these difficult situations. This book is designed to provide the reader with an in-depth discussion of how they can better lead during a crisis by relying on their Christian faith. While many books on crisis leadership (and general leadership theory, as a whole) tend to focus on the individual as the key component, this book will focus on the Christian faith as the major point of emphasis. Many people believe that the best preparation for a crisis is experience. Every day we get older we probably tend to agree with this emphasis on experience even more. While experience is important, it is not enough. We must prepare for crisis by using all of the resources available to us. In this book I will present a case for taking the time to prepare to better lead during a crisis. More importantly, I will show leaders how the Bible

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provides us a great deal of guidance on how they can better lead during the crises that come our way. This book is intended to help leaders in all walks of life better prepare for crises. The emphasis here is on the broadest sense of the term leader. Leadership comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. When many people hear the word leader they think of a CEO, a president, commanding officer, or maybe a pastor. In this book the term leader is meant much broader and includes leaders at every level of an organization because leadership is present at every level and not just at the very top. Leadership is important in all the organizations present in the world not just the ones important to Wall Street or to Washington, DC. Leadership of the local church, Boy or Girl Scout Troop, or food kitchen is just as important. Going one step further, leadership at home in the family is just as important, if not even more, than the typical definition of a leader many people may have. This book is intended to help all leaders better deal with crisis. While many of the examples and stories included in this book will be aimed at leading a formal organization, the principles and techniques presented will work in every organization down to the smallest family unit. The contents of this book are intentionally broad because there are many areas to be considered when we look at crisis leadership. The goal is to cover most, if not all, of the areas a Christian leader needs to consider when they prepare to lead their group through a crisis. Hopefully the material will cause leaders and researchers alike to reconsider their previous notions of crisis leadership and will cause them to spend more time on this important subject. Additionally, it is likely that the subjects included here will improve your leadership skills beyond just during times of crisis since many of the ideas presented are universal concepts of leadership that apply equally well during relatively calm times.

The Author’s Perspective I think it is important that the reader understands where an author is coming from whenever they read their work. While the short biography included with most books can provide some insight into the mind and motivations of the author, it usually does not provide enough information to fully understand the author’s relationship with the subject matter. With this in mind I offer a brief summary of my experience with leadership and with crisis. My interest in leadership began at an early age during team sports, Boy Scouts, and in Navy R.O.T.C. in college. While most of the examples of

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leadership I had were authoritarian leaders who tended to use a transactional style of leadership, I always felt called to lead with what I would later learn was a transformational style of leadership. My efforts were primarily based on trying to get the group to accomplish its goals. There was always an element of wanting the best for each individual but primarily I saw things from a transformational leadership perspective where I wanted everyone to be a valued part of the group. This made sense to me since I believed the team or group’s success would ensure each person’s individual success. My move to more of a servant leadership style came during my early years in the Navy. As a young officer with twenty or more people working for me, I began to see how important the lives of each individual were and how their well-being really should be the focus of my leadership. I was constantly reminded by my superiors that if you “take care of your people, they will take care of you.” This very simple saying was enough to remind me that the needs of those following me should come first, even if the intent behind it still was not in keeping with servant leadership principles. As I studied servant leadership in my graduate studies, I began to see that my leadership style had many of the characteristics described of a servant leader but the key ingredient missing was intent. This intent came with the strengthening of my faith and it just began to seem obvious to me that we should be serving those following us. This is not to say that servant leadership is easy to understand or to practice. Most of society today is telling us to act exactly the opposite of the way Jesus did as a true servant leader. While many organizations are starting to see the value of servant leadership and are embracing its principles it is still not generally accepted by most organizations who are more familiar with an authoritarian structure (Northouse 2019). There may be some who read this book and wonder how they can lead with their faith in a secular organization. They may ask, “How can I be expected to lead from a Christian perspective when displaying faith in their workplace is either not allowed or is at least, highly discouraged?” I admit, it is easy for me, as an associate professor at a Christian university to suggest that our leaders should lead as Christians since I am encouraged to do so on a daily basis. I would offer that while it may be difficult at times to discuss your Christian principles, it should never be difficult to live them. As shown at the beginning of this introduction, scripture tells us very clearly in James 2:17 that “A faith that does not do things is a dead faith” (NIV). Our actions as leaders mean the most to our followers and there is nothing to stop us from leading as Christians, no matter where we work.

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I would also offer that Christians today many times censor themselves in the workplace because of what they think the perception of Christians might be. I cannot remember one time during my 23 years in the Navy being told that I could not express my faith, but I can remember plenty of times when I did not express it for what I perceived would happen. I certainly am not advocating that people do things that will cause them to lose their jobs, but I do think we need to consider expressing ourselves more in the workplace when we can.

Intended Audience and Focus This book is designed for Christian leaders in all organizations. The material will appeal to practicing Christians due to the advocacy of using faith during difficult times. It will certainly appeal to Christian leaders due to its reliance on practical leadership principles and examples that will help such leaders see the best methods for dealing with crises. Christian leadership scholars will be interested in the discussion of Spiritual leadership, organizational culture, and servant leadership in terms of leading during a crisis. The main focus in Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership is on how leaders can better lead during a crisis and what they can do to prepare themselves, and their organizations to successfully plan, prepare, and respond to these unplanned events. In recent years organizations have begun to prepare for such crises but scholarly research and discussion have not kept up with their efforts. My hope is to significantly close the gap between the practical and the theoretical understandings of crisis leadership. The content will be evenly split between practical advice on leading during a crisis and the scholarly aspects of crisis leadership. It is hoped that the provided information will have a lasting impact on leaders and will inspire additional scholarly research in this important subdiscipline. I will discuss this more in Chapter 2 but I want to point out that the focus here is crisis leadership instead of crisis management. The distinction between the two is somewhat nuanced but is distinct enough that the emphasis needs to be pointed out. The distinction between the two is clear but the reader may notice a a slight amount of overlap between the two concepts in certain examples since there are some commonalities that both crisis leaders and crisis managers must accomplish when dealing with a crisis. This book will also focus on how Spirituality can improve a leader’s, and an organization’s, ability to respond to a crisis. The importance of

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the leader’s Christian faith during a crisis will also be a focal point for this book. Biblical examples of leading during a crisis will be presented to show the reader how their faith can be relied upon to help them lead during crisis situations.

Summary The intent of this book is to provide the leader the tools needed to be the best they can be before, during, and after a crisis while also encourage scholars to look into how Christian leaders can better respond to crises. In doing this I have broken down crisis leadership into ten separate topics. First, I will present an overview of what crisis leadership is and explain its relationship with organizational culture. Next, personal crisis and organizational crisis will be compared to see what leaders can learn from crises they have faced previously. Spiritual leadership and the reasons to rely on Christ will be discussed next to present how a leader can better lead from a Christian perspective and how this can improve their results during a crisis. Next the importance of communication during a crisis and a proposed method for dealing with a crisis will be presented followed by a discussion of how leaders can help their organizations to grow and develop enduring resilience after a crisis. Finally, leadership theory will be presented, and an argument will be made that leaders who want to be the best Spiritual crisis leader possible should choose to be a servant leader.

Key Takeaways 1. Experience with crisis is universal. 2. Leaders should spend more time improving their crisis leadership abilities. 3. This book will present concrete methods for Christians to be better crisis leaders. 4. Faith will help leaders better deal with a crisis. 5. Leaders should show their faith in God through their actions.

Reference Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

CHAPTER 2

What Is Crisis Leadership?

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV) To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. (1 Peter 5:1–4, NIV)

Crisis leadership is a very important part of leading in today’s world. Every organization goes through some form of crisis on a fairly regular basis. This chapter is intended to define what a crisis is and what its impact may be on the organization. Additionally, a distinction between crisis management and crisis leadership will be made and an overview of crisis leadership research will be provided. The two passages at the beginning of this chapter provide us with a good summary of what crisis leadership should mean to all Christians. On the one hand, the words from Jeremiah tell us that the Lord already knows the trouble we will have to endure and that we should have faith that we can overcome them. While this is very comforting news, this does not mean that we can sit idly by and hope that things work out. Rather, © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_2

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we are to do as instructed in 1 Peter and in other parts of scripture and serve as leaders and examples for others during tough times.

What Is a Crisis? Before delving into the discussion of crisis leadership it is important to define what a crisis is. A crisis is generally defined as a situation that develops quickly and requires a response from a person or an organization in order to mitigate the consequences. Here are some examples of the way researchers and practitioners have defined it: A specific, unexpected, and non-routine event or series of events that create high levels of uncertainty and threat or perceived threat to an organization’s high priority goals. (Seeger et al. 1998, p. 233)

The military defines it as: An incident or situation that typically develops rapidly and creates a condition of such diplomatic, economic, or military importance that the President or SecDef considers a commitment of U.S. military forces and resources to achieve national objectives. It may occur with little or no warning. It is fast-breaking and requires accelerated decision making. Sometimes a single crisis may spawn another crisis elsewhere. (Joint Chiefs of Staff 2011, pp. II–29)

Here are a few other definitions from other scholars: A crisis is change – either sudden or evolving – that results in an urgent problem that must be addressed immediately. For a business, a crisis is anything with the potential to cause sudden and serious damage to its employees, reputation, or bottom line. (Harvard Business Essentials 2004, p. xvi) Crises, catastrophes, and calamities are an unfortunate but inevitable fact of life. They have been with us since the beginning of time. It can be argued that they will be with us until the end of human history itself. In short, they are an integral part of the human condition. They are the human condition. (Mitroff 2004, p. 33)

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A crisis is an unstable time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending – either one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome or one with the distinct possibility of a highly desirable and extremely positive outcome. It is usually a 50-50 proposition, but you can improve the odds. (Fink 1986, p. 15)

These definitions, both from scholars and practitioners, share several things in common. They all point out that crises happen quickly, many times without warning, and in order to be considered a crisis, they must imperil an organization’s objectives or goals while forcing the organization to take steps to mitigate the possible consequences. It is important to note that many, if not most, organizations do not have a defined concept of a crisis nor a list of what constitutes a crisis to their organization. This would be helpful for many reasons. Chief among these reasons, in terms of importance, is that by having a list of events describing what constitutes a crisis, the organization will be much quicker to recognize and respond and will be less likely to overreact when less severe events occur. Why is having a definition of a crisis important? How we define it will predict and dictate how we see the world. With a good understanding of the definition of a crisis is we can also be better prepared to lead and respond when needed. We have all likely been in situations where an event occurred and only several people, or maybe only one person, viewed it as a crisis. While the minority of the group is responding to the event as a crisis the others can’t quite fully understand what the big deal is. This is exactly the situation that can be avoided when proper crisis planning is conducted and a generally agreed-upon definition of a crisis exists for the organization. A person’s worldview impacts how they define a crisis. People who have a secular or atheistic worldview will see a crisis as an opportunity for man to conquer nature and for the strongest to survive and succeed. Those with a more animistic or spirit-ruled worldview will see a crisis as something that cannot be prepared for or even responded to but rather as something that must be submitted to. Finally, those of us with a Christian worldview will see a crisis as something that is of God but that He will help us respond to if we follow His way. Those people who see their time on earth as an end will more than likely see a crisis as a possible end. Christians should see a crisis as only one part of our time on earth that is leading to our ultimate salvation and entry into God’s never-ending kingdom (Miller 1998).

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The relationship between a leader’s viewpoint and a crisis goes both ways. Our perception of a crisis based upon our worldview, can become reality because our actions will be shaped by this perception. Boin et al. (in Couto) (2010) explained the importance of perception to crisis in the following definition: In sum, crises are the combined products of unusual events and shared perceptions that something is seriously wrong. However, no set of events or developments is likely to be perceived fully uniformly by members of a community. Perceptions of crisis are likely to vary not only among communities—societies experience different types of disturbances and have different types and levels of vulnerability and resilience—but also within them, reflecting the different biases of stakeholders as a result of their different values, positions, and responsibilities. These differential perceptions and indeed accounts of a crisis set the stage for crisis leadership. (p. 230)

This means that if we perceive a crisis a certain way, we may change it into what we think it is. Similarly, how we view difficult events in our lives can, over time, impact our worldview and how much control we believe we have over difficult situations. This is why a leader needs to be prepared to guide the organization through a potential crisis.

Crisis Events for an Organization As mentioned earlier, it is important for leaders to prepare their organizations for a crisis by educating the members on what the group defines as a crisis (Pearson and Clair 1998). Below is a suggested general list of events that can be edited to fit the needs and specific circumstances of an organization. This should be a starting point for a leader to consider when evaluating the types of crisis that might affect their organization (Table 2.1). As you can see from this list of crises that can impact an organization the scope and severity can vary greatly. Many of the listed items are events that occur outside of the organization while others, like corporate reorganization, happen internally. In addition to being able to bin crises as either external or internal occurrences, we can further group them into several different categories across the spectrum of impact to an organization (Harvard Business Essentials 2004). The list below represents how

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Table 2.1 Examples of crisis events (Author’s creation based upon Coombs 2007; Lewis 2006; Harvard Business Essentials 2004)

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Crisis Events Natural disaster Product recall Environmental mishap Transportation accidents Protest against the organization Work-related death or injury Disruptive employee Security/Data breach Social media incidents Product tampering Attack or protest on customers Terrorist attack Stock issues/corporate takeover Disruption of utilities’ access Corporate reorganization

these categories can be separated into like events with a few examples for us to consider: Accidents and Natural Events—Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina, Australian wildfires, Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Health Disasters—Coronavirus, Ebola, and Zika virus. Technological Accidents—Chernobyl, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and Gulf oil spill. Economic Problems—Impacts from the Coronavirus of 2020, The Great Recession, and The 1970s’ Oil Crisis. Geopolitical Turmoil—Gulf War, Hong Kong Protests, and The Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Unethical Actions—Enron, Bernie Madoff scandal, and Wells Fargo scandal (Harvard Business Essentials 2004). This list and the table presented before it are only a limited representation of crises that can occur. They are intended to provide the leader with an idea of what sort of things may happen so that they can develop a top ten list of possible crises which they can develop their crisis action plan to combat. Having this list of ten of the worst things that might happen to the organization is important not just so you can prepare for the specific crisis. It is also important so that you can get your organization to start preparing in a general sense, for any crisis that might occur. It is interesting to note the difference between a crisis and a disaster. While many treat the two as one and the same, and most view the

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response as the most important thing to consider, there is a difference that should be considered by an organization. Bhaduri (2019) explains this difference best when he writes, “a disaster happens within the larger environment in which some crucial element of an organization is situated” while a crisis typically happens to an organization but does not cause an issue for most of the units external to the organization. You can see from this list above that the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami are listed disasters while the resulting crisis of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident is listed as a separate crisis. This definition appears to pertain mainly to scope but it is important for an organization’s leadership to understand the difference so they can communicate effectively and accurately what is really happening. It is important to understand that one disaster and even one crisis can lead to additional crises. This is true in the case of tsunami leading to a nuclear reactor meltdown and it is also true of a corporate crisis that is mismanaged that leads to an even larger crisis like what we have seen with companies like Enron and Wells Fargo. There is more value in the planning for a crisis than in a prescriptive response that can be prepared for a specific crisis since we never know precisely what might occur. One of the favorite sayings in the military planning community is “plans are nothing, but the planning is everything.” This simple saying acknowledges that the plans made may not be implemented perfectly due to the varying circumstances of the crisis. What is important is the planning process where all of the different variables and possible responses can be considered so that an organization is ready when the crisis happens. This benefit from the planning process is why a plan should never be “put on the shelf” for years. Instead an organization should have an active planning cycle where plans are reviewed and discussed yearly, if not more frequently. Natural disasters have occurred since time began and they have always affected humans within close proximity to them. With the population of the earth constantly expanding and humans spread out across the earth these disasters tend to affect more people than in the past. What we see even more today are crises that are not related to natural causes. Largescale factory accidents, nuclear plant mishaps, corporate crime and mismanagement, and oil refinery explosions, are a few of the examples of crises we can view as more internal and preventable than natural disasters (Mitroff 2004). And today’s man-made crises can rival the worst impacts we have seen from any natural disasters. The exponential improvement in technology combined with the flattening of the world around us has given rise to a world where many now view crisis as a way of life. What this means is that crisis leadership is even more important now than it has

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been in the past. We need crisis leaders who are prepared for crisis as a way of life. Crisis leaders are not needed simply to guide organizations out of crises. Research shows that more and more of the crisis we see today are caused by human error. Typically, it is not just a simple error by one person that leads to a major crisis. Instead it is typically a chain of errors or an overall systemic error involving humans that leads to most of the crises we see in organizations (Simonsson and Heide 2018; Perrow 1984). When we look at a crisis, we should understand the difference between error and risk. As was just explained, error is something that can be prevented by an aware leader who encourages their organization to report errors and work to improve in the areas identified. Risk, on the other hand, is typically not avoidable. When reviewing risk, we assume that something will happen, and we project the likelihood of when it will occur and how badly the organization will be affected. We should not make error and risk synonymous because our organizations should be encouraged to identify areas of human error, report them, and correct them. In short, we should not place error and risk in the same category when we plan for the crises that will inevitably come (Simonsson and Heide 2018).

Biblical Examples of Crisis The Bible provides us with plenty of examples of crisis and people’s response to them. While the Old and New Testaments are different in many respects, they both contain many examples of crisis and how those affected responded to these difficult times. And while I agree with Irving and Strauss (2019) that “the Bible is not a handbook on leadership” I do believe there is much that can be learned from scripture on how to lead, especially during a crisis. From almost the beginning of the Bible we are presented with stories of people and groups in crisis. We see several specific examples of crisis leadership with Moses. In Exodus 6:6–7 God tells Moses to inform the Israelites that He will deliver them out of their servitude to the Egyptians. Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your

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God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians’. (NIV)

Do you think the Israelites believed this and were encouraged to respond to this crisis? I highly doubt it. We read soon after that “Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor” (NIV). It is almost unfathomable to think that the Israelites, after being told very clearly that they would be saved from their current situation, decided not to listen to Moses because their situation seemed so difficult and hopeless. It may seem unfathomable but is it any more unfathomable than what we see today when people are going through crisis and do not think they will ever get beyond the issue facing them? We are not that much different than the Israelites but as leaders we must see beyond our current situation and instill confidence in our people that we will be able to overcome the crisis facing us. We should use our faith in God to bolster this confidence and allow us to lead through the crisis presented to us as authentic leaders. Think back to difficult times in the life of your organization or in your personal life. Was your first instinct to reach out to God for His support? The Bible teaches us that the most prudent thing for us to do, and the thing God implores us to do is reach out to Him during our time of need. There probably is no better figure to evaluate on leading during a crisis in the Bible than Moses. Time after time he faced difficult circumstances that he could only overcome with the help of God. Did he have doubts? Most certainly. Early on in Exodus 3:11–14 Moses questioned how he could be expected to lead. But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (NIV)

But by the time the Israelites had been led out of Egypt and were about to be engaged by Pharaoh by the sea near Pi Hahiroth it became

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obvious that Moses understood the importance of believing in God when challenged by a crisis. We see this clearly in 14:10–14. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)

This education of Moses to trust in God during difficult times is what leaders need today. No matter the crisis or difficult circumstances that present themselves we must first believe in God and understand that He will be with us during any problem. While it is difficult to first see this—even Moses was not convinced at first—it is imperative for leaders in today’s world to live this way in order to improve the ability of their organizations to survive crises and to even thrive during such challenging times. The story of Moses reminds us that life can be difficult at times for us as individuals and as collective groups. Nowhere in the Bible does God tell us that life will be easy. We are told that we will have a better life in heaven, but this implies that our life here on earth will have many struggles and crises for us to overcome. The main thing we should take away from this is that God is with us during a crisis and that he wants us to overcome the challenges presented to us. One great example of this is seen in Mark 4:35 where the disciples and Jesus were threatened by a storm while at sea. Upon seeing waves breaking over the boat the disciples woke Jesus and asked why he did not care if they drown. Jesus calmed the storm and then asked why the men still did not have faith in him. This example shows us that even the disciples, men who were close to Jesus and witnessed him conduct countless miracles, still had moments when they lost faith. With this understanding it is not too difficult to see why leaders today can sometimes forget their faith. We read in the Bible that God understands we will have difficult times and He wants us to succeed. It is written in James 1:12 that “Blessed is

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the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (NIV). God knows we will have challenges, but He wants us to face them head-on and lead our organizations to success with Him by our side. God knows that life is imperfect, and we see many examples in the Bible that this is so. What is perfect is our life beyond earth. The first thing we need to understand is that God knows that there will be crises for us individually and in our organizations. We need to trust that He will stand strong with us through these crises. He wants us to succeed and has a plan for each of our organizations and for each us of, personally. Of course, like many things in our walk with God, this is easier to say than for us to actually do. Accordingly, we must stay rooted to our faith and be steadfast in our beliefs.

