I went to a concert on Friday night and all I’ve been thinking about since is crisis leadership and communication. It was an up-and-coming folk band I've been listening to on repeat. During the show, two of the four band members started playing and it was wonderful… But I kept waiting for the other two to come out. They never did, and the musicians on stage never acknowledged their absence. Unfortunately, I see this impulse in leadership, too, both in myself and my coaching clients. Just like these musicians who played edited versions of their songs without their missing bandmates as if nothing was up, leaders will do the same when facing team departures, budget shortfalls, distressing news headlines, or other challenges. We don't want to acknowledge that anything's wrong perhaps because we don't have all the answers yet, or we can't share them, or we're afraid of how people will respond. But the impulse to carry on as if “there’s nothing to see here, folks,” can undermine your credibility and performance more than the challenge itself, whatever it may be. Your people are smart - they know when something is up -- In this case, even people who had never heard of this band before were wondering how this unpolished acoustic duo managed to open for a big name touring musician -- Your team will probably know you’re