Crisis Leadership vs. Crisis Management Much like scholars have generally defined leadership and management as different entities, crisis leadership and crisis management should be similarly treated as distinct from one another. When looking at both concepts researchers generally regard crisis management as concentrating more on the distinct steps taken to respond to an individual crisis while crisis leadership is more concerned with enduring issues that come from leading during a crisis and how leaders can prepare their organizations to better handle these situations over an extended period of time (Mitroff 2011). Klann (2003) explains the difference between crisis management and crisis leadership very well. Traditionally, books and articles about crisis management place a great deal of emphasis on management actions to be taken in preparation for a crisis. This focus on management functions implies that you can prepare for a crisis by writing a plan and then executing it when the crisis occurs. Certainly, an effective leader is competent in such functions as planning, organizing, staffing, budgeting, controlling, and directing. But a narrow emphasis on management strategy and planning ignores the leadership necessary for putting the plan into action. That kind of approach sidesteps the human element that plays such a large role during a crisis—the needs, emotions, and behaviors of people at all levels of the organization. (p. 27)

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Boin et al. in Couto (2010) describe the subtle difference between crisis management and crisis leadership in the following statement, “we should not assume that crises are simply bad news for leaders, with crisis management focused purely on damage limitation, both operationally and politically. Crises may also provide leaders with unique opportunities to discard old policies and commitments, kick-start new ones, reform public organizations, and reshape the political landscape by forging new coalitions (p. 230).” Prewitt and Weil (2014) provide us with a good understanding of what it means to lead during a crisis instead of just reacting in an effort to simply manage the situation. Reactive leadership and crisis management have been synonymous for years. This flows from the belief that crisis is unpredictable and unexpected, which is simply not true. Crisis has its genesis in the values, beliefs, culture, or behavior of an organization which become incongruent with the milieu in which the organization operates. A leader, who is able to read the signals of looming crisis and understands how to harness the exigency brought on by the situation, can diminish the potential dangers and take full advantage of the resulting opportunities. (p. 72)

I believe we need to reframe how we look at crisis management compared to crisis leadership. For years crisis management has been synonymous with general clean up and recovery operations. In the leadership field we need to focus on crisis leadership since this connotes a definitive difference versus the simple management of a crisis and promotes leading with a broader and more holistic view of crises. Here the point is that the immediate clean up of and reaction to a crisis both fit much better in the definition of crisis management while the leader who uses the crisis to improve the organization can be seen as conducting crisis leadership. This is not to say that crisis management is not important because it is definitely vital, rather it is to say we need to prepare leaders to do more than manage the effects from such events. Crisis management, in short, is not sufficient for the world we live in today. We need the leaders of our organizations to do more than simply respond and react to crisis events. While crisis management is concerned with how to respond in the short term after a crisis a crisis leader will be proactive and will prepare their organization for an event before one occurs. Furthermore, a crisis leader will see how different crises connect

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Table 2.2 Differences between crisis leadership and crisis management (Author’s creation) Crisis leadership

Crisis management

Long view of events Proactive Learn during a crisis and from errors

Short view of events Reactive No learning from a crisis. Respond and move on One plan for all crises Communicate the “response plan”

Plan for many different potential crises Communicate to stakeholders the wide range of potential crisis Involve others in the plan and the response

Drive the response when the time comes

and can be used to improve their organization over a long period of time (Table 2.2). Pearson and Clair (1998) framed organizational crisis as, “a lowprobability, high-impact event that threatens the viability of the organization and is characterize by ambiguity of cause, effect, and means of resolution as well as by a belief that decisions must be made swiftly.” This definition moves beyond the somewhat simple definitions of a crisis and adds to it the impact felt by the entire organization in terms of the ambiguity and stress and the role of the leader in guiding the process through sound decision-making.

History of Crisis Leadership As long as there have been organizations and leaders there have been crises for them to overcome. We see many examples of good and bad crisis leadership in every field imaginable such as the military, government, industrial, and church fields just to name a few. Similar to the fact that the study of leadership is a relatively new discipline compared to many others, the study of crisis leadership is also relatively new. Research in this specific area of leadership has burgeoned within the past 25 years due to the numerous large-scale crises we have seen during this period combined with the sharp increase in the speed that news travels due to the internet and social media. Whereas in the past we would have had to wait days or weeks to hear about a crisis, and even longer before we could attempt to understand the role of the leader in the specific crisis, now we know

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many of the specifics within moments after a crisis occurs. In addition to providing access to more information this has also caused researchers as well as the general public to probe for information on the actions of leaders during these moments in order to better understand how their leadership style impacted the ultimate response. The military has one of the longest histories with dealing with crisis response. They have also been in the lead with their training for leaders on how to best respond when unexpected events occur. The military tends to view crises as part of a much larger plan for battles, campaigns, and strategy. They teach their commanders to understand how the crisis will impact the larger organization of the defense department and ultimately, the nation as a whole. The business world has also begun to realize the importance of being prepared to respond during a crisis since one misstep here can lead to the end of a company if the response is not well thought out. This increase in preparing business units has grown dramatically from the 1980s but so has the level and severity of the crises seen. Business continuity planning and crisis response plans are much more commonplace in medium and largescale businesses than it was in the past (Lewis 2006). What is missing, in most instances, is a focus on leading throughout the crisis lifecycle. What is missing in even more instances, are leaders who lead from a Christian perspective trusting in God to help them shepherd their organizations through such troubles. This book is one effort to reinforce the value of living with Christ through whatever happens.

Summary Crisis leadership is important to both the student and the current leader. It is important that we understand what a crisis is and what it might look like so that we are better able to detect one and put a plan into action. While crisis management and crisis leadership may appear similar the differences are apparent when you see that crisis management is more concerned with the immediate recovery effort while crisis leadership looks at the enduring role of a leader before, during, and after the crisis. The remainder of this book is intended to serve as a guide for leaders to incorporate their faith into their leadership as they stay faithful with the knowledge of what God has done, what He can do, and what He has promised to do. Several new ways of looking at crisis leadership from a

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Christian perspective will also be presented and should serve to encourage continued thought and conversation on this important subject.

Key Takeaways 1. A crisis is a fast-developing event that puts the organization at risk and forces it to act. 2. Personal and organizational worldviews affect how crises are perceived. 3. Crises are increasingly caused by events other than natural disasters. 4. Crisis leadership is more than simply leading an organization through the response to a crisis. 5. Leaders should lean on their faith to make it through a crisis.

References Bhaduri, R. M. (2019). Leveraging culture and leadership in crisis management. European Journal of Training and Development, 43(5/6), 534–549. https:// doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-10-2018-0109. Coombs, W. T. (2007). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage. Couto, R. A. (2010). Political and civil leadership: A reference handbook. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Fink, S. (1986). Crisis management: Planning for the inevitable. New York: Amacom. Harvard Business Essentials. (2004). Crisis management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Irving, J. A., & Strauss, M. A. (2019). Leadership in Christian perspective: Biblical foundations and contemporary practices for servant leaders. Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Academic. Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2011). JP 5-0 Joint operations planning. Washington, DC: Author. Klann, G. (2003). Crisis leadership: Using military lessons, organizational experiences, and the power of influence to lessen the impact of chaos on the people you lead (1st ed.). Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership. Lewis, G. (2006). Organizational crisis management: The human factor. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Miller, D. L. (with Guthrie, S.). (1998). Discipling nations: The power of truth to transform cultures. Seattle: YWAM Publishing.

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Mitroff, I. I. (2004). Crisis leadership: Planning for the unthinkable. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Mitroff, I. I. (2011). From crisis management to crisis leadership. In L. Law (Ed.), Business: The ultimate resource (3rd ed.). London: A&C Black. Pearson, C. M., & Clair, J. A. (1998). Reframing crisis management. Academy of Management Review, 23(1), 59–76. Perrow, C. (1984). Normal accidents. New York: Basic Books. Prewitt, J. E., & Weil, R. (2014). Organizational opportunities endemic in crisis leadership. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), 72–87. Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (1998). Communication, organization and crisis. In M. E. Roloff (Ed.), Communication yearbook (21, pp. 231–275). Thousand Oak, CA: Sage. Simonsson, C., & Heide, M. (2018). How focusing positively on errors can help organizations become more communicative: An alternative approach to crisis communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-04-2017-0044.

CHAPTER 3

Importance of Organizational Culture to Crisis Leadership

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:8–10, NIV) Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23–25, NIV)

Organizational culture is one of the most essential components for leading an organization. While in some respects, organizational culture has become a field of its own, its relationship with leadership and importance to the leader is definitive. Leaders who do not understand organizational culture do so at their own peril. It is generally agreed that it was Peter Drucker, the influential management author and consultant, who stated, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This quote succinctly sums up the point Edgar Schein (2010) made in his book Organizational Culture and drives home the belief that culture is more important than strategy when it comes to leading today’s organizations. Organizational culture is extremely important to crisis leadership as well. A leader should understand the relationship between culture and the organization’s response to © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_3

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crises in order to ensure their organization is the best prepared as it can be.

Introduction to Organizational Culture Theory When discussing organizational culture and its role with leadership, we must start with an overview of the foundational work of Edgar Schein. Schein (2010) laid out very clearly what culture consists of and how important it is to the success of organizational leaders. Before delving into how culture relates to crisis leadership and, more importantly, how it relates to Spiritual crisis leadership, I will provide a brief overview of organizational culture theory. Culture is the feeling you get when you first walk into the room or enter the main entrance of an organization. There are many things that go into culture—some you can see and hear—and some you just feel. Culture is an abstract concept that only exists because of the way people interact in an organization (Schein 2010). Understanding the present culture allows a leader to better understand their organization, what may need to be changed, and what goals should be set for it. This is hugely important as the crisis leader sets out to prepare their organization to handle the challenges that may come their way. In Schein’s model, there are three levels making up the collective organizational culture that we can observe. First, we see behaviors and artifacts which include those items that are readily observable. It might be the design of the building, the way people talk to one another, the dress code, or other standard ways that the organization conducts business. These artifacts are relatively easy for the uninitiated to observe. By merely visiting an organization or talking to its members, an observer can get a fairly good idea of what the company’s artifacts consist of assuming they can make sense of all that they see. That is, they may need an interpreter or someone to explain what they observe. Imagine walking into a military boot camp for the first time without any background on what you were seeing. You would see recruits with bald heads marching in formation and you would hear the Drill Sergeants yelling at these recruits. You would have a lot of evidence, but you might need some context to better understand everything you experienced (Schein 2010; Deal and Kennedy 1982).

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The next level in the model concerns values and beliefs. These are those ideas that are generally held by the organization and are discussed somewhat frequently. Included in these beliefs and values are the ethical rules that guide the organization. These become part of the organizational belief system, or philosophy, and helps guide members as they serve beside one another in the organization. While these values are generally agreed to, they are discussed from time to time as needed. They will be discussed with new members and during any times of uncertainty or confusion (Schein 2010; Deal and Kennedy 1982). They serve as something for members to fall back on during turbulent times when they may only have these agreed-upon beliefs to keep them bonded to the organization. The final layer is known as the underlying assumptions held by the group. As the name implies, these ideals are not discussed directly and they are taken for granted as being shared by all members. These assumptions are difficult to change and are not normally debated. These unconscious assumptions form the real heart of the culture of an organization and bond its members together. Determining this aspect is ultimately what is needed if a leader wants to understand what it means to be a part of the group and what must be done if a change is to be implemented. There are several ways to represent how these three levels of culture relate to one another. The pyramid model of organizational culture does a good job representing how each of the levels build upon one another and where they each fall in the pecking order of understanding an organization’s culture. In the pyramid model, the artifacts form the base of the pyramid with an organization’s values and the shared assumptions stacking on top, respectively. Another way to look at the relationship between the three areas described by Schein (2010) is the onion model. The onion model puts the shared assumptions at the core of the onion covered by the values and artifacts or behaviors on the outside. Both these models are helpful for the leader to understand the relationship of the three areas. The pyramid model displays how values and assumptions rely upon artifacts for their creation and maintenance while the onion model shows how assumptions are not easily seen until the other levels are “peeled” back. Leaders interested in changing the culture of their organization need to understand how these three levels are interrelated and that they will need to target certain parts of the model in order to change the culture. There are many examples in the corporate world and in other sectors where leaders did not nurture a healthy organizational culture, and

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the results were as expected. In 2016 Wells Fargo went from arguably the world’s largest and most well-known bank to a company who had to begin an ad campaign with the slogan, “Established 1852. Re-established 2018 with a recommitment to you.” In the 2018 commercial, the narrator continues that “we always found a way – until we lost it” (Peltz 2018). How did this historic and world-leading bank lose its way? It lost sight of what its culture was and what it should be. Much of the blame was placed on then CEO John Stumpf, who famously told the congressional inquiry panel, which was investigating the bank’s alleged unfair product sales methods, “I care about outcomes, not process” (Mumley 2019, p. 7). This brazen statement appears to speak volumes for the change in culture at Wells Fargo. Reports soon followed of increased pressure on the sales department to sell products that customers didn’t need in order to improve the company’s bottom line and to please stockholders (Mumley 2019). The date of this shift to an “ends justifies the means” type culture is not clear, but what is clear is that this shift had taken place, and leadership supported it. The story above on Wells Fargo is not in keeping with what the Bible teaches us about treating our fellow man like we would want to be treated. This story also reinforces how our actions can impact the entire organization. The Bible states very clearly that we should be concerned with how the group works together. We are repeatedly admonished in the Bible to not think about ourselves and to work on improving the collective group around us. We see this clearly in Philippians 2:1–4, where it is written: Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)

After reading this passage, it is difficult not to see the Wells Fargo example and the actions of the CEO, John Stumpf, as anything but opposite from what God expects us to do today and what is healthy for the organization’s culture. The Wells Fargo example shows us how a crisis can be caused by a lack of mindfulness of the culture, and it also provides an example of how organizations can have trouble recovering from a crisis

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when the culture is not right. It took over five years and four CEOs for the Wells Fargo to admit they had a major problem and that they needed to run an ad campaign showing that they had totally changed the culture of their company. Next, we will examine how organizational culture relates directly to crisis leadership.

Relationship of Culture to Crisis Response Culture plays a very significant role in making sure an organization can prepare for a crisis. Without a culture that is open to planning and preparing for a crisis, there is little chance that a leader will be able to lead an organization to be ready for what may happen. Furthermore, there is probably no event that will affect a culture more than a crisis, so it is best to have a good handle on an organization’s culture before the crisis hits. The scholarship on the relationship between culture and crisis response is relatively clear, and leaders who understand this and can relate this to their organizations will undoubtedly be more successful crisis leaders. Most poor responses to a crisis come from the follower’s ultimate disillusionment with leadership and perceived cultural norms (Wang 2008). A crisis can be the catalyst, or possibly a sign, that the organization’s members have lost faith in the leader’s projected culture. While researching the role of culture in crisis response Bhaduri (2019) found that “organizational culture and leadership are integral to crisis management and crisis-related response” and stated that “organizations need to display a higher sense of awareness of their individual and collective culture so that crisis situation can be managed more promptly and skillfully” (p. 542). Several other researchers determined that having a culture that is prepared for and sensitive to crises can lead to a decrease in the number of incidents reported due to the increased level of crisis detection and risk avoidance. Culture may also predict crises as Hutchins and Wang (2008) found. In their study, they offered that culture might be a predictor of the occurrence of crisis since the more prepared organizations would likely be scanning for issues and much more likely to prevent or quickly recover rome them once they were discovered. Finally, there is research that shows that while not all crises can be predicted, the recovery from them can be improved by good crisis leadership and a coherent response plan (Simonsson and Heide 2018; Joyner et al. 2013). There is also evidence that the culture of an organization may dictate the type of response for a scenario and the type of leader best suited to

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respond to a situation. Bowers et al. (2017) wrote, “Culture plays a huge role in the development and management of a crisis” (p. 554). While they make a strong point that culture matters, they continue that “Furthermore, leadership style matters – not all leaders are best suited for handling a crisis.” Probert and Turnbull James (2011) stated similarly that “organizational members are likely to have shared implicit leadership theories that are unique to a particular organization and that are transmitted as part of its culture” (p. 142). It is difficult to determine precisely what drives what here. Does leadership style drive an organization’s basic assumptions or do these basic assumptions drive the type of leadership style that is favored within the organization? The question may be moot. I would argue that well-trained crisis leaders, regardless of their leadership style, who understand their organization’s culture will be prepared to handle whatever crisis presents itself. I believe a servant leader will be the best prepared to guide an organization through a crisis, but I will discuss this in more depth in chapter eleven. Being well-prepared means that these crisis leaders will have already thought through most crisis scenarios and will have a response plan prepared for their organization before a crisis hits. It also means they will have created a culture that promotes preparation and values the followers of the organization in these preparations and during the ultimate response. This belief was echoed by Bowers et al. (2017), who wrote: A crisis is not an event that happens overnight. Organizations’ leadership and cultural dynamics set the conditions leading up to the event and these complex and deep-rooted precursors manifest themselves in predictable patterns. (p. 561)

I offer one final point about the importance of culture to crisis response in the form of a quick thought experiment. Imagine two different organizations. One located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and one located in San Jose, California. The Chattanooga factory employs 200 hourly wage employees and has been in business for 40 years. Most of the workers have a high school diploma or possibly some technical college work. The average age of the employee is 41, and most have worked at this close-knit company for over 15 years. Now imagine a high-tech company located in Silicon Valley. This fictional company also has around 200 workers, but they are all on salary and they all have college degrees. The average employee age is 26. Most

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have been with the company five years or less which is understandable since the start-up has only existed for eight years. How do you think the two organizations will respond to a crisis? Do you think the cultures at the companies are similar to one another? I would say it is highly unlikely. Do you think the difference in the cultures will have an impact on how they respond to a crisis? Do you think it will make a difference if the leader of the Chattanooga factory is a Christian? What if they allow and encourage their workers to hold weekly Bible study sessions during work in the break room? My obvious hypothetical here is intended just to point out that crisis leaders must consider the culture of their organizations when working to improve the crisis response and preparation for their groups. Additionally, I want to point out that when we discuss culture, we cannot neglect the role that Christian spirituality has on both this culture and our ability to lead during a crisis. This important point will be discussed more in the following chapters. Now that we understand that culture is important to crisis leadership what can a leader do to prepare their organization and ensure the culture is conducive to preparing for crises that may occur? The first step for a leader is to study and understand the culture of the organization. Seek to determine the symbols, rituals, and stories being told in the organization. From there move on to determine the values that are evident in the organization. Finally, seek to learn what the key assumptions are in the organization so that you can fully understand what steps you will need to take to change the organization into one that values crisis planning and response (Lewis 2006). It is important to note that while cultures are made up of values and assumptions, which are rooted deeply in the organization, it is not impossible to change them. It does take a concerted effort on the part of leadership to change a culture to one that values crisis preparation. First, a leader must convince followers that the change is needed by getting their input and “buy-in” to the process. Continual communication, using all available communication methods, should be used to explain the changes being made and reward publicly those who are making efforts to implement the changes. Finally, the change can be solidified somewhat through attrition, taking extra care to ensure new members accept the change to a more crisis-aware organization so they can serve as a solid foundation for future preparedness (Lewis 2006).

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Christianity, Culture, and Crisis With this overview of organizational culture and an explanation of why it is so important to crisis leadership completed, we next turn to the heart of the matter. How do Christian leaders lead under this model? While every organization is different, and many do not support the outward or easily identifiable use of our Christian beliefs in day to day operations, there are still many ways we can serve as Christian crisis leaders. As I mentioned earlier in the comparison of the two fictional organizations, faith can have a profound impact on both the culture of an organization and its response to a crisis. So, what makes a Christian culture or a culture with a Christian leader different? Christianity is built upon unambigious guidance in the Bible on how we should behave, and the principles our organizations should value. While non-Christian leaders can certainly exhibit these values and can hold them dear to them and to their organizations, we as Christians should have the market cornered in this regard. We have a guide already written for us that we simply need to live by ourselves and that we should encourage our followers to support as well. This does not mean we have to be outspoken evangelists. On the contrary, we simply need to live up to these Christian principles and encourage those around us to hold them as important parts of our organizations’ culture. I will discuss this point further in Chapter 11, but the Bible makes it clear that we are judged more by our actions and our true intent than by our words. We are told this in the Bible when Jesus replied to the Pharisees in Mark 7:6–7. He was asked why his disciples did not clean their hands and utensils before cleaning. To this, He replied: Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ (NIV)

This is one example of many of Jesus reinforcing that it is our actions and not just our words that matter. We as Christians and Christian leaders need to remember this important point. The practical implications are that we need to live out these principles as we work to promote a culture change to better prepare for a crisis. We also need to live these ideals in our response to any crisis that occurs. But

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we need to think about our response as Christian crisis leaders before the event happens. As I mentioned earlier in this chapter, I am not advocating that all leaders evangelize in their organizations. This may not be possible in many situations. I consider myself very lucky to work at a Christian university where I am free to display my love of God, and I am free to lead openly using Christian principles. Instead, what I am offering is that you can lead using your faith. In this chapter, the main goal is to equip leaders to develop a culture in their organizations that is prepared for crisis. Using the models based on Schein’s (2010) three levels of organizational culture we can easily place our Christian principles in them to form a Christian version of what we want our organizational culture to look like. Your organization may already have many of the attributes that you follow as a Christian. The point is that you now see them for the Christian values they are, and you will be able to lead during a crisis and at other times, as a Christian, using these values. The list I have included here is simply representative of some of the Christian values and general beliefs or assumptions that we should aspire to have in our organizations. I encourage you to add in other values you see in your organization that match up to what we see in the Bible and include the artifacts and behaviors you think will develop them. Artifacts and Behaviors—Award ceremonies, retirement ceremonies, company-wide meetings, email communications, moments of silence before meetings, greetings with one another, evaluations, time for spiritual rejuvenation and mediation, discipline procedures, architecture, interior design, and stories told about the organization. You may notice that none of these items can be categorized as solely Christian. This is to allow for those leaders in an organization where this is prohibited to still serve as Spiritual leaders and offer options for all members. Espoused Values—Treating everyone with honesty, respect and fairness, hard work toward a common goal, and overcoming obstacles. These should be incorporated in your mission and vision statements and in any marketing materials you have. These form the basis for the values you want to have. They don’t have to be listed verbatim but they should be what is behind the values you seek. Shared Assumptions—Love, fairness, equality, patience, and kindness. Once you have worked on the artifacts and values, shared assumptions will come next. These should also relate back to the Christian values you have set. Schein (2010) described these assumptions as invisible to

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bystanders and unconsciously thought of by those in the organization. They are difficult to embed because the organization’s members come up with these collectively without discussing them. The leader’s role is to ensure the artifacts and values are supported consciously to enable these assumptions to align with the assumptions sought after. This is the first step. Once you have listed all the Christian artifacts, values, and assumptions that you think your organization needs, you will want to determine if these match up to what you need during a crisis response. It is vital, in order to be a Christian crisis leader, that you ensure your organization has the culture you have identified, so that it is prepared to respond to a crisis. If there are items that your organization does not have presently you will want to work to add them to your culture. Some leaders may be worried that people will be uncomfortable with values based on Christian principles, but no one should have a problem with them when you list them simply as attributes that you think your organization should have. Who can argue with honesty, kindness, love or any of the other attributes we learn from scripture? The fruit of the Spirit are foundational Christian principles and are an example for Christian leaders to use for their desired organizational culture, but they are also something people will have a hard time arguing against. We will evaluate them again in chapter eleven when we discuss the relationship between servant leadership and crisis. The point to this exercise is to find all the good things you can encourage in your organization that can be used during a crisis. Characteristics such as love, hard work, kindness, and resilience. This gives something for people to fall back on when crises happen, and it makes it much easier for you to implement your crisis preparation.

Summary Establishing a good organizational culture before a crisis is extremely important. As will be discussed in chapters nine and ten, a leader must work to have the culture right before the crisis occurs. Having supportive artifacts, values, and assumptions that value the organization and stress overcoming obstacles will make implementing a crisis recovery plan that much easier. Additionally, having the right culture will make it easier for individuals in the organization to accept and support the recovery efforts. Having a culture of resilience and support during a crisis makes it that much easier for individuals and for the organization.

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Key Takeaways 1. Culture is extremely important to leading an organization. 2. Edgar Schein presented three levels to culture—behaviors/artifacts, values, and assumptions. 3. It takes a concerted effort from a leader to shape and change an organization’s culture. 4. Christians can use Christian virtues to help formulate the culture they want their organization to have. 5. Having a good culture will make recovering from a crisis easier.

References Bhaduri, R. M. (2019). Leveraging culture and leadership in crisis management. European Journal of Training and Development, 43(5/6), 534–549. https:// doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-10-2018-0109. Bowers, M. R., Hall, J. R., & Srinivasan, M. M. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership style: The missing combination for selecting the right leader for effective crisis management. Business Horizons, 60, 551–563. http://dx. doi.org/10.1016.j.bushor.2017.04.001. Deal, T. E., & Kennedy, A. A. (1982). Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Hutchins, H. M., & Wang, J. (2008, June). Organizational crisis management and human resource development: A review of the literature and implications to HRD research and practice. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(3), 310–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422308316183. Joyner, F. F., Frantz, D., & Maguire, L. (2013). When culture saved the day: Organization culture and crisis management. Journal of Business Case Studies (JBCS), 9(2), 165–174. https://doi.org/10.19030/jbcs.v9i2.7704. Lewis, G. (2006). Organizational crisis management: The human factor. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Mumley, W. E. (2019, Summer/Fall). Organizational culture and ethical decision making during major crises. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 12(2), Article 9. http://dx.doi.org/10.22543/0733.122.1274. Peltz, J. F. (2018). Wells Fargo launches ad campaign to leave accounts scandal behind. Not everyone buying it. Los Angeles Times.

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Probert, J., & Turnbull James, K. (2011). Leadership development: Crisis, opportunities and the leadership concept. Leadership, 7 (2), 137– 150. (Reprinted from Sage Publishing, Leadership development: Crisis, opportunities and the leadership concept, https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1742715010394810) Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco: Wiley. Simonsson, C., & Heide, M. (2018). How focusing positively on errors can help organizations become more communicative: An alternative approach to crisis communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-04-2017-0044. Wang, J. (2008, June). Developing organizational learning capacity in crisis management. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(3), 425–445. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422308316464.

CHAPTER 4

Personal Crisis and Its Relationship to Organizational Crisis Leadership

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, NIV) “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will”. (Mark 14:34–36, NIV) The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18, NIV)

Most everyone has experienced some form of crisis in their personal lives. While the magnitude of these crises may vary, it cannot be denied that we live with crisis as a fundamental experience in our lives. How we respond to these crises shapes who we are and what we become. The common thread from the Bible verses listed at the beginning of this chapter is that God is with us. No matter how dire the circumstances, God is close to each person and is there to provide comfort and hope. Personal crises

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that we see come from deaths, disappointment, relationships, and disasters. It is important for a leader to understand how individuals deal with personal crisis so they can better lead a group through an organizational crisis. Organizations experience crises that are somewhat different than what is experienced personally. Organizations do experience deaths, disappointments, and disasters like individuals, but the way they are experienced by the organization is different since the impact is felt by a collection of people. Since this impact is different, the response can also be different. A leader must understand the similarities and difference between an organizational and personal crisis, and they must understand that they should learn from their personal struggles and apply this to the leadership of their organization. We need to start out by understanding what a personal crisis means to individuals. We don’t come into the world understanding how a crisis affects a group. As children we see the impact of everything only on ourselves and those in our immediate vicinity. As we age, we see that it impacts others, but we do not fully grasp how it can affect more than those close to us. It takes time, experience, and education to understand that a crisis can impact an organization and all of its stakeholders. A leader needs to appreciate that having an understanding of how to best respond to personal and organizational crisis is not an innate skill of people. All of us must learn from experience and from thoughtful consideration of the issues present in a crisis in order to best respond during these difficult times. We should learn from our experience with personal crisis. This experience can improve our ability to lead an organization through such trying times. Much like how learning to be personally successful and motivated can help us inspire our organization to be successful, so can our personal response to crises help us to lead an organization during such events.

Personal Crisis Example John is a 45-year-old leader of a mid-size cardboard manufacturer in Illinois. He took over the leadership of the company after his father passed away suddenly when John was 30. For years it was known that John would take over the company once he graduated from the nearby university and after he had some time as the understudy to his father. While the early death of his father at 52 was traumatic, it was nothing compared to the

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death of his infant son to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) 2 years later. You can still see the strain on his face today when he discusses this crisis that occurred over 13 years ago. While these personal crises were devastating to John, when he discusses them today, in addition to the pain you can see on his face, you can also see how he truly believes he came out better able to lead his company due to these experiences. John credits his faith and his family in being able to overcome these tragedies and he credits them both with helping him to translate his personal growth from them to his role as the leader of the 200 employees entrusted to him. While John wishes these crises had never happened, he, nonetheless, understands how they made him better able to deal with the company’s major crisis in 2016 when fire destroyed their main manufacturing plant and almost put them out of business. John’s operations chief had suggested the company develop a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) several years earlier along with a disaster response plan. John agreed to these two suggestions and they helped considerably, but he credits his faith and his personal experiences with aiding him the most during these trying times. John’s example is not an isolated one. We see many examples of wellknown leaders who have used their personal crises or adversities to help them serve as better leaders during a crisis. People like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and many others were able to use the personal crises in their lives to improve upon their ability to lead their organizations later. We certainly have many examples in the Bible of how people grew from personal crisis. Moses is one of the best examples in the Bible of a leader who was able to use a crisis in their own life to improve their leadership. In Acts 7:23–29 we read a retelling of the account from Exodus 2 where Moses cannot control his temper and kills an Egyptian in defense of a fellow Hebrew. This turns out to be the low point of his life. When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ But the man who was mistreating the

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other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. (NIV)

It is hard to believe one could feel worse or have much more of a crisis than this except maybe the death of a loved one. Moses had committed murder in what he believed was defense of his people and now he was being shunned and, essentially, exiled for it. He had left a comfortable life due to his impulsive actions. It is obvious after Moses’ returned that he had learned a great deal from this crisis. Forty years later when God instructed him to return to lead the Israelites out of Egypt his first response was, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11, NIV). While Moses did not feel worthy after what had occurred God showed him that he had the strength and the talents to overcome it and lead. Personal crises appear in many different forms. Every adversity that each of us encounters is likely to be treated differently by different people. Additionally, some people may call something a crisis that someone else may not see as much of a problem. While it may be true that one person’s crisis may be another’s historical footnote, it is important to accept that if someone identifies a personal event as a crisis than it is. Similarly, something that we will discuss later, if an organization’s members see something as a crisis then it must be dealt with as such by the leader. Therefore, it is important for the leader to help an organization establish what will be considered a crisis by the group. We can bin these personal types of adversities or crises into the five major areas below with examples of each provided. Physical/Health—Diagnosis of cancer or another life-threatening disease. Diagnosis of diabetes, heart disease, or another life-altering disease. Broken bones or disabling injury. Emotional/Mental—Relationship ending or other problems. Anxiety or depression due to events occurring around the person. Mental stress or diagnosis of a disorder. Social—Making a mistake in society either online or in public. Having a social anxiety issue that keeps someone from engaging with others. Spiritual—Losing faith in God or having a crisis of faith. Economic—Losing your job. Overspending or not budgeting your money. Having an accident happen that causes you to need to spend money on repairs that you have not budgeted for.

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The items listed are all things we should be able to relate to as individuals. We should also be able to see how just about every one of them can affect the organization. Even the examples that do not seem to apply to the organization should be considered because they will apply to individuals within our organizations. The key point here is just to understand the type of personal crises that happen and that as individuals we must work to overcome them.

Crisis, Growth, and Resilience Resilience is a multidisciplinary term that researchers define as “the capacity of a dynamic system to withstand or recover from significant challenges that threaten its stability, viability, or development” (Masten 2011, p. 494; Luthar et al. 2000). In its simplest form resilience is defined by MerriamWebster (2020) as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” There is research to support the idea that crisis can improve our ability to grow as individuals while also developing resilience that allows us to overcome future problems. Research on resilience in the field of psychology has shown that those with proper mental states and conditions will likely improve their resilience after a crisis (Luther et al. 2019). This is not the same as the old saying that goes, “What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger.” Anyone who has ever been critically injured or badly disfigured will probably tell you they are not stronger, overall. Instead it is likely that the experiences of a crisis we endure will improve our ability to cope with other crises in the future. So maybe the saying should be, “what doesn’t kill you makes you better able to deal with a similar crisis in the future” but this doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. The point is not that we are stronger after such an event but that we are better able to deal with crises after having gone through others. There are things that we can do to improve our resilience level. Improving our connectedness to other people is a major way to improve in this area. Additionally, by feeling meaningful we vastly improve our ability to bounce back from a crisis (Cummins and Wooden 2014). Another thing to consider is that by improving the feeling of being in control, a person is much more likely to be able to deal with a crisis (Masten 2011). These are all important ideas for the crisis leader to remember. Yerushalmi (2007) made this point even more forcefully stating that while crises are very difficult occasions that confuse us and make

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us feel that there is no hope, they can also cause us to see ourselves in a new light. Being so intense, they allow us to free ourselves of the falsehoods we have too long accepted as truths. They enable us also to cast off images of ourselves and of the world which are based in self-deception rather than self-experience. (p. 378)

Additional research on the connection between medical crisis and resilience from Park et al. (2009) showed similarly that “highly taxing life events can have positive consequences” (p. 3). So, what can we do to build up a large level of resilience besides going through tough events? In addition to improving our connectedness and our feelings of self-worth we can also work on our “grit.” I believe this concept from Angela Duckworth (2016) is so important to be a successful crisis leader that I have devoted Chapter 10 to a discussion of developing organizational resilience. Duckworth defines grit as half passion and half perseverance. This perseverance is what resilience is based upon. Duckworth suggests we can learn resilience by cognitive behavioral therapy and by changing the way we look at and talk about our experiences and conditions. In other words, we can improve our ability to overcome a crisis by not being so pessimistic in the way we view events. This obviously is easier said than done but is a worthwhile concern for leaders to review in their organizations. It is also something that will be discussed in more detail in Chapters 9 and 10.

How Personal Crisis Can Improve Crisis Leadership When we look at how Christians can use previous personal crisis to improve their abilities to lead their organizations during crisis, we see that Christians are provided with a wealth of support. The Bible provides multiple examples of how we should react to adversity repeatedly stressing how we should rely on God to get us through anything that we face. Additionally, the Christian church, has been at the forefront of supporting people during crisis since its very inception. We see the church responsible for starting many key crisis response organizations such as hospitals, banks, food kitchens, donation centers, and other key crisis response institutions (Schmidt 2004).

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The Bible teaches us repeatedly that no matter the crisis that presents itself God will be by our side. We see this when we are told in Isaiah 41:10 that we should not be afraid because God is with us. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (NIV)

We see proof of this again when we read “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” in Philippians 4:13 (NIV). It is important to understand that when it comes to crisis, perspective is important in how we respond to a crisis. As mentioned earlier, what one sees as a major speed bump in the way may seem like merely a loose pebble to someone else in terms of adversity. In the Bible, Christians have the tools to see crisis as something that can be overcome because we know that God is with us. More importantly we should see a crisis as only one event in our lives on earth that has no impact on our promised place in heaven. As Christians we should leverage our faith to better handle the crisis we encounter, and we should be prepared to help others in their times of need since we have this confidence that they may not have. When I was in my early 30s my wife and I had a series of crises that came our way. So many that I began to feel like maybe we had a black cloud following us like something out of a cartoon. Each crisis that occurred drove me into a deeper and darker place. The older I have gotten I have come to realize that my reactions to these crises were immature and that I did not use my faith to help me through them. This is something that is very easy to do in our personal lives and in our lives as leaders. We must work, first on dealing with crisis as individuals before we will be able to lead in these situations. I feel I am much better able to handle adversity today because I understand how insignificant many of these crises were compared to what God had in store for me. This maturity with the way we view crisis will help keep us from overreacting when we have the next crisis happen to us. Once we accept that God has a bigger plan than anything we can imagine on earth, everything seems much smaller. Perspective definitely matters here. Malcolm Gladwell in his book David and Goliath (2013) describes very clearly how being an underdog and having to overcome difficult circumstances can lead to a person doing unimaginable things. He provides

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several stories of people who used their disadvantages as tools that later made them successful. In one of the most interesting examples he provides, Gladwell discusses how having dyslexia can lead to more innovative and effective leaders. While disadvantages and crises are not always the same thing, we many times see them at such. Certainly, if we have a medical issue with our children, our spouse, or ourselves, we tend to view this as a crisis. Gladwell showed how by being forced to overcome dyslexia, many people who might have been average became great. He explained, “Dyslexia—in the best of cases—forces you to develop skills that might otherwise have lain dormant. It also forces you to do things that you might otherwise never have considered” (Gladwell 2013). This sums up what people probably mean when they say that we emerge stronger after events that almost kill us. It is not that we are necessarily stronger, but rather we are more prepared to handle adversity in our lives.

Summary Personal crises are something we cannot avoid. Leaders should be aware of how people respond differently to personal crises depending on their unique perspective. Leaders should use their personal crises to make them better leaders during organizational crisis. The faith of a leader should be strengthened by each personal crisis that is overcome and this strengthened faith should be used to improve their crisis leadership abilities.

Five Takeaways 1. We all have experienced personal crises that we can learn from. 2. Our perspective on crisis events changes as we mature. 3. Crisis don’t make us “stronger,” but they can make us better able to deal with adversity in the future. 4. Leaders should use their experiences with personal crisis, combined with their faith, to better lead their organizations through tough times. 5. God will always be by our side, especially during a crisis.

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References Cummins, R. A., & Wooden, M. (2014). Personal resilience in times of crisis: The implications of SWB homeostasis and set-points. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(1), 223–235. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.regent.edu:2048/10. 1007/s10902-013-9481-4 Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. New York: Scribner. Gladwell, M. (2013). David and Goliath: Underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71, 543–562. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00164. Luther, L., Rosen, C., Cummins, J. S., & Sharma, R. P. (2019). The multidimensional construct of resilience across the psychosis spectrum: Evidence of alterations in people with early and prolonged psychosis. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000393. Masten, A. S. (2011). Resilience in children threatened by extreme adversity: Frameworks for research, practice, and translational synergy. Development and Psychopathology, 23(2), 493–506. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.regent.edu: 2048/10.1017/S0954579411000198. Merriam-Webster. (2020). Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 16, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/. Park, C. L., Lechner, S. C., Antoni, M. H., & Stanton, A. L. (Eds.). (2009). Medical illness and positive life change: Can crisis lead to personal transformation?. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Schmidt, A. J. (2004). How christianity changed the world. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Yerushalmi, H. (2007). Paradox and personal growth during crisis. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 67 (4), 359–380. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.regent. edu:2048/10.1057/palgrave.ajp.3350038.

CHAPTER 5

Spiritual Leadership and Crisis

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6–7, NIV)

The research on both spiritual leadership and crisis leadership is small but has grown steadily over the past 20 years. Overall, the research on spiritual leadership has tended to show that leaders who emphasize spirituality in the workplace typically inspire their employees more. Additionally, research shows that when workplace spirituality is encouraged, employees tend to perform better (Williams et al. 2017). This chapter will provide an overview of the literature available and will explain where there is room for additional research to make a large impact on the crisis leadership field. This chapter will also discuss key characteristics for modeling workplace spirituality and will offer suggestions to leaders on how to incorporate spirituality in the workplace and in their leadership style. The role of spirituality in employees dealing with a crisis will be the main focus of this chapter. Several examples will be provided to show how leaders can use their Christian spirituality to help their organizations during a crisis. David Green, the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, is one of the best examples of a Spiritual leader in the business world. Green started by making and selling picture frames out of his garage. This small business © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_5

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grew into what we know today as Hobby Lobby. Green has led his company as a Spiritual leader from day one when there were only a handful of employees. Today, Hobby Lobby employs over thirty-five thousand people and it continues to be led with Christian principles guiding leadership decisions (Green 2017). Hobby Lobby and Green have had their share of crises over the years. The company has experienced cash flow issues and challenges that come from growing a company from one location in a garage to over 850 stores. Probably the biggest challenge the company had to face was in 2012 when Green challenged the government’s decision that Hobby Lobby must abide by The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known better as Obamacare. This new health care law required companies to fund employee use of medications that would terminate pregnancies after conception. The crisis came when Hobby Lobby was issued a court-ordered fine for over a million dollars a day. The fine would be enforced until they agreed to fully follow the stipulations in the Affordable Care Act. Green (2017) appealed the court’s decision and sought God out during this crisis saying, “This is not mine. It’s God’s, and I am going to lean on Him” (p. 54). Hobby Lobby received a great deal of negative publicity from the media during this time and faced the likely possibility of going out of business if they did not win their suit but the court in June of 2013 found in their favor. Hobby Lobby eventually recovered from the negative media attention it received and continued to operate profitably. Spirituality is many times used synonymously with religion, and religion certainly has a great deal to do with the spiritual being of its followers. While religion is “concerned with a system of beliefs, ritual prayers, and ceremonies,” spirituality has become known as something we see in the workplace where peace and contentment motivate and guide employees (Fry and Slocum 2008, p. 89). Whereas religious practice follows set actions and has a defined structure, spirituality is typically seen as separate from human-made set practices. Some have even suggested religion goes against the more modern view of spirituality by adhering to rigid rules when following spiritual practices. While this point is debatable, it is clear that religion does provide the foundation for engaging in service to others, which is a key part of spirituality (Phipps 2012, p. 179). For this book, a key distinction is made between these two perceptions of spirituality. I hope to show that the Christian belief in welcoming the Spirit inside of us is the best form to be considered and is the one that will

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have the greatest impact on leaders and individuals alike. To differentiate between the secular definition as opposed to the Christian concept I will use “Spirituality” with a capital S when I am discussing the Christian form.

Overview of Spiritual Leadership Literature The importance of spirituality in the workplace and the amount of research performed with respect to it has grown significantly in the past quarter century. While it was previously considered a bit taboo to discuss spirituality, leadership, and organizational culture in the same sentence the academic and business worlds have discovered that there is great value in this research. There is evidence that encouraging spirituality in the workplace not only improves the lives of the individuals, but it also leads to improved organizational effectiveness and overall performance (Fry and Slocum 2008). For years Christian authors have explained the value of Christian Spirituality to leadership and organizations. J. Oswald Sanders (2007) in his seminal work Spiritual Leadership described this type of leadership as blending the best qualities from both the spiritual and natural worlds. Of course, he went out to point out that since all things come from God, even the natural gifts are God-given, so they still come from Him. Furthermore, he noted that we need “superior spiritual power” in order to be a spiritual leader and we need to continually strive to be with God and to allow our followers to be with Him as well (p. 28). The leadership research world has begun to better understand the importance of spirituality to the organization and to the leader. While their views do not typically specify Christianity over any other form of spirituality, they do recognize its importance. Mitroff (2005), a noted leadership and crisis response author, went as far as to term spirituality as the “ultimate competitive advantage” for an organization. There are several key components that need to be understood when it comes to spiritual leadership. Fry and Slocum (2008) point out that there are two key parts of this concept. First, a leader must create a vision that gives members a “sense of calling” and provides meaning to their work and while tying this meaning to their individual lives. Second, a culture of “altruistic love” (p. 90) must be created where members feel part of the organization and feel that they are appreciated.

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Still, others place spirituality as just one part of a bigger framework for defining our roles as individuals in an organization. Many of these items have existed for years and have been studied significantly. First, one’s cognitive Intelligent Quotient (IQ) plays a large role in how they fit in and succeed in an organization. Next, our sensory and auditory IQ play a role. Newer to study in this field is the role which includes both cultural and social IQ. Finally, a person’s emotional and spiritual IQ are important to how they succeed and how they see their place within the larger context of the organization (Roberts 2016; Mitroff 2004, 2005; Gardner 1983).

Are Spirituality and Religion Synonymous? It is important to note here that spirituality and religion are not the same thing to all people. As the title of this chapter suggests, there is a fairly large difference between Spirituality that involves the worship of, and faith in, God and spirituality which is less about a higher power and more about self. This nonreligious or spirituality with a small “s” is generally defined as, “the human desire for connection with the transcendent, the desire for integration of the self into a meaningful whole, and the realization of one’s potential” (Phipps 2012). The terms spiritual and religious have come to be considered almost antonyms to many who see religion as a dividing force and nonreligious spirituality as something that improves us personally while building a better community. This is unfortunate because we as Christians know the blessing that the Christian faith and Spirituality bring to each and every one of us. We also know that the Spirituality we get from God was intended to serve and help all people. Yet there are some who feel that religion may make it harder for workers. Phipps (2012) made this point in the following: The basic argument has been that spirituality speaks to a common human condition, while religion refers to the polity, practices, and creeds of a denomination or faith body. Thus, the argument asserts, spirituality can be a unifying force in the field of leadership, while religion can be fractious. (p. 179)

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This quote is from a researcher looking at how spirituality can improve worker performance. It is hard to believe that anyone would see the Christian faith as “fractious” and this shows what the Spiritual leader may be up against when they attempt to encourage Spirituality in their organization. Just as the statistics from the Pew research mentioned below are an indicator for Christians, so is this attitude about workplace spirituality. In both cases Christian leaders need to work hard to ensure the true story of Jesus and God’s love is understood. While not everyone who is spiritual in the workplace does so from a Christian perspective, we do have numbers to support that many are. Also, while many Christians continue to bemoan the ever-decreasing percentage of people who identify with the faith, it is interesting to note that the number of people who do wonder about a higher power has gone up. While not the focus of this book, it should be noted that this appears to indicate that people are searching for answers. It is up to Christians to reach them and show them that God is who they should be reaching for and it is up to Christian leaders to encourage this in the workplace. The Pew Researcher Center (Masci and Lipka 2016) found that between 2007 and 2016 there was an increase from 39% to 47% of those reporting they had no affiliation but did have a “wonder about the universe.” Additionally, the percentage of Americans who are sure that God exists has dropped from 71 to 63% (Lipka 2015). These unaffiliated, socalled “nones” are those that are open to a belief in a higher power but do not have a religious affiliation. This same group reported an increase in their spiritual well-being from 35 to 40% over this same period. The takeaway here appears to be that people are improving their spirituality even as their faith is decreasing. This is something that we as Christians, and especially as Christian leaders, need to address. Some Christians when first hearing this information on how Americans are becoming spiritual but in a nonreligious manner may scoff at this form of spirituality. I believe this misses the point that we are all sinners, Christian and non-Christians alike, and it is our job as Christians and as Christian leaders to provide an opportunity for everyone to find God and get closer to Him (Keller 2012; Veith 2002). Timothy Keller, founder of mega-church, Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City described this point very well in his book Every Good Endeavor. He encouraged Christians to extend grace to all. On this point he wrote: Without an understanding of common grace, Christians will have trouble understanding why non-Christians so often exceed Christians morally and in wisdom. Properly understood, the doctrine of sin means that believers

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are never as good as our true worldview should make us. Similarly, the doctrine of grace means that unbelievers are not nearly as messed up as their false worldview should make them (Keller 2012).

Keller concludes his point by reminding us that the problem is not the non-Christians and their lack of faith, rather it is sin, in general, which both of us share. It is as we are told in Matthew 5:45 that God, “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” We need to be mindful that God rules the secular world and not just the Christian one. This should guide leaders to include everyone as we encourage workplace spirituality since it is not our job as leaders to judge, but rather, it is our role to provide the opportunity to find God and to lead the entire organization (Veith 2002). In recent years the focus of spirituality has increased in the workplace. This workplace spirituality is sometimes defined as an emphasis on a person’s soul and spirit with the leader encouraging the employee to seek inspiration and guidance from the organization. Somewhat akin to servant leadership, this focus on worker spirituality focuses less on production and more on human virtues such as patience, compassion, and responsibility (Fry and Slocum 2008). It is also interesting to note that, similar to servant leadership, spirituality in the workplace has come to be considered a secular inspired theory and practice instead of one based upon what we read in the scripture about being one with God. Encouraging workplace spirituality is more than just encouraging selfhelp of people in the organization. It can be a major part of an emphasis on transformational or servant leadership. With transformational leadership we see a move to a leadership style that focuses on achieving organizational goals and with servant leadership the leader puts the individual followers’ needs before their own. Focusing on workplace spirituality is a very important way to accomplish this shift in focus as employees begin to see that they are viewed as more than just support for the success of the organization since their individual spiritual well-being is also being considered. Organizations have begun to realize this focus on spirituality is good for their people and they see it as a way to show they care about them. Many may use it is as primarily a marketing strategy to show the benefits they offer and how they care about their employees fitting in and finding purpose. Regardless, the fact is that the new workforce, with the number of millennials and Gen Z increasing every day, wants to have

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more meaning at work. They want to work for a company that believes in doing good for the world around it and that believes in improving the lives of its employees. Research has shown that these new generations value meaning and purpose in their work over monetary compensation, and they prefer social awareness over social climbing (Smith and Nichols 2015). Offering workplace spirituality is something that more and more employees in the workforce are going to demand in the coming years.

How Spirituality Can Help During a Crisis As described above there are very good reasons for organizations to encourage spirituality in the workplace. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, there is research that indicates that spirituality may improve the ability for organizations to respond to crises that may occur. This is great news for Christian leaders who have been wanting to encourage spirituality in their organizations. In fact, there are many who think spirituality and recovering from a crisis are so linked that you should not think of one without the other. There are two challenges facing all organizations today. They are Crisis Management and Spirituality. While seemingly unrelated, they are opposite sides of the same complex coin. (Goldsmith 2008)

I am not convinced that Spirituality and crisis leadership are on opposite sides. I see them as much more interrelated with Spirituality serving a distinct purpose for leaders to use. To many spirituality is the search for meaning. This is exactly why it fits so well when we discuss crisis leadership. When a crisis occurs, it causes people to question the very things they do on a daily basis and why they do them. If they do not see meaning in their work, they will inevitably lose interest in continuing in the organization. It is not enough to encourage spirituality, a leader must understand that the mental, physical, and spiritual realms all exist together and must be nurtured as such. For years psychologists and leadership experts have tried to separate the three in order to better understand and affect each area (Mitroff 2005). Today we see more of an effort to take care of people mentally in addition to physically. Taking care of them spiritually and putting these three core areas back together is the natural next step. In some respects, it is odd that it has taken this long for researchers and practicing leaders to come to this idea. Viktor Frankl (2006) wrote

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about this very clearly in his book Man’s Search for Meaning in 1945. Frankl, a prisoner in a concentration camp in World War II, saw firsthand how those prisoners who lost hope in their lives and felt they had no meaning were typically the first to die. He also observed that even though the prisoners were physically powerless, they always had the freedom to choose how they responded to their conditions. Frankl surmised that this awareness of self-given freedom and ability to reflect was enough, even during the toughest times one can imagine, to allow people to cope with any crisis or atrocity. What we see in many crises is the turning away from the organization by its members. This happens because they do not feel they have a connection to it anymore or they have not felt it gave them meaning. Mitroff (2004) attributes this turning away due to a “collapse of fundamental assumptions about the world” (p. 103). Furthermore, these crises cause us to question our very reason for existence and meaning if we are not grounded spiritually. By encouraging this spirituality leaders helped to buffer the consequences of a crisis and assure the recovery will be made easier. Shelton et al. stated this clearly in the findings section of their 2019 study. In this article they reported, “The results of this research suggest that leaders can increase resilience through purposeful attention to self, others, goals and process, accompanied by the adoption of an intentional spiritual practice” (p. 14).

Methods to Use to Encourage Spirituality in the Workplace Many leaders are uncomfortable discussing spirituality in the workplace and do not know where to start. There are some best practices available for modeling workplace spirituality. I will discuss some of these and I will also suggest ways to incorporate spirituality in the workplace, in your organization’s culture, and in your leadership style. More importantly, I will point out ways that leaders can best model the way for employees to be exposed to the Christian faith and improve the spiritual well-being. The first step in establishing a spiritual workplace is to ensure you are listening to how your employees feel about such a program. What do they need as they work to improve their spirituality? Just like any change that is to be implemented, getting employee input and buy-in is key (Fullan 2001).

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This conversation with your organization’s members should be more than a discussion about improving their spirituality. It should be a discussion that also highlights the importance of spiritual well-being to the individual and to the entire organization. You want to emphasize that you care about their total well-being including their mental and physical health in addition to their spirituality. This is a perfect time to reinforce how the employees contribute to accomplishing the organization’s mission and how they matter for more than just the output they produce. As we read in the Bible when we work together and produce things that help the world, we glorify God we make Him happy. We see this in Genesis 1:31 where it is written, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day” (NIV). Several general items are typically considered when setting up a spiritual workplace. First, you can provide a space for employees to worship or meditate during the workday. This should be a quiet place that is set aside for this purpose only. Not the breakroom or some other co-used space. Set aside a certain amount of time per week or day for employees to use the space. You will also want to provide information on ways to worship and improve spirituality. Not all people may be familiar with how to do this. You should also encourage Bible or worship study groups to be formed and you should consider hosting one yourself. I would suggest that if you do this you will want to offer to attend other non-Christian groups if they form so as not to show bias. I would also encourage you to consider having a chaplain associated with your organization to assist in the spiritual well-being of your employees. This chaplain can work with you part-time or it could be a volunteer from within the company. There are organizations that can assist you in setting up a chaplaincy program and this program will help with the daily issues that come up. This chaplaincy structure will be there when needed during any major crises that may occur within your organization. The point is that you should be proud of your faith but loving of everyone and their place in life and their beliefs. Don’t be afraid to discuss your faith but don’t judge others. Be authentic and practice positivity as you establish a spiritual workplace. Commend those that see the benefits from this program no matter how they get there. We see examples in the Bible repeatedly about how we should not judge in Matthew 7:1–5, Luke 6:37–42, James 4:11–12 and many other places. I believe the scripture

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that sums up how we should act as Christian leaders in our efforts to establish a spiritual workplace is Romans 14:1–4, where it is written: Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. (NIV)

I want to stress that while I believe we should allow people to be spiritual in the manner in which they choose, I also believe we, as Christians, should not be afraid to support workplace Spirituality. Nor should we abrogate our position as the voice for Jesus in the workplace. It is a balance but not one that we should be uncomfortable with if we remember how Jesus lived.

Summary God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit and we should rely upon this gift as Christian leaders. We should seek out a deeper relationship with God to improve as organizational leaders but also as individuals. Spiritual intelligence is a fairly new concept that leaders should consider as they look to improve their leadership abilities (Roberts 2016). Leaders can leverage their Spirituality to encourage their organization to find greater meaning in their work and to be better prepared for any crisis that may come.

Key Takeaways 1. Christianity is Spirituality but not all spirituality is religious. 2. Research shows that people are seeking greater meaning in their lives. 3. Leaders can and should encourage Spirituality among the members of their organizations. 4. Spirituality is vital to crisis recovery. 5. Spirituality can build organizational resilience.

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References Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press. Fry, L. W., & Slocum, J. W. (2008). Maximizing the triple bottom line through spiritual leadership. Organizational Dynamics, 37 (1), 86–96. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2007.11.004. Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books. Goldsmith, M. (2008, September 15). Preparing your company for a crisis. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2008/09/preparing-your-companyfor-a-crisis. Green, D. (with High, B.). (2017). Giving it all away…and getting it all back again: The way of giving generously. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Irving, J. A., & Strauss, M. A. (2019). Leadership in Christian perspective: Biblical foundations and contemporary practices for servant leaders. Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Academic. Keller, T. (with Alsdorf, K. L.). (2012). Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God’s work. New York: Dutton. Lipka, M. (2015). 5 key findings about religiosity in the U.S.—And how it’s changing. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/ 11/03/5-key-findings-about-religiosity-in-the-u-s-and-how-its-changing/. Masci, D., & Lipka, M. (2016). Americans may be getting less religious, but feelings of spirituality are on the rise. Pew Research Center. https://www. pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/21/americans-spirituality/. Mitroff, I. I. (2004). Crisis leadership: Planning for the unthinkable. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Mitroff, I. I. (2005). Why some companies emerge stronger and better from a crisis: 7 essential lessons for surviving disaster. New York: Amacom. Phipps, K. A. (2012). Spirituality and strategic leadership: The influence of spiritual beliefs on strategic decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 106(2), 177–189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0988-5. Roberts, G. E. (2016). Working with Christian servant leadership spiritual intelligence: The foundation of vocational success. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Sanders, J. O. (2007). Spiritual leadership: Principles of excellence for every believer. Chicago: Moody Publishers. Shelton, C. D., Hein, S., & Phipps, K. A. (2019). Resilience and spirituality: A mixed methods exploration of executive stress. International Journal of Organizational Analysis. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/ IJOA-08-2019-1848 Smith, T. J., & Nichols, T. (2015). Understanding the millennial generation. The Journal of Business Diversity, 15(1), 39–47.

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Veith, G. E., Jr. (2002). God at work: Your Christian vocation in all of life. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. Williams, W. A. J., Brandon, R., Hayek, M., Haden, S. P., & Atinc, G. (2017). Servant leadership and followership creativity: The influence of workplace spirituality and political skill. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(2), 178–193. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-02-2015-0019.

CHAPTER 6

Scripture as Guide and Comfort During a Crisis

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6, NIV) We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8–9, NIV) For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16, NIV)

The Bible has many examples of people and leaders dealing with crises. In this chapter I will provide examples of biblical figures dealing with a crisis and will compare their response to the suggested steps from this book. The Bible tells us early on to expect crises when it is written that “Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.” Jesus tells us that God “cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2). This provides a clear indication that we should expect trials in our lives. Since we know there will be trials and crises there is no reason why we should not prepare for them and one of the best ways for leaders to prepare to lead during a crisis is to seek examples to follow and guidance in scripture. © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_6

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The Bible encourages leadership and reliance on faith in times of need when it is written, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need” (Romans 12:12– 13, NIV). We see a similar statement in Hebrews where it is written, “Lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (12:1–2, NIV). The bottom line is that we need to be willing to lead but we must do so understanding that God is there to provide for us and guide us.

Guidance in Psalms While there are examples throughout the Bible of how we should always trust in God during difficult times, the words we find in Psalms are very accessible to the leader looking for support as they lead during a crisis. We see very clearly in Psalms directions on how we are to gain strength from God during a crisis or any time we are struggling. We are encouraged repeatedly to rely upon the Lord because He is faithful and will not leave us. I think it is important to understand some of the direct ways we are told in the Psalms to trust in God in difficult times. In Psalm 46 we are told: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (NIV)

This covers most, if not all the times we experience crises as individuals and as leaders. It should be comforting to know that God is an omnipresent help in these times. We should reach back to this fact as leaders and use this to help calm our followers during crisis events. The psalmist asks even more directly for help during a crisis in Psalm 57 when we read: Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. (NIV)

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It is interesting here that we are to ask for God’s help “until disaster has passed.” This may seem a bit counter to leaders asking for help in actively guiding an organization through a crisis. We need to understand that there are things that we will not be able to tackle head-on. Rather, we will need God’s grace to protect us until the toughest times are over. This emphasis on patience is also mentioned in Psalm 27:14 when we are told to “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” But the Lord is not just there to be a place of refuge. He is also there to provide us with tangible support during our time as a crisis leader. Psalm 3:3 states “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.” Similarly, in Psalm 18:2 we are told, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 23:4 is one that most Christians are familiar with and it is the Psalm that really provides us a vision for what reaching out to God during a crisis is the only thing we can do. Here we read, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (NIV). Here we are told that no matter how difficult the challenge is to us as a leader, we can have faith that God will be with us and will comfort us through everything.

Biblical Examples of People Relying on God In addition to the direct words of encouragement in Psalms we also have many stories in the Bible where people were able to overcome challenges by relying on God. Daniel demonstrated his faith during a crisis near the end of his life when he and others were exiled into captivity. In Daniel 9 we see him turn to God and pray for His assistance. He continues by saying he and those with him are not worthy but are asking for His help. This is a good lesson for us. As Spiritual crisis leaders we should come to God humbly with admission that we are unworthy. We should also show others that they need to focus more on their faith than on their circumstances because God will provide a way. Leaders today need to change the way they view problems and attempt to influence their followers to see things in a similar light. J. Oswald Sanders (2007) suggests that leaders should “view the difficult as commonplace, the complex as normal” (p. 133). By doing this we reframe perceptions of situations around us and put the focus more on what God

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can do. The example here is when the Israelites, led by Moses, had their backs to the Red Sea. While their predicament definitely could be defined as a crisis, Moses did not dwell on the circumstances he instead encouraged his followers to “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:13–14, NIV). Moses, leading a group that did not share his optimistic faith, encouraged them nonetheless to not be afraid and to believe.

Biblical Examples of People Not Relying on God The examples of where people in the Bible did not have faith in God during a crisis provides evidence on why we should rely upon him a crisis leader today. We see numerous examples in The New Testament where people faced crises with an accompanying loss of faith. We see this very clearly in Matthew 8:23–26 when we read, Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown! He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. (NIV)

We see something similar in Matthew 14 when Peter does not have faith that he will be able to follow Jesus and walk on water. It can’t be argued that the disciples did not have faith at this point. They had been with Jesus a long time and had witnessed him perform many miracles. There is no doubt that they believed in Jesus and all that He could do. Yet they still lost faith when a crisis was upon them. This makes today’s crisis leader forgetting to reach for God during a crisis seem a bit more understandable, but it is something that must be overcome in order to be effective while guiding an organization through any “storms” they face.

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Historical Examples In addition to these Biblical examples, we also many examples from history of leaders who have trusted in God during a crisis. We have numerous examples from the military of leaders praying to God before or during battle. General George S. Patton famously asked God for better weather prior to the Battle of the Bulge. He is credited with saying, “We must ask God to stop these rains. These rains are the margin that holds defeat or victory I believe that prayer completes the circuit. It is power” (Keane 2012, p. 148). He then disseminated a prayer to the 250,000 men involved in the battle asking for them to pray that the weather would clear. The weather did clear up and the Allies went on to a sweeping victory (Moore 2005). We have many other examples of Americans who played a large role in the historical narrative of our country who used prayer when they encountered a crisis. Washington, Jefferson, Pershing, MacArthur, and Roosevelt to name only a few. In the middle of the Civil War during a particularly trying time in March of 1963 Abraham Lincoln called for a National Day of Prayer. In the proclamation for this day he stated: Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. (Lincoln and Breckinridge 1864)

Here is Lincoln, at the very low point of the crisis that was the Civil War, taking time out to reach out to God. It is interesting to note that the war changed in the early Summer of 1863 and the Union took the advantage. Lincoln, like Patton would do many years later, encouraged everyone to pray during this challenging time. This is the model we need for our crisis leaders today.

The Importance of Worldview When we look for reasons why we should trust God during a crisis it is important to understand the impact worldview can have on our ability to

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deal with a crisis as a Christian. As mentioned earlier one person’s crisis can be another’s simple historical footnote. Much of this perspective comes from our view on what is going on in our lives. Obviously Christian leaders should have a Christian worldview and they should encourage those around them to have the same. A worldview is defined by Miller (1998) as “A set of assumptions, held consciously or unconsciously, about the basic make-up of the world and how the world works” (p. 293). Why is the definition important? It is important because how we define it will predict and dictate how we see the world in all different scenarios—especially during a crisis. If we see our time on earth as merely an end, we will more than likely see a crisis as a possible end. Christians should see a crisis as only one part of our time on earth that is leading to our ultimate salvation and entry into God’s never-ending kingdom. Christian leaders should see their role in the organization as one of leading people to overcome crises by relying on each other and by relying on their faithful worldview. Christian leaders who encourage this worldview will be able to show their people that the ultimate concern is how we treat those around us and, ultimately, where our souls will end up. Having this worldview of love and an emphasis on the long view will enable the leader and their entire organization to see any crisis they experience as something they can overcome. It will enable them to much more easily accept a crisis in the larger context of the life of the organization and of their own lives. We have seen a fairly rapid decrease in the prevalence of the Biblical worldview over the past 40 years as people have tended to move toward a postmodern worldview that puts faith in naturalism and globalism as the answer to all questions or doubts (Hiebert 2008). As Miller’s (1998) definition of worldview explains, our belief structure will cause us to see things very differently. If we do not have a worldview that has God in it we are much more likely to see a crisis as something that we may not be able to overcome and even if we could the only point might be so that we could mark time until the next one. The crisis and other struggles must mean more than this. Oster (2011) put it very well when he wrote, “If we are willing, the continual daily struggle will allow us more completely understand the trials of Jesus” (p. 242). For as we read in the Bible, “to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the death” (Philippians 3:10, NIV).

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Convince Others to Rely upon God As a leader it should not be a challenge to convince others to have faith in God’s ability to see us through a crisis. First, as mentioned in the previous chapter on spirituality, we need to have laid the groundwork for them to increase their level of spirituality. We can provide them opportunities to know God or at least see Him in our actions and words. We should also encourage our followers to see themselves as something bigger than just their individual existence. Ideally, they will see themselves as part of God’s Kingdom but at a minimum they need to see that they are a vital part of the organization and the community. But we should rest easy for Jesus told us “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV). He has overcome the world and all we need to do as a crisis leader is encourage our folks to come together to overcome the challenge before them.

Summary The Bible is the ultimate guide on how to survive a crisis. There are numerous examples of Biblical figures persevering through a crisis and many other instances where we are given guidance on how to best cope with trials and tribulations. Leaders should look to scripture as a support to them individually but also for support in their vital role as a crisis leader.

Key Takeaways 1. Many people wrongly believe they can recover from a crisis on their own and question why they should rely on God during such times. 2. The Bible tells us we should seek the Lord when we experience trying times. 3. We are told in Psalms that God is there to get us through such times. 4. A leader’s worldview will affect how they view and respond to a crisis. 5. Leaders who understand that any crisis on earth is only a small incident when we take the permanence of our souls with God into account will be able to lead from a place of calm assurance.

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References Hiebert, P. G. (2008). Transforming world views: An anthropological understanding of how people change. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. Keane, M. (2012). Patton: Blood, guts, and prayer. Washington: Regnery Publishing. Lincoln, A., & Breckinridge, R. (1864). The nation’s success and gratitude: [the substance of discourse delivered in Danville, KY, on the 26th of November, 1863, the day of national thanksgiving and prayer]. Philadelphia: H. B. Ashmead, printer. Miller, D. L. (with Guthrie, S.). (1998). Discipling nations: The power of truth to transform cultures. Seattle: YWAM Publishing. Moore, J. P., Jr. (2005). Prayer in America: A spiritual history of our nation. New York: Doubleday. Oster, G. W. (2011). The light prize: Perspectives on Christian innovation. Virginia Beach: Positive Signs Media. Sanders, J. O. (2007). Spiritual leadership: Principles of excellence for every believer. Chicago: Moody Publishers.

CHAPTER 7

Importance of Communication During a Crisis

Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. (Proverbs 12:25, NIV) Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29, NIV) May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14, NIV)

One of the most important parts of leadership is communication (Schein 2010; Kouzes and Posner 2002). Expedient, clear, and transparent communication is even more vital during times of crisis. Leaders need to concentrate not only on the actions they will direct in response to a crisis but also on the tenor and content of their communications regarding the crisis. Leaders must not only communicate to their employees, but they also have a responsibility to communicate to all the stakeholders involved with their organization including customers, suppliers, contractors, competitors, and the community at large. This chapter will discuss the importance of communication during crisis response. Additional examples from the Bible showing where people communicated well during various crises will also be presented.

© The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_7

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Why Communication Is Important Joan’s Story From all indications, Joan was a great leader. Her staff loved how she was available to them and really cared about how they were doing. They saw that she was a Christian and they respected her for this. But no none was prepared for the incident that occurred in the office. The warehouse had gone 404 days without a safety incident and Joan felt confident that nothing would happen to her people. While safety was a big concern in the warehouse, there never was a discussion about crisis response and what everyone could and should do in such a situation. As the warehouse manager for a large construction material supply company, Joan had over 45 people working for her. After the incident, there was little communication from Joan or her superiors at the corporate office. She was told to let the “lawyers handle it” so the company was not opened up to unwarranted litigation for the incident. While the forklift loading accident that critically wounded one of her employees was determined to not be Joan’s fault, she still felt responsible. Her other employees appeared to have similar thoughts after that fateful day especially when it did appear that there had been quiet rumblings among the employees that some of the required training for driving the forklift had been signed off by people who were not certified to do so. The incident spawned a larger crisis within the warehouse, the company, and among other key stakeholders. Why did her employees not speak up and why were they feeling the way they did now? What could she have done better to have dealt with this crisis? The story above shows us that even if we think we are doing everything right as a leader we may be missing out on being a crisis leader if we do not take the fact that the unlikely can happen in our organization. The leader in this example, Joan, was by all indications a good leader who cared for her people. Her issue here likely was in her overconfidence that it was unlikely that a crisis would happen to her organization. Because of this feeling, she did not openly discuss what could be done to prevent a crisis and how they would be able to recover from one if it did occur. While there are many things one could point out that could have been done better in the story above, the specific area we want to look at is the communication aspects related to the crisis presented. Communication can be termed the glue that holds all other areas together when a leader deals with a crisis (Seeger et al. 2003). It applies to all three phases of

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a crisis—the pre-crisis, crisis response, and post-crisis phases. A Spiritual crisis leader needs to ensure they are clearly communicating during all three of these phases in order to be effective.

Who Is the Audience? As with all communication it is important to understand who you are communicating with when it comes to crisis leadership. These communications cover all the stakeholders you come into contact with. This includes employees, shareholders, customers, investors, contractors, competitors, the general public, and others (Fink 1986). Basically, anyone your organization might come into contact with or might be seen by is a stakeholder when it comes to crisis communications. These stakeholders should be identified before a crisis occurs during your strategic planning sessions or crisis planning meetings. Having them identified will reduce the response time for getting your message out after a crisis occurs. This speed of getting out your well-thought-out message after a crisis is important because it will prevent rumors that will only serve to increase the level of the crisis (Pearson and Claire 1998). The communication medium used is also a very important consideration for the leader. The medium used should be matched to the stakeholder you are trying to reach (Fink 1986). You should use multiple mediums, but you want to ensure that each of your stakeholders is being reached by at least one of the methods you are using. For example, email may work to reach most of your employees, but text messaging may get to them quicker. Social media may be the best method to reach the general public while you may want to make phone calls to your investors and board members. There is no one plan for this that will fit all organizations, but it must be considered in the crisis planning stages.

Pre-crisis Communication Communication before the crisis is as equally important as communication during the crisis since it will prepare your organization to better respond and it might even prevent the crisis itself. Communications during what the military terms “steady-state operations” are vitally important in preparing your organization and keeping all members informed on what the response should be during a crisis. While most of the research on communication during a crisis has been focused on what leaders do

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during the response there is research that shows that good leadership can be linked to an increased willingness for followers to report issues that might lead to a crisis during the pre-crisis phase (Simonsson and Heide 2018). Albrecht (1996) broke the causes for this into two reasons, “(1) either no one ever asked them; or worse (2) the lines of communication and the method in which people communicate along traditional lines in the organization are flawed” (p. 207). Leaders need to encourage everyone in the organization to speak up and be a part of the process of preventing and preparing for a crisis. The best way to keep everyone involved is to discuss your preparations regularly and never punish or ridicule anyone who brings up an issue, even if it turns out that it was not a problem. As Albrecht (1996) put it, “Most people do not volunteer information about potentially difficult events, even if the outcome may affect them directly” (p. 206). There are many instances where before the industry issue of Crew Resource Management was addressed, junior copilots in the airline industry would not speak up even when they saw a problem that would directly affect their lives because they were afraid of retribution by an overbearing Captain. It is difficult to comprehend that someone could be more afraid of retribution than the outcome on their life, but there are many examples of this seen in the investigations from airline mishaps. As a crisis leader, you depend on people being open with you and reporting anything they see that concerns them. Communication can be seen as a crisis preparation vehicle that can help all stakeholders prepare for all phases of a crisis. It is important to not just see the members of your organization as valued communicators during this phase. Instead, all stakeholders should have a strong voice in discussions about crisis preparations and they should feel like they can point out any concerns when they have them. This will help with any communications you need to have with them when a crisis occurs and it will give them an opportunity to possibly prevent one (Bhaduri 2019). By allowing open communications we can lead from a biblical perspective because by encouraging everyone to speak freely we help everyone to feel they are important and we empower them to do well. By encouraging freedom of expression we also encourage our followers to be thoughtful and helpful with what they say. As we are told in Ephesians 4, we should only discuss “what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (NIV). Many times, by repressing people’s thoughts we may encourage them to say things that aren’t helpful but by encouraging open discussion we will discourage anyone from spreading a rumor or ill will during the three stages of crisis response.

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Communicating During a Crisis Communication during the crisis response phase is what most people have the greatest awareness of. Many of those people who have not studied crisis leadership may see it as the only important communication that a leader needs to be concerned with. While I mentioned in the previous section that pre-crisis communication may be equally important to communication during the event, it is true that more people will likely be reached during the actual crisis and many people may only pay attention to communication during this period. While communication during the other stages should not be ignored, it is very important that a leader have a good understanding of what is needed during the crisis response phase itself. The most important thing a leader can do during a crisis is calm their followers and all of the other stakeholders. Leaders need to work tirelessly to reassure everyone that recovery from the situation is possible. As we saw in the Proverbs 12:15 from the beginning of the chapter, “Anxiety wears down the heart” (NIV). The role of the crisis leader is to minimize this anxiety by comforting those around them. In order to provide a calming influence during a crisis, leaders must be honest, direct, and authentic. Leaders can only be successful with these three items if they have been so before the crisis occurred. People see through the leader who “turns it on” when the crisis hits and will turn away from such behavior (Greyser 2009). The Bible tells us to be honest repeatedly and this can be the only way to lead. We are told in Ephesians 4:25 that “each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (NIV). In order to be a successful crisis leader, we must live this every day since we are just a member of the organization. Communicating during a crisis can be difficult but can be made easier if the actions of the leader and the organization match what they are saying and have said. A leader should be candid and honest about what is not known and what is known. Seek to continuously update your information and share this with your organization (Harvard Business Essentials 2004). The role of a leader in a crisis is to lower the sense of uncertainty by providing information on what has happened, is happening, and likely will happen (Couto 2010). By communicating regularly, leaders will have the best shot at setting the narrative and keeping everyone calm and on track for recovery.

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Post-crisis Communication Communication after a crisis should be mainly concerned with ensuring the organization and its members grow and learn from the experience of making it through the crisis. Two major functions in the post-crisis phase are evaluation and crisis tracking. All stakeholders need to be kept aware of the efforts for recover, any new issues with the crisis, and any information from the evaluation and investigation of the crisis and the crisis response. The crisis leader must continue to ensure that employees are getting the assistance needed in this phase and that they show their followers that they understand their needs are important. This emphasis on communicating that assistance is still available needs to be delicately balanced with a persistent move to normal operations for the organization (Coombs 2007). Leading the organization during the transition from the crisis stage to the post-crisis stage can be the most challenging part for a crisis leader to communicate. While I was Lieutenant Commander in the Navy stationed in New Orleans, I saw the difficulty of this transition firsthand when our entire squadron was relocated to Fort Worth due to Hurricane Katrina. The Navy leadership was very good about taking care of all of the service members and their families and communicating the assistance available. What they did not communicate very well was when the crisis should be considered complete and when normal operations should begin. As a result of this, we went several extra months where people were not prepared to work, and we even had several squadron members and their families not return to New Orleans after the squadron returned over a year after the storm. While there was a transition plan, it had not been communicated clearly to everyone what the expectations were. As a result, the squadron lost out on over a year of being a fully effective organization due to the lack of a consistent post-crisis communication plan. The takeaway here is that the crisis is not over until everyone in your organization is fully back into the pre-crisis stage of planning and preparing for the next event.

Biblical Examples of Communicating During a Crisis I have mentioned how the Bible directs us to behave during a time of crisis several times already. We also see several examples of how leaders should communicate during a crisis in scripture. An excellent example can be seen in the scripture presented at the beginning of this chapter. In

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Proverbs 12:25, King Solomon emphasizes sharing a good word to lift up others instead of allowing negativity and anxiety to cause us to be pulled down into an even deeper depression. Leaders need to be sure to share a “kind word” whenever possible during a crisis to avoid such negativity. Jesus probably shows us the best example of how we can best lead during a crisis in Matthew 14:13. Here he learns of the brutal execution of John the Baptist from his disciples. The Bible tells us that when Jesus heard this awful news, he “withdrew by boat to a solitary place.” Understandably the death of John bothered him a great deal and he wanted to be alone. Still, the people followed him and when Jesus’ boat landed, they formed a large crowd. When the disciples went to send them away Jesus spoke up and said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat” (NIV). When the disciples explained that they only had five loaves of bread and two fish Jesus was able to feed the 5000 people that had gathered. The death of John had impacted everyone and was a crisis that all had to deal with. Instead of sending the people away, or lamenting the current situation, Jesus directed the disciples to help and comfort those around him with a meal. While we may not be able to feed 5000 people with five loaves and two fish, we can certainly take a negative situation and comfort those we are charged with leading.

Social Media and Crisis Communication Social media has greatly impacted the communication techniques a leader must manage during a crisis. While social media is a relatively new form of communication, the biblical principles of truth, love, and compassion should still be in the forefront. The successful crisis leader will ensure that social media is monitored to see what others are saying because many times, people outside the formal organization may communicate before things are heard from more traditional communication paths (Hunter et al. 2016). Social media should be used to better shape the message that the public is getting and to influence the perception of the organizational response.

How to Communicate as Spiritual Crisis Leader Communicating as a Spiritual crisis leader is one of the most important things we can do. While our actions must match our words, our words will be heard by all our stakeholders and we must take care to keep our

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faith in mind no matter how we communicate during a crisis and who we are communicating to. Christians, and especially Christian leaders, must always speak out of love. This is what we were taught by Jesus in John 13:34–35 when he told the disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (NIV). It is this command to love one another that must be considered when leaders communicate during a crisis. It should be stated clearly that leaders lead out of love for their followers and it needs to be authentic—a product of prayer and a constant effort to move closer to God. It is important to understand that it is not always what we say that matters when it comes to crisis communications. How leaders say things can be just as important to employees and other stakeholders. Added to the challenge of ensuring you say the right things and say them the right way is the added pressure that comes to a leader during a crisis. The best way for a crisis leader to stay calm is to trust in the Lord. We are told repeatedly that God will help us during our toughest times and as leaders with many people depending on us to appear calm and under control we need to be sure to remember this. A great example of how to stay calm is seen in John 13 and 14 in the Bible when Jesus calmly explains to the disciples that he would be betrayed and would be leaving them. Imagine how the disciples felt after hearing this. We can almost hear the angst in the disciples’ voices as they pepper Jesus with questions about where He is going and what they are supposed to do when he is gone. Jesus, calm with the power of God, says to them, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (NIV, John 14:27). It is important to note that Jesus clearly states that this peace is not something that can be obtained normally in the secular world, but rather it is only from our faith in God that we can obtain it.

Summary In order to be effective during a crisis, leaders need to understand the importance of communication. Leaders should first determine their intended audience and the message they want to communicate. There will likely be a variety of stakeholders with whom leaders need to communicate and the methods of reaching them will likely vary. Leaders should

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concentrate on speaking with clarity and compassion (Irving and Strauss 2019). We are told in the Bible to be thoughtful about our communications and to ensure what we say comes from a place of love and is intended to help others. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Ephesians 4:29 captures this point very clearly, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (NIV). This should be the guiding scripture for crisis leaders as they consider what and how they should communicate during a crisis.

Key Takeaways 1. Communication is a very important part of crisis leadership. 2. Leaders must communicate across all phases of a crisis (pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis). 3. Leaders should understand who the intended audience is for their communication and communicate with them in the manner that will work the best. 4. Newer methods of communicating (social media, etc.) must be considered in a leader’s communication plan. 5. Christian leaders should always communicate with love.

References Albrecht, S. (1996). Crisis Management for corporate self-defense: How to protect your organization in a crisis…How to stop a crisis before it starts. New York: Amacom. Bhaduri, R. M. (2019). Leveraging culture and leadership in crisis management. European Journal of Training and Development, 43(5/6), 534–549. https:// doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-10-2018-0109. Coombs, W. T. (2007). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage. Couto, R. A. (2010). Political and civil leadership: A reference handbook. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Fink, S. (1986). Crisis management: Planning for the inevitable. New York: Amacom. Greyser, S. A. (2009). Corporate brand reputation and brand crisis management. Management Decision, 47 (4), 590–602. https://doi.org/10.1108/ 00251740910959431.

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Harvard Business Essentials. (2004). Crisis management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Hunter, M. L., Van Wassenhove, L. N., & Besiou, M. (2016, Summer). The new rules for crisis management: Many Stakeholder groups now control their own media and sources of information, and they are increasingly setting the agenda for how companies resolve crises. MIT Sloan Management Review (reprint #57401). https://mitsmr.com/1UPbtvp. Irving, J. A., & Strauss, M. A. (2019). Leadership in Christian perspective: Biblical foundations and contemporary practices for servant leaders. Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Academic. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pearson, C. M., & Clair, J. A. (1998). Reframing crisis management. Academy of Management Review, 23(1), 59–76. Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco: Wiley. Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (2003). Communication and organizational crisis. Westport, CT: Praeger. Simonsson, C., & Heide, M. (2018). How focusing positively on errors can help organizations become more communicative: An alternative approach to crisis communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-04-2017-0044.

CHAPTER 8

Steps to Take During a Crisis

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10–17, NIV)

The Bible does not direct Christians that they must be meek and simply take the consequences of whatever crisis occurs to them. Instead, we are told to act in response to a crisis knowing that God is by our side. This is supported by the verses from Ephesians above where we are told to prepare as fully as we can, using all of the assistance that God has for us. This chapter will provide a concrete method for dealing with a crisis while also stressing the importance of planning and practicing crisis response procedures. The steps below are loosely based upon the Crisis Action Planning (CAP) procedures used by the military when they plan for and respond to a crisis. The steps are simple and are sequenced to ensure that © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_8

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a leader can step through them at a pace that is both deliberate and that allows for rapid response as needed. Before discussing the specific steps to take when dealing with a crisis this chapter will focus on the importance of having a crisis response plan that is assessed and exercised regularly to ensure the plan is up to date and employees are familiar with it. First, I will present an overview of what crisis management researchers have presented as possible models to use for the life cycle of a crisis.

Crisis Leadership Life Cycle An organizational crisis life cycle follows a similar pattern to what most people are familiar with occurring during a personal crisis. The progression over time of a crisis has been studied by many different researchers. They have all come up with very similar timelines for actions in a crisis and what we typically see. The steps used in responding to the crisis vary somewhat in terms of order and process but are generally similar. The steps or stages we see during a crisis are termed, collectively, by researchers as the crisis management life cycle. Over the past 30 or so years since crisis management research was first conducted, there have been several different models offered by researchers. There have been 5- and 6-phase models presented as well as a much more basic 3-stage model. Mitroff (2005) presented his model with six components. He listed the stages as signal detection, preparation, damage limitation, recovery, learning, and redesign which then takes you back to the first step (Wang 2008; Hutchins and Wang 2008). While Mitroff’s model does a good job of capturing most of the events we see in a crisis, this model can sometimes be more complicated and academic than what a crisis leader may need. For this reason, the most commonly used model is the three-stage model. This model uses pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis phases to simply describe the stage the organization is in (Veil 2011). This helps the leader to quickly and easily understand and communicate the phase to everyone. The three-stage model was chosen due to its “ability to subsume the other staged approaches used in crisis management” (Coombs 2007). In short, all the good points made in the other larger models can be included in this three-stage model. In this model the leader guides the organization directly through the 3 phases and after the post-crisis phase, sets the organization back into the pre-crisis phase ready for another incident. The pre-crisis stage has several substages for signal detection, prevention, and crisis planning (Coombs

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2007). The leader has a large role in seeing a crisis coming. Crisis leaders need to be proactive in the signal detection activities during the pre-crisis phase. As discussed earlier, being a crisis leader means more than just responding during a time of crisis. The crisis stage starts when an event is noticed during signal detection and includes both the recognition as well as the actual actions taking for containment of the crisis. Finally, post-crisis includes ensuring the crisis is actually complete, learning from the crisis and improving the organization, and communicating with all stakeholders to help them understand the actions taken and reassure them that the organization is prepared for anything that might come next (Veil 2011; Coombs 2007; Mitroff 2005; Seeger et al. 2003). Most research on crisis response tends to focus on the crisis phase (Simonsson and Heide 2018). This is likely due to the fact that most authors see a leader’s role with crisis as simply managing the response instead of a holistic effort that can benefit the organization from the work done before and after the crisis occurs. It is important to note that while this chapter deals primarily with the crisis stage, several of the other chapters in this book provide an abundance of guidance on how to work in both the pre and post-crisis phases. I will move next to propose a process for the crisis leader to follow when a crisis occurs within their organization. The process is based upon many different examples from researchers and crisis management experts, but the bulk of the information is loosely based on how the military conducts Crisis Action Planning or CAP. For my model the direct steps for a crisis leader’s response during the crisis stage will be presented using the acronym of S.C.O.R.E. These steps, while loosely based on military principles, will be supplemented and improved with Christian principles and examples. These steps should be completed continually until the postcrisis phase is over. The SCORE process covers everything that should be accomplished with respect to crisis action and is depicted below (Fig. 8.1).

Situational Awareness

Communications

Options

Refine

Enable

Prayer Fig. 8.1 Spiritual crisis leader response model (Source Author’s creation)

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Situational Awareness In the military, it is common to hear leaders during a crisis ask their subordinates to provide them with an update to build their situational awareness. This is a very key step in any crisis response. Understand that the situation is bigger than what you see and that God is at work in you to better understand the situation. This initial assessment is key to the next steps taken. This situational awareness will be constantly updated but getting this first assessment right is critical. In this phase the focus is on gathering information from your organization and any other stakeholders. Do not filter the information that comes into you as the leader but be sure to confirm any information you get before it is disseminated. You should reinforce that you value everyone’s thoughts and that you want them to feel free to share the information they have. You never want to show anger at someone delivering any information, even if it turns out to be inaccurate. Ideally, you will have one person, or a small team, assigned to gather information on the situation and brief you on it several times throughout each day. We see examples of Jesus getting information from the disciples at various times in the Bible. He always communicated clearly and with their best interests in mind. This is the example we should strive for as Spiritual crisis leaders.

Communicate Leaders must communicate throughout a crisis but they need to clearly communicate their estimate of the problem and the initial actions to be taken as soon as possible. Communication is one of the most important parts of crisis response, but it must be consistent and timely. Leaders can inspire their employees and calm them during the challenge of a crisis. As discussed in the previous chapter it is very important that we communicate with love. A crisis leader must be authentic in their communications with their employees and other stakeholders. As a leader during a crisis you should have a crisis communication plan as part of the larger crisis response plan to use. This plan should have been prepared in the pre-crisis stage and should be kept general enough to allow it to easily be adjusted to match the conditions of the current crisis. The plan should have an organizational chart included showing who is responsible for each activity during the crisis response. It should list who will serve as the general spokesperson and what other members of the

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organization are expected to say if asked questions or who they should direct inquiries to. Finally, the communication section of this plan should list the target audience for the organization during the crisis and what type of media is planned to be used to reach the audiences identified. It can be as simple as showing that the president of the organization will be the only one speaking to the media and that you plan to reach the public by keeping your Facebook or other social media page up to date on the situation. The key is just ensuring that you have a person identified to do these items so that when the crisis occurs everyone knows what to do.

Options Once a leader has gained a good understanding of the situation and has ensured that organizational communications are covered, they will need to move on to determining what options they have in response to the crisis. This step, while deliberative, will need to be conducted quickly to minimize the impact the crisis will have on the organization. The leader will need to have a team of trusted advisors from across the many different areas of the organization to ensure the options cover what is needed by the entire organization. This cross-functional team, meaning someone from operations, administration, logistics, etc., is critical to determining the best response for the organization. The options phase is most concerned with developing several Courses of Action (COA) designed to deal with the crisis. These options should be prepared by your trusted advisors and should build upon the established plans you already have. It is best to include two or more options for the leader to choose from and it is always possible the leader may choose certain parts from each plan to combine and make into their own plan. Before and during the creation of these COAs it is important that the leader provide the planning team with guidance on the types of responses they are looking for so that the COAs can be prepared to meet these minimum requirements. The Word of the Bible should be consulted by the leader in helping to decide which COA to choose for implementation by the organization. The leader should continually pray and discuss with others the possible options presented until one rises above the others. The COAs prepared should be evaluated by the planning team prior to being presented to the leader to ensure they meet what in strategic planning is called the S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related) test (Doran 1981). Testing for SMART ensures that the plan you have proposed is complete and covers what is necessary.

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The planning team should first measure the specific COAs individually and then compare them to one another. From here the leader will choose the one they believe is best and implement it as soon as possible. Here is a further explanation of each of the points in SMART (Doran 1981) that the options for handling a crisis should be measured against: Specific—The proposed COA should clearly step who will do what and how it will be done. Measurable—The COA should be something that you will be able to see and test the results of or know when the action taking has been completed. Achievable—The COA must be something that can be completed or attained. There is no reason to propose a plan that you do not have the funds or personnel to complete. Realistic—The COA should be something that makes sense for the organization to do and should be relevant to the organization’s mission and vision. Time-Bound—The COA must have a proposed beginning and end so that progress can be measured and so leaders can tell stakeholders the timeline for the recovery.

Refine This stage is intended for the leader to adjust the plan and select the best course of action for the crisis. Leaders need to stay engaged during the response and be prepared to adjust the plan. Just because you have selected a course of action does not mean you cannot make adjustments if things change or if the results are not what you intended. The key is to be open to making changes if needed. Research has shown that leaders can get into a dangerous pattern of believing the way they have done it in the past will always work for them. “By wedding themselves to specific courses of action that have once worked well, this leads to the development of institutional routines that in fact limit frames of reference (Antonacopoulou and Sheaffer 2014). Leaders must remember that the Bible tells us to “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (NIV, James 4:10). We need to avoid hubris that can come from leading, even during a time of crisis when you would think humility would be easy to come by.

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Enable Allow your team to respond and execute the plan. It is sometimes difficult to delegate in normal situations and can be even more difficult during a crisis. During a crisis, many leaders feel like they need even more control and have even more difficulty allowing their employees to act. This fear of delegating during a crisis needs to be overcome in order to successfully recover from a crisis. Leaders should use the example of Jesus and His disciples when they look to enable their followers during a crisis. Jesus gave the disciples His authority as they went out to spread the word of God. They were able to do many of the things that Jesus had done Himself (Irving and Strauss 2019). He delegated to the disciples the things that needed to be done and He expected them to carry out His wishes. This is what crisis leaders need to do as well.

Prayer Throughout the crisis, a leader should pray and encourage their employees to pray, meditate, or reflect on the situation in order to better deal with the crisis and their response. Just as we read in Romans 12:2 we should “not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (NIV). Spiritual crisis leaders will be able to better discern what they should do and how they should lead by listening for God’s will. Prayer is essential for the leader during crisis. Leaders should take the time to pray during a crisis and they should encourage those around them to do so as well. Taking the time to pray will allow the crisis leader to slow down and evaluate all the options while also seeking guidance from God. Intensive prayer should continue across all steps in the crisis and should be a part of a leader’s daily routine.

Time Compression Perception A crisis leader needs to understand that time can be perceived differently depending on the circumstances we are facing. When we encounter a crisis, time can appear to speed up as we feel pressure to respond as quickly as possible to the situation. This crisis time compression can make leaders feel like deciding quickly, in the name of minimizing suffering, is more important than making the correct decision. The problem with this is

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that “actions designed to reduce the severity of the crisis sometimes serve to accentuate harm” (Seeger et al. 2003, p. 87). Leaders need to ensure they do not make any rash decision that will only serve to exacerbate the situation. When I was a young pilot in the navy I was taught to slow down during an emergency by “winding the clock.” All military aircraft have a clock that will run for 7 days once it is wound several times. By slowing down and concentrating on this very simple act, we were taught that there were very few emergencies that had to be handled with excessive haste and that couldn’t wait until we had wound the clock a few times to think about the situation. Leaders need to come up with something that mimics this “winding” of the clock. I propose that prayer fits this purpose perfectly. When leaders are presented with a crisis, they should slow down enough to pray to God to find a small amount of peace and to change their perception of time. Using the S.C.O.R.E. process for leading during a crisis combined with continuous prayer will enable a leader to mitigate the effects of perceived time compression and help them to make thoughtful decisions.

Summary Crisis leadership is much more than the actions taken during the crisis, but the actions taken during the crisis are critical to an organization’s ability to survive one. Typically, when a crisis hits, it tends to overwhelm an organization. Many people will feel a sense of hopelessness and even leaders can lose a sense of control. Crises can also lead to a feeling that decisions need to be made quicker than actually required. Leaders should have a set process in place to follow when a crisis occurs. The S.C.O.R.E. method is suggested to step the leader, and the organization, through the basic steps of crisis response. While the process is very effective will be even more effective if leaders pray while executing it, seeking out wisdom from God on how to proceed.

Key Takeaways 1. Crisis leaders should follow a defined process when leading during a crisis. 2. Crises can lead to a perception that decisions must be made with haste and can lead to mistakes.

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3. The S.C.O.R.E. (Situational Awareness, Communicate, Options, Refine, Enable) process offers an easy way for leaders to step through their response to a crisis. 4. Plans developed for implementation during a crisis should pass the S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, TimeBound) test. 5. Leaders should pray and seek guidance from God throughout the crisis.

References Antonacopoulou, E. P., & Sheaffer, Z. (2014). Learning in crisis: Rethinking the relationship between organizational learning and crisis management. Journal of Management Inquiry, 23(1), 5–12. (Reprinted from “Learning in crisis: Rethinking the relationship between organizational learning and crisis management,” 2013, Sage Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1177/. 1056492612472730). Coombs, W. T. (2007). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publishing. Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35–36. Hutchins, H. M., & Wang, J. (2008, June). Organizational crisis management and human resource development: A review of the literature and implications to HRD research and practice. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(3), 310–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422308316183. Irving, J. A., & Strauss, M. A. (2019). Leadership in Christian perspective: Biblical foundations and contemporary practices for servant leaders. Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Academic. Mitroff, I. I. (2005). Why some companies emerge stronger and better from a crisis: 7 Essential lessons for surviving disaster. New York: Amacom. Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (2003). Communication and organizational crisis. Westport: Praeger. Simonsson, C., & Heide, M. (2018). How focusing positively on errors can help organizations become more communicative: An alternative approach to crisis communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-04-2017-0044. Veil, S. R. (2011, April). Mindful learning in crisis management. Journal of Business Communication, 48(2), 116–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0021943610382294. Wang, J. (2008, June). Developing organizational learning capacity in crisis management. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(3), 425–445. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422308316464.

CHAPTER 9

Growing and Improving from a Crisis

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. (1 Kings 19:3–9, NIV) ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37–40, NIV)

While a crisis can challenge the leader and the organization almost to a breaking point, it is important to understand that crisis can also be an opportunity for growth. This chapter will discuss the ways leaders can improve their leadership abilities along with the culture of their organization during a crisis. It may seem counterintuitive, but a crisis can be used

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by a leader to improve an organization. This chapter will also discuss how crises have become a part of our working life that we must accept and that we must learn how to lead through.

Washington’s Use of Crisis at Valley Forge George Washington is generally considered to be one of the greatest American leaders ever. His rise to being considered a tactical and political genius was not without its share of mistakes and crises. While he is certainly a good example of one of our greatest leaders, he is also most certainly an example of a leader who was able to lead his organization to improve after a crisis. He did this by recognizing the mistakes made during the low times and by setting a course for success in the future. The story of Washington’s success at Yorktown and the eventual end of the Revolutionary War with Great Britain is well-known. What is sometimes forgotten is Washington’s early struggles in the war. Washington lost repeated engagements from the start of the war in New York City, and at Brandywine, just outside Philadelphia. Later he ceded control of Philadelphia to the British and then lost another battle at nearby Germantown. From Germantown he took his forces to Valley Forge where a quarter of his men died from exposure and disease over the brutal winter (Fleming 2013). Washington’s losses and the crisis seen at Valley Forge were challenges that would be difficult for any leader to overcome. What Washington did during this time was both remarkable and repeatable. He was able to learn from his defeats and the crisis at Valley Forge to create a new strategy and encourage his men that even during this undeniably low part of the campaign, there was hope. He countered the feelings of despair by introducing a new tactical training program under the leadership of Baron von Steuben, a veteran Prussian general. This training encouraged his soldiers and showed them they could improve their chances of success. Additionally, Washington continued to refine his strategy and became determined that his forces “on all occasions should avoid a general action or put anything to the risk, unless compelled by necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn” (Fleming 2013). The goal was to retreat when necessary in order to prolong the war until the British lost their will. The genius of Washington’s plan to meet the crisis was in his two-pronged effort to both develop a lethal force and also be quick to retreat when necessary. This showed his soldiers that he would equip them for any

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challenges, but he would be judicious in the use of their skills as they continued to fight for freedom. Today’s Christian crisis leaders should be prepared to take advantage of set backs and challenges while fully relying on God. This reliance on God is the cornerstone of Spiritual leadership and is even more relevant to leaders navigating difficult waters with their organizations during a crisis. Sanders (2007) summed this up brilliantly when he wrote, “The Christian leader need not fear that care of the flock of God will be too heavy a burden. By God’s invitation, the leader can transfer the weight of spiritual burdens onto shoulders bigger, stronger, broader, and durable” (p. 50).

Growing from a Crisis It can seem to us at first that growing from a crisis is not possible. Many people, upon simply hearing the word crisis, instantly think the likely outcome will be the worst. After all, we do not generally think of a crisis as something that can be good, and it is difficult to argue that it is something that you would want to happen to you or those you care about. For this reason, it is understandable why it has a negative connotation. It is interesting that the word crisis has origins from Latin and Greek medicine meaning a decisive point in a disease where the patient will either get better or get worse. Many people view a crisis as having only one path leading to negative consequences, but it should instead be viewed as a decisive point for an organization. Therefore, there is room for growth after a crisis, but a leader will need to actively guide the organization on this path towards improvement.

Crisis Response as a Competitive Advantage As difficult as going through a crisis can be for a leader and their organization, there is no doubt that those organizations that are better able to overcome crisis will have an advantage over others who have not or cannot overcome these challenging times. Crisis leaders need to grasp this fact and communicate with their followers as soon as it is appropriate. Leaders should let the people in their organization know that the experiences they have had will enable the organization to better prepare for anything that might happen in the future. Veith (2002) summed this conclusion up when he wrote:

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God sometimes refreshes us with victories, and glories of every kind await us in the everlasting life that He has prepared for His people. Jesus died, but then rose again and ascended into Heaven, and the next time He will come as the creed says, “with glory.” So there is glory in the Christian life, but in the meantime we must bear our crosses. And when we do, we find that we are driven to depend on Jesus more and more. Our prayers intensify, we cling to His Work, and our faith grows deeper and deeper as find that Jesus, who bore our sufferings as well as our sins (Isaiah 53:4), takes up our crosses into His cross. (p. 145)

Crisis is an opportunity for us to deepen our appreciation and relationship with God. It is also a time for an organization to deepen the relationship among its members.

The Power of Purpose A crisis can also be an excellent forcing function to make an organization determine their purpose. Mitroff (2005) explained this succinctly stating, “One of the worst outcomes of crises is that they cause us to question whether the world and our lives have any meaning and purpose” (p. 129). A crisis will undoubtedly uncover what is truly important to an organization. Earlier in chapter two, Schein’s (2010) model was discussed and the importance of an organization’s values and generally agreed-upon assumptions were explained. A crisis will cause everyone in the organization to question what it is they do and why they do it. Leaders need to be sure to state the organization’s purpose during the crisis phase frequently but they also need to revisit this during the postcrisis phase to ensure a gap does not develop between what the stated mission for the organization is and what the members believe it is at that time. Crisis leaders should use the crisis to further strengthen the culture of the organization, but they need to have thought about the culture they have or the one they hope to have well before a crisis occurs. Encouraging spirituality is essential to creating a larger sense of purpose for the members of an organization. Mitroff (2005) points out that spirituality is one of the first things to be questioned when a crisis occurs. He continues that crises “promote intense feelings of fragmentation and lead us to feel that the fundamental meaning and purpose of our lives has been seriously disrupted, if not destroyed” (p. 134). While Mitroff is writing about nonreligious spirituality, the same applies to our loss of faith in God and it is up to the Spiritual leader to ensure they reinforce

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that there is a larger meaning to what we are doing and that the answers can be found with God.

Culture Change and Crisis Several researchers on organizational culture recommend the post-crisis phase as a good time to incorporate cultural change in the organization. Probert and Turnbull James (2011) reported on several studies showing that a crisis can help prepare an organization to accept changes in its culture. We believe that these characteristics of more mundane crisis situations – tension, conflict, and group negotiation – are paramount for leadership development initiatives to be effective since, without them, individuals and organizations will not readdress and reevaluate their deeply embedded leadership concept. (p. 145)

Remember back to the discussion of Schein’s (2010) model of culture from chapter three and the notion that the best time to change an organization’s culture might be when its members are questioning the basic assumptions and values of the group is easy to understand. Of course, leaders need to fully prepare prior to any effort to change the culture and they must ensure that they have taken any variables into consideration so that no harm is done to the organization.

Importance of Planning and Exercising Crisis leadership plays an integral role in the strategic planning that an organization must do to stay ahead of the changes it will undoubtedly experience. Strategic planning focuses on analyzing the external and internal environment, forecasting future trends and events, and preparing the organization to succeed regardless of what happens. Crisis leadership is instrumental in preparing an organization to respond to these future events and should be incorporated into the organization’s planning process (Abraham 2012). Strategic planning is also crucial for a leader to identify and nurture the organization’s culture. Spiritual leaders will be able to leverage their strategic and crisis planning preparation to ensure their reliance on spirituality is understood throughout the organization. Employees who are

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encouraged to be spiritual are more effective and are happier, and by including them in the planning process, they can be further encouraged to be spiritual. The results obtained during the gathering of lessons learned during the post-crisis phase are vital but only if incorporated into the future planning and crisis preparation activities. Planning and exercising for a crisis are probably the most important pre-crisis activities an organization can do, and it is incumbent upon the leader to ensure this is done systematically and regularly. In addition to lessons learned from the most recent crisis, leaders should discuss crises seen with other organizations to get their input on how to best prepare for a similar event and to influence how they see the organization’s culture and mission. Preparing and discussing responses to different crises serves the role of engaging the organization to think about what steps it might take. It is not important if it is a specific scenario that might affect the organization. The benefit is in the planning conducted, not in the specific plan itself.

Encouraging a Learning Organization That Is Not Afraid to Fail Probably the most crucial thing a crisis leader can do in the post-crisis phase is to encourage their organization to learn from any mistakes and to ensure members are not afraid to make mistakes. Veil (2011) advocates for “mindful learning” where leaders encourage the organization to break through routine practices to always be looking for warning signals that processes should be amended to prevent a crisis. Furthermore, she argues that recognizing failure is the best path to learning and to ensuring greater success. By identifying failure, instead of reframing smaller mistakes as near misses, the organization can prevent the slow buildup of overconfidence that might lead to a more significant crisis in the future. This learning should be ongoing. Failures and mistakes should be noted but not punished unless there was malice intended against the organization. Veil (2011) argues that too many organizations today do not advocate for ongoing learning from their mistakes, and this will eventually lead up to even bigger mistakes or even large-scale crises. Furthermore, by acknowledging and determining the cause of such mistakes, it is likely that many future crises can be prevented. We should learn from examples where this acceptance and learning from mistakes were not present, such

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as in the Chernobyl accident and during several failures seen within the NASA space program.

Recommended Post-crisis Best Practices A leader should consider the unique situation with their organization when deciding how to proceed in the post-crisis phase and how far they can work to improve the organization. This will depend on the nature of the crisis, the severity, and the level of recovery within the organization. There are best practices that should be followed during the post-crisis phase. First, as was mentioned in the chapter of communication, you will want to declare the crisis phase over once your team has determined this to be the case. This allows those within your organization and other stakeholders to know that you are moving on and that you are not in the critical phase anymore. This doesn’t mean that you should stop assisting those affected or that you should discontinue looking for flare-ups in the crisis, but rather you are signaling that the organization is moving toward normal operations. While declaring the end to the crisis you will want to have a detailed explanation of what occurred during the crisis prepared to deliver to all stakeholders (Harvard Business Essentials 2004). This should be as comprehensive as possible and should include what caused the crisis, what you did to recover from it, and what you will do to prepare for a similar crisis in the future. There is no need to speculate on anything you do not know for sure, but you should share as much as you can. Next you will want to determine the lessons you learned from the crisis. Here you will want to preserve a record of how the organization responded to the crisis, how the crisis plan was implemented, and any statements made to the organization and to the public. Using this you should then determine what lessons you will take from the crisis response and how you will improve your policy and procedures in preparation for the next crisis you may face. It is very important for the crisis leader to encourage this step because there may be members of the organization that just want to get back to normal operations. These lessons learned should be incorporated into your plans and operations as soon as possible to show everyone that the organization will be changed for the better from the way it responded to the crisis.

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Biblical Examples of Learning During a Crisis The Bible presents several examples of how we should learn from a crisis and improve upon our condition. Probably the story that best exemplifies the point that pain and sacrifice will lead to great things is in the ultimate story from The New Testament. Jesus’ persecution, crucifixion, and eventual transfiguration show us that no matter what happens, God has a plan and will use it to allow us to improve the world. While it may be difficult to understand this in the middle of a crisis, it is easier to understand as the crisis moves behind us and we mature in our faith. Just as the disciples could not understand why Jesus had to be taken from the world in order to give us the gift of eternal life, most people cannot understand why we must endure crises. This will be very difficult to explain to the members of your organization, but you can show them by your actions. We see the disciples’ lack of faith when they asked Jesus where He was going. Jesus responded, Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father. (John 16:25–28, NIV)

Why did the disciples ask Jesus where He was going? Did they not understand the plan? Did they not have faith that He knew what was going to happen? Later in John 16:29–33 we see that the disciples begin to understand and learn from what Jesus had told them. Then Jesus’ disciples said, ‘Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.’ ‘Do you now believe?’ Jesus replied. ‘A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (NIV)

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We can also take from this scripture that even though Jesus knew He was going to pay for our sins, He still went. This is how we should act when encountering a crisis. We know it is going to happen, but we know we will make it through because God said we would.

Summary There is no doubt that a crisis can be devastating to an organization and should not be something a leader should seek out. While the effects of a crisis can be destructive, there is also an opportunity for a leader to help their organization grow from it. Crisis leaders can help an organization grow from a crisis by encouraging learning from the mistakes made and by reinforcing the purpose of the organization daily.

Key Takeaways 1. A crisis can be an opportunity for the growth of an organization. 2. A leader should use a crisis as a learning opportunity and as a competitive advantage for the organization. 3. A crisis can also be an opportunity for a leader to solidify the current culture or to change to one that is needed going forward. 4. Power of purpose. Leaders can help prepare their organizations by ensuring a supportive culture exists and the importance of the organization’s mission is understood. 5. Leaders should ensure crisis planning and exercising of their plan are part of the ongoing strategic planning in their organization.

References Abraham, S. C. (2012). Strategic planning: A practical guide for competitive success (2nd ed.). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing. Fleming, T. (2013). Escape from Brooklyn: Trapped on Long Island, the American army slipped away under the cover of darkness—A defeat that taught George Washington how to win the war. MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, 25(4), 28. Harvard Business Essentials. (2004). Crisis management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

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Mitroff, I. I. (2005). Why some companies emerge stronger and better from a crisis: 7 Essential lessons for surviving disaster. New York: Amacom. Probert, J., & Turnbull James, K. (2011). Leadership development: Crisis, opportunities and the leadership concept. Leadership, 7 (2), 137– 150. (Reprinted from Sage Publishing, Leadership development: Crisis, opportunities and the leadership concept, https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1742715010394810) Sanders, J. O. (2007). Spiritual leadership: Principles of excellence for every believer. Chicago: Moody Publishers. Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco: Wiley Publishing. Veil, S. R. (2011, April). Mindful learning in crisis management. Journal of Business Communication, 48(2), 116–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0021943610382294. Veith, G. E., Jr. (2002). God at work: Your Christian vocation in all of life. Wheaton: Crossway.

CHAPTER 10

Crisis Leadership and Development of Organizational Resilience

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (Corinthians 13:4–7, NIV)

A leader must work before, during, and after a crisis to ensure their organization has a high level of resiliency. Building this resiliency should be a part of the strategic planning process as the leader works to build organizational culture. This should be fostered at the individual, group, and overall organizational level. By encouraging spirituality and using their faith, leaders can best strengthen this resiliency and assure the organization can make it through any crisis.

Grit When we discuss the academic term of resiliency, we really are talking about what many call grit (Duckworth 2016). Grit is something many of us use and throw around when discussing our favorite sports stars or characters from the Old West. We might use this synonymously with “stick-toitiveness,” “the right stuff,” “backbone,” or “moxie.” It is one of those words that you typically don’t have to have a definitive shared meaning for people to understand what you generally mean. Grit is essential to © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_10

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crisis response and can help to explain why some leaders can successfully navigate their organizations through a crisis while others cannot. There has been a fair amount of research on this idea of grit, or resilience but the most extensive work on it was completed by psychologist Angela Duckworth in her 2016 book entitled Grit : The Power of Passion and Perseverance. In this book Duckworth dealt mainly with the individual aspects of grit and she described those with grit as “unusually resilient and hardworking” as well as knowing deep down what they wanted in life. In short “gritty” people have not only determination or perseverance, they also have direction and a passion for what they want in life. Grit can be the powerful difference between someone quitting a sport when they have difficulty with it or quitting a job after they receive a poor performance report. Grit can also explain why some people are able to recover from personal crisis and why others tend to fade away when things get tough. While there are other things that go into a person’s ability to cope with a crisis, grit, and the key component of learned optimism is certainly something that can assist in the ability to recover from one. Duckworth (2016) points to various studies to support this fact and offers that cognitive behavioral therapy, a psychological treatment technique that works to improve a person’s outlook on life and to improve their coping mechanisms, is the best way for a person to improve their ability to overcome obstacles. I would offer that prayer and our understanding that there is more to life than our short existence on earth can accomplish the results shown from cognitive behavioral therapy and likely much more.

Developing Grit Just as research has shown that great leaders are not born, as once believed, but instead they develop over time (Northouse 2019), it has been demonstrated that resilience, or grit, is not something we come into the world with. Rather, grit is developed over time through our experiences and our upbringing. Duckworth (2016) argues that parents can help instill grit in their children with a measured amount of supportive and demanding techniques. She advocates parents both hold up a high standard while also providing a substantial amount of autonomy needed for the child to thrive and learn about grit on their own.

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When reading Duckworth’s (2016) description of how we should parent our children to help them become gritty adults, you can’t help but think about how Jesus treated people while he was on earth and how we are treated today as children of God. While God holds His people to high standards by demanding us to love one another and to worship Him, He is also supportive of us, as is evidenced by him sending his only Son to die for our sins. As it says in the Bible, This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9–10, NIV)

The issue is that a crisis can cause people to lose the sense of control over their lives. Veil (2011) discusses how when a crisis occurs people immediately try and compare the event to other things that have occurred to them during their lives. When an event is unique in its character or scope (as many crises are) people will develop a sense of loss and bewilderment. They will be more likely to lose their connection to those around them and the organization. It is during times like this that crisis leaders need to step in and offer support and reassurance while connecting the continued hard work needing to be done with the overall mission of the organization. Additionally, as has been explained several times before in this book, our faith is what should be there for leaders and the entire organization when we have these moments that shake our understanding of what is occurring during a crisis. This balance of support with demanding standards is something I can relate to. My upbringing involved both an expectation for excellence, as you might expect from my Army Colonel father, and the freedom to pursue excellence on my own. I played several sports and was always determined to make the best teams. I can remember as a teenager running laps in my neighborhood during the summer prior to trying out for the high school basketball team. I can also remember my difficult journey toward earning the Eagle Scout award, where I almost quit several times because I wanted to move on and focus more on sports and other things but there was always something that made me want to finish what I started no matter what happened. One of the most influential moments in my life was when I was presented with the following quote by Teddy Roosevelt:

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It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. (Hawley 2013)

This quote was mailed to me by my Mother after I had failed my second safe-to-solo check ride in flight school. Typically, the Navy ended your time in naval aviation after failing this flight twice, but I was granted another chance. Most people quit after failing their second attempt since there was only about a 25% success rate for those few who did get a third opportunity to continue. I can remember reading this quote on the day I was told I would get another chance and deciding that I was not going to quit. I was going to continue fighting until I was told it was over. I kept working and eventually passed and spent 23 years as a naval aviator. While this quote was not what gave me all of the grit I have today, it is indicative of the way I was raised and how my parents instilled in me the persistence to never quit. This supportive nature is what we should have as we work with our followers during a crisis. We need to encourage the best results we can have during a crisis, but we need to always be supportive of the needs of those we are entrusted to lead. This concept will be reiterated in the next chapter on servant leadership, but the point is that even with this support we need to expect and demand the best we can from our people.

Christians Are Gritty Now that we have laid out what grit means and what it means to be gritty, I want to discuss the relationship between Christians and grit. Christians are sometimes viewed as soft by those in the secular world. This likely comes from the lessons we are taught in the Bible to “turn the other cheek” and to “love our neighbor.” This emphasis on doing good and loving everyone is sometimes confused with apathy, which is likely why those ignorant of the faith would feel this way about Christians. The truth

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is that Christians are extremely gritty. We see this in the fact that Christians are able to make it through almost anything by relying on their faith. In fact, when we revisit Duckworth’s (2016) definition of grit, which involves perseverance and passion, we see that Christians have an abundance of both of these qualities that she states form the cornerstone of what it takes to have grit.

Organizational Grit There is research that shows that organizational resiliency can be increased by proactive leadership techniques. While Duckworth (2016) does not use the term “organizational grit,” I think it is appropriate to combine the concept of organizational resiliency with Duckworth’s term. I propose that “organizational grit” is something leaders should use when they work to encourage their people to recover from a crisis. Furthermore, I would encourage leaders to support Spiritual organizational grit whenever possible. By pointing out that the Bible teaches us a great deal about grit, leaders will provide concrete examples for followers to see how passion about purpose and perseverance can help them personally and can help the organization collectively in overcoming obstacles. This emphasis on organizational purpose takes us back to what was discussed in Chapter 3 of this book. Remember that in Schein’s model of culture there are three main sections—artifacts, values, and assumptions. Emphasizing the purpose of an organization and how important it is to persevere will instill grit and will change the culture of the organization to be one that is ready for any challenges. As you will recall from the discussion on organizational culture in chapter three, it takes a concerted effort on embedding artifacts and assumptions which reinforce organizational grit in order to successfully build a gritty culture.

Leader’s Role in Building Organizational Grit Given the ever-increasing number of challenges and crises we see in the workplace, today’s leaders have a huge responsibility to ensure their organizations have grit. There are some very easy steps a leader can take to encourage this grit. While they are fairly easy to implement, like most things in leadership, the difficulty comes in seeing that they are addressed on a daily and enduring basis.

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First and foremost, for a leader to develop organizational grit is for them to cultivate an attitude of having a calling among members of their organization. This is done by connecting what everyone does in the company to the company’s mission. Some jobs are easier to connect than others but even jobs such as trash removal or payroll preparation can be shown to connect to the broader mission since without these items being done, the company could not succeed. The leader should provide frequent updates on how the organization is doing in terms of its mission. This should not just be a dry reporting of statistics but should tell the story of the good the company is doing. Duckworth (2016) broke down how people view their work into three categories. First, some see that they have a job that they must continue with to survive. Next, others believe they have a career, which is a way of viewing their job as setting up other, better opportunities. Finally, she found that very view people have a calling where the work they do is one of the most important things in their lives. Leaders need to encourage those in their organizations to have a calling that aligns with the organization’s purpose. While this can’t be forced, it should be encouraged. Of course, leaders also need to ensure they are in a place doing what they consider their calling is. If they are just going through the motions to earn a paycheck or to move up the ranks they should leave and find their calling. They owe this to themselves and to those they are leading. Beyond simply encouraging buy-in to the organization’s mission as the members’ calling, leaders need to continue practicing positive communication among members of the organization (Duckworth 2016). We have all likely been parts of a group where a large number of members had negative or, at least, pessimistic things to say about everything that was done. These are the type of people who a coworker of mine used to say “make the easy challenging, the challenging difficult, and the difficult impossible.” We need to work to reverse this and help our organizations see the impossible as difficult, the difficult challenging, and the challenging easy. It truly is about perspective and positivity in the group. By doing this a leader can develop a gritty culture and will ensure their organization will be ready for whatever comes its way. It is a Christian leader’s obligation to encourage their followers to have passion for their work but also for something beyond their job. We should strive to improve the lives of those around us and ensure they see value in what they are doing in the larger context of their lives. Keller (2012) points to Ecclesiastes to drive home the point that we should encourage

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others to see the bigger picture that our work is part of. Ecclesiastes 2:17– 18 states, “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.” What this means is that while our vocation is important, our passion for doing His will is even greater. On this point, Keller writes, “Whether quickly or slowly, all the results of our toil will be wiped away by history. All work, even the most historic, will eventually be forgotten and its impact totally neutralized.” (p. 103) We should all understand that no matter how important we are in our organizations, when we leave, the work will continue to be done. This was made abundantly clear to me when I returned to a previous Navy squadron just three years after leaving as the third in command. During my tenure with the squadron, I oversaw the operations for over 40 flight instructors and 300 students each year. When I came back, I could barely find anyone who had ever heard of me! What I could see is that the squadron had the same sense of purpose and dedication to mission accomplishment that I had helped to continue from those before me. Likely more important than people remembering me when I came back to the organization were the lives of the people who had moved on from the squadron and were impacting others based on their experience in the organization and with me. Modeling Christian principles for those we come into contact as a leader is extremely important and it is truly the lasting impact we will have (Irving and Strauss 2019). We see examples of this repeatedly in the Bible: Therefore, I urge you to imitate me. (1 Corinthians 4:16, NIV) Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. (Philippians 3:17) Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV) You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 1:6, NIV)

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These scriptures should remind everyone of the importance of what we do in our organizations and how it is more significant than simply if anyone there remembers us when we are gone. In the case of developing organizational grit a leader should pray for personal strength to guide their followers and for their followers to be given wisdom on the importance of the mission and of persevering during trying times. Veith (2002) states very well the importance of prayer to what we accomplish. He wrote, “What prayer does is to bring God into our vocations. Of course, God operates in them without our prayer.” He continues on page 150, stating, “God in His mercy to all the world provides our daily bread, working through the natural order and, specifically, through vocation.” Spiritual crisis leaders need to use prayer to enhance their leadership skills and the connection of God with their organization.

Biblical Example of Grit In the Bible, we find the example of James to show us the importance of passion and of grit. We are reminded in James that our hard work and perseverance make God happy. We read in James 1:4, “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (NIV). But it is not enough to hear the Word, we must carry out the Word, in our actions. In James 1:22–26 we see proof of this. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. (NIV)

We should remember this as we lead our organizations, and as we live our lives.

Summary Organizational resilience is an important concept that leaders should understand. This organizational grit can be nurtured by crisis leaders who take a long view of organizational culture. Christians should have a great

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deal of resilience because the Bible provides us with numerous examples of people persevering and the Christian faith is based on overcoming everything that happens to us so that we can eventually be with the Lord.

Key Takeaways 1. Organizations can develop resilience, or grit, like individuals can. 2. Organizational grit can be the difference in an organization surviving a crisis or not. 3. Christians are gritty. The Bible teaches us to persevere. Leaders can use their faith to inspire their organizations to be resilient. 4. Leaders can encourage organizational grit by encouraging Spirituality in the workplace and by promoting a culture of calling. 5. A leader’s legacy is not if they are remembered after they are gone. Instead it is if the organization is still exhibiting the Christian principles the leader instilled while they were there.

References Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. New York: Scribner. Hawley, J. D. (2013). Theodore Roosevelt: Preacher of righteousness. New Haven: Yale University Press. Irving, J. A., & Strauss, M. A. (2019). Leadership in Christian perspective: Biblical foundations and contemporary practices for servant leaders. Grand Rapid: Baker Academic. Keller, T. (with Alsdorf, K. L.). (2012). Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God’s work. New York: Dutton. Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publishing. Veil, S. R. (2011, April). Mindful learning in crisis management. Journal of Business Communication, 48(2), 116–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0021943610382294. Veith, G. E., Jr. (2002). God at work: Your Christian vocation in all of life. Wheaton: Crossway.

CHAPTER 11

Servant Leadership and Crisis Leadership

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25–28, NIV) Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all”. (Mark 9:35, NIV) And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24–26, NIV)

While reading a book on crisis leadership the reader might ask, “Which leadership style is best suited for dealing with a crisis?” There are many different leadership styles and theories that could be evaluated but for this book I have chosen to focus on servant leadership because I believe it is the leadership style that works best with crisis leadership. This chapter will present the theory behind servant leadership and will also show how this style can best be used to lead during a crisis. The scripture presented © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_11

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above shows how God favors the servant leader and expects us to act in a manner mimicking Jesus’ time on earth as the leader of the Disciples. Other leadership theories can fit with crisis leadership, but I will leave the evaluation and discussion of them to others. I believe servant leadership fits best when considering which leadership style will have the best results in a crisis due to the emphasis on serving those in the organization. The previous chapters of this book discussed in detail the importance of the leader’s response to a crisis on those in the organization. This discussion fits in nicely with the theory of servant leadership but does run counter to the general concept of leadership. Northouse (2019) explains this point best, “Servant leadership is a paradox – an approach to leadership that runs counter to common sense. Our everyday images of leadership do not coincide with leaders being servants.” (p. 227) While servant leadership may be paradoxical, its emphasis on caring for followers above the needs of the leader makes it the perfect manner for leading during a crisis.

Overview of Servant Leadership Servant leadership is a very important style of leadership today and may be even more important as the manner of work changes from manual labor to more thought, office-based work (Crowther 2018). The greater need for this style of leadership is due to a shift away from an emphasis on more authoritarian leadership styles to a new collaborative way of working. Regardless of why the shift has happened it is obvious that more and more organizations are moving to this style of leadership (Northouse 2019). The basic concept of servant leadership was first proposed by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. It is based on the leader having a desire to serve first rather than lead first. The focus is ensuring followers have the support they need and are being served. It is believed that once this is assured, results will be more positive than other leadership styles. It took over three decades before Greenleaf’s initial rough concepts were combined into a comprehensive and widely accepted theory by leadership authors such as Bennis, Covey, Wheatley, Patterson, and others (Northouse 2019).

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Characteristics of Servant Leadership It wasn’t until 2002 that a clear set of principles of what servant leadership consisted of was presented. It was at this time that Larry Spears, the director of Greenleaf’s Center of servant leadership listed 10 characteristics for use by practitioners in their leadership endeavors and scholars in their research. These ten characteristics that form the model of servant leadership for us to consider are listed below (Northouse 2019). Listening—Hearing and understanding what followers need is very important. While not a totally unique concept, the focus here is for leaders to listen first and talk later while in many other leadership styles communication is based on the leader speaking first and then receiving feedback. Empathy—Being able to feel what others feel is very important to a servant leader. Only by having empathy can a servant leader know how to best serve their followers. Being empathetic also shows followers that the leader understands what they are going through and what they need. Healing—Healing is the way a servant leader ensures their followers are always being supported as an individual person with real-world problems. Leaders help their followers overcome any issues in their lives and make sure they are healthy. Awareness—This attribute is very important and is something that is easily noticed when a leader does not have it. It involves a leader being aware, not just of what is going on around them, but of their place in the world as well. Leaders must be able to see themselves as part of the greater whole to have awareness. Persuasion—This is the ability to convince followers to do things that are best. In other leadership styles this might be viewed as coercion, but here the emphasis is on a discussion with followers who are viewed as equals as opposed to underlings. Conceptualization—The way a leader is able to take a great deal of disparate information and boil it down into a useful and understandable path for the organization. Foresight—As the word suggests, foresight is the ability of the leader to project what will occur to the organization in the future. Leaders must be able to anticipate possibilities and plan for them. Stewardship—Stewardship is the important role of the leader as protector of the organization’s place in the world. It involves the sober responsibility of keeping the organization on track and in existence. The servant leader is responsible for the organization and for the people in it.

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Commitment to the growth of people—This involves servant leaders viewing each follower as an individual who has value and can improve themselves. Leadership should have a detailed plan to meet the growth potential for each and every person in their organization. Building community—Servant leaders look beyond the four walls of their organization’s structure and look to build connections with people with shared beliefs and interests in order to make the community better (Northouse 2019; Crowther 2018; Spears 1998).

How These Characteristics Help the Spiritual Crisis Leader Taking these generally accepted characteristics of servant leadership and relating them to what they mean to a crisis leader should solidify why servant leadership is the best style when leading an organization through a crisis. Here are the characteristics from Spears again but this time with an explanation of how these characteristics will help during a crisis. Listening—A crisis leader needs to hear from those around them before, during, and after a crisis. While an entire chapter of this book was devoted to communication, if a leader is not listening the best communication plan in the world will not help in the recovery. Empathy—During a crisis a leader that feels and understands the pain of their followers will be much better guide them through the crisis. It is not enough to just react to the difficulties being face instead leaders should have a full appreciation of what everyone is going through. Healing—This is key during a crisis since the goal is to get the organization and everyone in it back to their original condition. A leader should continually work to help heal the physical and mental wounds of those in the organization. Awareness—A crisis leader must constantly scan the environment to recognize any changes coming or any development that may worsen their organization’s condition or the condition of their followers. Leaders should also be self-aware in their actions during the crisis and sensitive to how their words and actions impact those around them. Persuasion—Leaders should work constantly on reassuring their followers that they will be able to recover from the crisis. They should have conversations with others instead of merely issuing statements or decrees. Conceptualization—Leading during a crisis takes a great deal of creativity to be able to absorb many different bits of information and

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put it into a succinct narrative for the organization. A crisis leader needs to create a plan and a story that shows others that the crisis can be overcome. Foresight—Obviously, foresight is very important when we look at crisis leadership. Ideally, a leader will be able to scan the horizon and see what might possibly go wrong in the future and what crisis might hit the organization. Not every crisis is detectable and avoidable so even during a crisis a leader should continue to use foresight to see what may be coming next. Stewardship—The responsibility of leadership and of taking care of the path of the organization is even more important during a crisis. Crisis leaders need to understand that what they are doing during a crisis is important to keeping the organization in existence. Commitment to the growth of people—As was mentioned in Chapters 9 and 10, people can actually grow from their experience during a crisis. Furthermore, the organization can be improved with the leader’s emphasis on the personal growth of everyone in it. Building community—As discussed in Chapter 3, an organization can use a time of crisis as an opportunity to solidify, and even change the culture of the organization. A crisis is certainly an excellent time for the leader to build community as those around them work to recover from the crisis.

New Models of Servant Leadership The ten characteristics covered above form a list that can help us understand what makes a servant leader unique. Christians will likely notice that several characteristics we attribute to Jesus are missing from the list presented by Spears. Love and humility are two characteristics that Jesus displayed that are notably absent from Spears’ list. It is possible to view several of Spears’ characteristics as being related to humility and you can argue that the love that Jesus spoke of goes across all the characteristics that can be imagined for a servant leader. Humility is important for a servant leader because it shows that a leader does not see themselves as above anyone but rather are there to serve. Love is important of course because we are taught in 1 John 4:16 that, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (NIV).

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Others have built upon Spears’ work and have made a few changes to the characteristics they believed servant leaders share. Patterson (2003) created a virtue-based model of servant leadership with the seven core components of love, humility, altruism, vision, trust, empowerment, and service and van Dierendonck (2011) offered the eight values of empowerment, accountability, standing back, humility, authenticity, courage, interpersonal acceptance, and stewardship. There have been several other authors who have suggested similar lists of servant leader characteristics with many similarities to be found among them (Roberts 2016, van Dierendonck). It is interesting that while many leadership researchers and authors point out the fact that Jesus was the ultimate servant leader, there is not a great deal of research on the Christian origins and Biblical foundations of servant leadership. Crowther (2018) did a good job of analyzing how Christianity and servant leadership are connected. He also did an excellent job of providing examples from the Old and New Testament of leaders who exemplified the modern-day characteristics of servant leadership. Additionally, he also proposed a model of Biblical servant leadership that advances the Christian relationship with this style of leadership and adds calling and legacy as key components on either side of the construct proposed by Patterson (Crowther 2018). Roberts (2016) also provided an excellent discussion of the relationship between the Christian faith and servant leadership. In my opinion what is still needed is a servant leadership model that is based upon clearly stated biblical principles. It is a matter of perspective. Are we looking for the Christian elements of servant leadership or are we looking for the servant leadership aspects that are already stated in scripture? My thoughts here agree with what J. Oswald Sanders first noted, in the 1967 edition of Spiritual Leadership in a chapter entitled “The Master’s Master Principle”. Sanders pointed out that the King James Bible used the word leader only six times, but we see multiple instances of Moses, Jesus, and other figures being termed servants as they led people. Sanders points out that Jesus stated His view of leadership clearly in Mark: Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants

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to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45, NIV)

This passage alone shows the extremely tight bond between Christianity and servant leadership.

Proposed Model of Servant Leadership Using the Fruit of the Spirit As mentioned earlier we do find examples of servant leaders throughout the Bible. You need look no further than Joseph, Moses, and Esther to see examples of servant leadership in action in the Bible (Crowther 2018). But I believe we should be looking for a clear construct that shows us how to be Christian servant leaders since I truly believe that, like most other concepts in today’s world, servant leadership is based upon principles we find in the Bible. As an initial volley in this attempt to find a scriptural underpinning for servant leadership I would offer the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22–23. It is here we are told by Paul that we should live by the nine virtues of love, joy, peace, patience (or forbearance), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Since these are proposed by Paul to be the fruit from the Spirit and ones that Jesus lived by, it seems only natural that we should use them as the foundation for our understanding of Greenleaf’s well-used theory of servant leadership. Even if this model fails to convince you that it may be a valid way of looking at servant leadership it hopefully can serve as a guide for Spiritual crisis leaders as they deal with crisis. This construct is not terribly complex, and I will admit there are a few areas that may need to be further evaluated and explained. Even with its limitations I feel it is a good start as we look to support a biblical explanation for servant leadership and how servant leaders should lead during a crisis. It is important to note that the fruit of the Spirit is just that—the Spirit’s fruit. We are given it by God and while we can try to show more love, patience, or kindness it is a gift from Him for us to use and display. We are encouraged throughout the New Testament to seek out the Holy Spirit and when we do we will have these “fruits.” This fact makes the connection between servant leadership and the Christian faith even more binding. I believe this is a good start to exploring how this

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very understandable list of characteristics from the Bible, which informs us how to live our lives, fits within the area of servant leadership. I am not arguing at this time that all the previous models of servant leadership should be discarded. Rather, I encourage researchers and servant leaders to continue to probe the connection between the Christian faith and servant leadership. If we are going to agree in principle that Jesus was the greatest servant leader it seems we should also investigate the likely biblical origins of this theory. As a comparison of key components of different servant leadership theories shows many of the characteristics listed by servant leadership researchers appear to be very similar to one another (van Dierendonck 2011). Since there is a fair amount of overlap among the characteristics listed by the various authors, I do not think my proposed model should be seen as a threat to previous research, rather it should be complementary to previously conducted secular research and should serve as an inspiration to Christian researchers. Earlier I explained how a crisis leader could use the characteristics presented by Spears to guide their actions during a crisis. Presented below is a list of the fruit of the Spirit with an explanation of how these virtues will allow a Spiritual crisis leader to best lead during a crisis. As we read repeatedly in the New Testament, love is the basis for Jesus’ ministry and is also a key part in several of the models of servant leadership discussed earlier. Love can also serve as the basis for the rest of the virtues from the fruit of the Spirit. We are told by Jesus, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:35, NIV) This forms the basis for how a leader should view their role in a crisis. Love should be ever-present in their words and deeds and it should be love that moves them to serve others. Joy, the second Fruit mentioned, is a very important virtue for a leader during a crisis. Leaders are not supposed to be happy during a crisis, rather they are to be in a strong relationship with God no matter the conditions they face. The joy discussed here is what is described when we read, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” (Philippians 2: 1–2, NIV) This is the joy that leaders should aspire to have. Peace and patience are the next two virtues described and they are both very important for a Spiritual crisis leader. Leaders need to ensure there is

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peace among those in the organization because many times rifts can form among people during stressful times. Patience is vital during a crisis, but it is not the simple kind of patience we show when we are waiting in line or watching a child. Rather, this patience is the patience like Jesus showed while He was being persecuted and tortured. It is this type of patience that a leader needs to show during a crisis. Kindness is many times thought of simply being pleasant in our dealings with others, but the word means more here. Kindness as one of the Fruit of the Spirit means having integrity and doing good things for others. It involves being able to discern what is right but also being able to do the right thing even when it is difficult. Leaders may have their integrity challenged during a crisis when time-compression and other external pressures may encourage them to do something they know is wrong. This definition of kindness will guide them through these circumstances. Goodness, similar to kindness, is the ability to be generous with others but also to make the right decision even if it might not be the best for one individual. It might seem counterintuitive, but goodness can mean letting someone go or disciplining them if it is the right thing to do. Faithfulness should be obvious and easy to follow for Christians. This is straightforward faith in God. Not faith that the bad times will pass or that the relief effort will go well. No, this is the absolute faith in our Lord and Savior that we are under His control. Gentleness many times is defined as meekness but in the manner with which it is used in Galatians it means total submission to God’s will. A crisis leader may have an instinct to strike out at the Lord and ask Him why something bad happened to their organization, but they should have gentleness and show God that they are His servants and are not resisting what He has willed to be done. Similarly, a leader shows self-control when they are able to control their desire to resist the Lord or commit other sins (Barker 2008, p. 1820).

A Note on Transformational Leadership and Crisis Leadership Transformational leadership is a well-known style of leadership. In this style a leader works to move the daily work agreement with their followers away from one of a simple transaction or working for simply the pay they receive. By being transformational, the leader looks to inspire their employees to see their work as more important than that and that they are a vital part of the team. Moreover, a transformational leader encourages

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their followers to value more than just a simple transaction but instead to see the importance of what they are doing and what the organization is doing as a whole. Transformational leadership is a very valuable style which many leaders have had great success using. I would argue it is not particularly wellsuited or incorporated into a Christian way of leading. As Irving and Strauss (2019) put it transformational leadership is based on gaining followers supported by the organization’s mission and making sure they are “willing to undergo transformational change with organizational goals in view.” (p. 11) That is not to say that Christians cannot be transformational leaders, but rather that the intersections between the two are not as numerous as what we see with servant leadership. Additionally, I believe that when it comes to crisis leadership, servant leadership is the best, and possibly only, style to be used by the Spiritual Crisis Leader.

Biblical Examples of Servant Leaders We don’t have to look any further than Jesus for an example of a servant leader in the Bible. Researchers are slowly starting to explore the possibility that the Bible may be enough to explain the theory of servant leadership. There is a great deal of support for this when we consider the powerful example we have in Jesus and all that He did in His time on earth. Robert Greenleaf, in a book edited by Fraker and Spears (1996), provides support for Jesus as the example to be followed in his book Seeker and Servant. In the introduction to this book he wrote: As I read the record of the life of Jesus, I do not believe that his great leadership rested as much on his knowledge of the theological roots of his tradition as it did on his belief in the dependability of the inspiration that was available to him as he faced the crises of his ministry. (p. 5)

And later he wrote: The faith that makes one a leader is the belief that if one ventures into the unknown, in the situation that [sic] the guidance to chart one’s steps will be received. Faith in the heat of action is the quality that enables one, in the face of tension and stress, to remain calm and open to inspiration. (p. 5)

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While this is not a total endorsement of the Bible as the only resource needed to discuss servant leadership, it does lend some credence to the fact the Jesus used faith to lead during difficult times. When we look at the life of Jesus as told to us in scripture it is difficult to imagine that the concept of servant leadership did not come from His teachings. We read this very clearly in Philippians 2:5–8: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! (NIV)

Even though Jesus is God and He knows He is the leader and ruler of all, he takes the role of the servant because he knows this is best. Jesus shows himself to be a servant leader in the way he conducted himself daily and by the way he treated those closest to him that he was leading. Even when He knew death was near He washed the feet of the disciples as they prepared for the Last Supper. During the time of Jesus, the job of washing feet was never that of a leader. Rather it would be done by a slave or someone from the lower class. Jesus, as the ultimate servant leader, took it upon Himself to put the needs of his followers above His own even during this crisis that would lead to His death. There is no doubt that Jesus is the best model we have of a servant leader.

Ways to Be a Servant Leader So, what should a Spiritual crisis leader take from this discussion of the attributes of a servant leader? They should take away a better understanding of how being a servant leader will make them a much better crisis leader when the time comes. Additionally, they should take away that servant leadership’s main components can be found in scripture like most things in our world. By focusing on scripture, and especially the fruit of

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the Spirit, Spiritual crisis leaders will be able to model their behavior to meet the demands of a crisis. Moreover, by allowing the Spirit to be with them, they will have these fruit available to them while they lead their organizations. While I provided a very clear crisis action plan in Chapter 8, it should be noted that just following this plan is not enough. We must follow the teachings of Jesus and be a Spiritual crisis leader. The virtues and characteristics of servant leaders presented here will do a crisis leader well, but the key point is that we must have the Spirit of God in us as leaders so that the Fruit of the Spirit will be present as we face whatever crisis comes our way. I am confident that if a leader does this, they will be able to lead their group through anything.

Summary Servant leadership and the concepts presented in this book on how to best lead during a crisis are very complementary. While leaders should consider the leadership style or theory that works best for them, I advocate they take a long look at using servant leadership as their guide. There are a variety of lists from researchers of what qualities or characteristics describe a servant leader with most of them having a good deal of overlap with one another. When looking at how to best serve as a servant leader during a crisis I offer that the fruit of the Spirit provides a reliable list of qualities that an effective Spiritual crisis leader should have.

Key Takeaways 1. Servant leadership is likely the best leadership style for crisis leadership. 2. Servant leadership involves putting others before self and caring more about the success of the individual than the organization. 3. There are numerous models of servant leadership that present many common characteristics. 4. Love is the basis of Jesus’ teachings and should be the focus of servant leadership. 5. The fruit of the Spirit can be used as a model for servant leaders to follow during a crisis.

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References Barker, K. L. (Ed.). (2008). NIV study Bible (2008th ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Crowther, S. (2018). Biblical servant leadership: An exploration of leadership for the contemporary context. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-3-319-89569-7. Greenleaf, R. K. (1996). Seeker and servant: Reflections on religious leadership (A. T. Fraker & L. C. Spears Eds.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Irving, J. A., & Strauss, M. A. (2019). Leadership in Christian perspective: Biblical foundations and contemporary practices for servant leaders. Grand Rapid: Baker Academic. Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publishing. Patterson, K. A. (2003). Servant leadership: A theoretical model (Doctoral dissertation). Regent University. Roberts, G. E. (2016). Working with Christian servant leadership spiritual intelligence: The foundation of vocational success. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Sanders, J. O. (2007). Spiritual leadership: Principles of excellence for every believer. Chicago: Moody Publishers. Spears, L. C. (1998). Insights on leadership: Service, stewardship, spirit, and servant-leadership. New York: Wiley. van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Los Angeles: Sage. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310380462.

CHAPTER 12

Conclusion

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16–17, NIV)

Christians are Called to Lead John 3:16 is likely the most well-known scripture there is. It is understood by most to mean that if we believe in Jesus, we will have life beyond what we have on earth. The next verse supports this by reassuring us that Jesus did not come to make our lives more difficult but instead came to offer us salvation. It is this salvation that should give us comfort during a crisis, but it is the fact we are saved that should also inspire Christian leaders, even more, to lead during a crisis. Christians are called to lead by God, and they are called to be the calming influence for their organizations during a crisis. Christians and the Christian faith have been at the forefront of many achievements we have seen on earth since the time of Jesus. Christian leaders were largely responsible for the creation of hospitals and universities, as well as many of the scientific discoveries we know of today. Christianity also inspired many of the most well-known works of art and literature and it also encouraged the concepts of justice for all and liberty (Schmidt 2004). Christians © The Author(s) 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_12

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should understand and appreciate all of the good things that the faith has brought to the world, and they should not be afraid to allow their faith to influence their leadership. There are many stories in the Bible to guide Christians on how to lead the people in their organization. In many ways, Christians were made to lead and the Bible serves as the leadership textbook for them to follow.

Christians Are Equipped to Lead The main intent of this book was to provide leaders with the tools they need to lead before, during, and after a crisis. Hopefully, what was also demonstrated on the previous pages was that the Christian faith prepares us quite well to lead, especially during a crisis. The Bible provides leaders with examples and guidance on how to lead and it also provides encouragement and wisdom for how we can persevere through a crisis. I would argue that the Christian faith provides a significant advantage specifically when it comes to dealing with crises. In addition to examples and guidance, Christian leaders have prayer to help them lead during even the worst of times. Prayer is probably the best tool that Christianity provides the crisis leader. In recent years there has been an increased focus on spirituality and meditation in the workplace, but Christians have had the tool of Spirituality for years and should continue to use it.

Communication Is Key Communication is one of the most important things a crisis leader must concern themselves with. While actions are the ultimate measure of what leaders value, the way they communicate and the message they deliver will affect the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. Leaders should be mindful of the variety of stakeholders they need to communicate when determining the communication medium they plan to use to communicate their message during a crisis. Regardless of who they are communicating with or how they are doing so, Spiritual crisis leaders should do so clearly, with love and patience.

Steps to Take During a Crisis In Chapter 8 I presented a step by step process for leaders to follow during a crisis. The S.C.O.R.E. method is designed to provide a simple

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method for leaders to methodically step through a crisis without missing any vital steps. This method is designed so that the leader can get their organization involved in the recovery process by proposing solutions and implementing them once the best course of action is decided upon them.

Christian Leaders Should Lead like Christians Christians should view their vocations as fitting into a grander plan on earth. Christian leaders should see their role to help people through all of their experiences at work and home. Veith (2002) argued “The purpose of vocation is to love and serve one’s neighbor” (p. 39). Keller (2012) agreed, writing, “There may be no better way to love your neighbor, whether you are writing parking tickets, software, or books, than to simply do your work” (p. 76). Keller did add a caveat to this writing, “But only skillful, competent work will do.” Spiritual crisis leaders need to understand how their vocation fits into God’s larger plan, and they should work to encourage others to see how they can be passionate about their work. Hopefully, this book provided some good information for you to use as a crisis leader. My goal was to provide an overview of the secular literature available on crisis leadership, along with the biblical principles that should guide Christian leaders today. The overall intent of this book was to convince Christian leaders that they should use the principles found in the Bible to help them lead from a Christian perspective in order to more effectively lead their organizations during these critical times.

Key Takeaways 1. Crises can happen to everyone and to every organization. 2. Leaders can best prepare their organizations by developing a “crisis culture” where crisis planning is part of the strategic planning cycle. 3. Communication is a key part of crisis leadership. 4. In a crisis—lead like Jesus. We can use the principles of servant leadership to better lead during a crisis. 5. Christian crisis leaders should rely upon their faith to help them to lead their organizations before, during, and after a crisis.

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References Keller, T. (with Alsdorf, K. L.). (2012). Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God’s work. New York: Dutton. Schmidt, A. J. (2004). How Christianity changed the world. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Veith, G. E., Jr. (2002). God at work: Your Christian vocation in all of life. Wheaton: Crossway.

Index

A Awareness, 27, 51, 52, 69, 78, 107, 108 B Battle of the Bulge, 61 Bible, 2, 13–16, 26, 29–31, 35, 37, 40, 41, 53, 57–60, 62, 63, 65, 69–73, 75, 78–80, 92, 97–99, 101–103, 110–112, 114, 115, 120, 121 Biblical, 6, 13, 57, 59–63, 68, 70, 71, 92, 102, 110–112, 114, 121 Building community, 108, 109 C Civil War, 61 Communication, 6, 29, 31, 65–73, 78, 79, 91, 107, 108, 120, 121 Communication during a crisis, 6, 65, 67, 69, 71 Competitive advantage, 47, 87, 93

Conceptualization, 107, 108 Crisis definition, 9, 18 Crisis events, 2, 10, 11, 42, 58 Crisis leadership history, 18 Crisis leadership life cycle, 76 Crisis leadership vs. Crisis management, 16 Crisis life cycle, 76 Crisis management, 5, 7, 16–19, 27, 51, 76, 77 Culture change, 30, 89

E Egyptians, 13, 15, 37, 60 Empathy, 107, 108

F Foresight, 107, 109 Frankl, Viktor, 51 Fruit of the Spirit, 32, 111–113, 116

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2020 S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership, Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1

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INDEX

G George S. Patton, 61 Greenleaf, Robert K., 106, 111, 114 Grit, 40, 95, 96, 98, 99, 102, 103 H Healing, 107, 108 Hobby Lobby, 45, 46 Humility, 26, 80, 109, 110 J Jesus, 4, 15, 30, 49, 54, 57, 58, 60, 62, 63, 71, 72, 78, 81, 88, 92, 93, 97, 105, 106, 109–116, 119, 121 K Keller, Timothy, 49, 50, 100, 101, 121 L Leadership theory, 2, 6 Lessons learned, 90, 91 Lincoln, Abraham, 37, 61 Listening, 52, 81, 107, 108 Love, 1, 26, 31, 32, 49, 62, 71–73, 78, 97, 109–112, 116, 120, 121 M Military definition of crisis, 8 Miller, Darrow, 9, 62 Moses, 13–15, 37, 38, 60, 110, 111 N Natural disasters vs. man-made crisis, 12 New models of servant leadership, 109

New Testament, 13, 60, 92, 110–112 O Old Testament, 13, 110 Organizational Culture Theory, 24 Organizational grit, 99, 100, 102, 103 Organizational resilience, 40, 54, 102 P Personal adversities, 37, 38 Persuasion, 107, 108 Pew Researcher Center, 49 Planning, 9, 12, 16, 19, 27, 29, 67, 70, 75, 76, 79, 80, 89, 90, 93, 95, 121 Post-crisis communication, 70 Power of purpose, 88, 93 Pre-crisis communication, 67, 69 R Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 49 Report on spirituality, 49 Resilience, 6, 10, 32, 39, 40, 52, 54, 96, 102, 103 Revolutionary War, 86 S Sanders, J. Oswald, 47, 59, 87, 110 Secular worldview, 9 Servant leadership, 4, 5, 32, 50, 98, 105–112, 114–116, 121 S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Timerelated), 79, 80 Social media, 18, 67, 71, 79 Spiritual crisis leader, 2, 6, 24, 59, 67, 71, 81, 102, 108, 111, 112, 114–116, 120, 121 Spiritual crisis leader response model, 77

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Spirituality, 5, 29, 45–54, 63, 88, 89, 95, 103, 120 Stewardship, 107, 109, 110

V Valley Forge, 86 Virtues, 33, 50, 110–112, 116

T Time compression perception, 81 Transformational leadership, 4, 50, 113, 114

W Washington, George, 86 Wells Fargo, 11, 26 Workplace spirituality, 45, 49–52, 54 Worldview, 9, 10, 20, 50, 61–63 World War II, 52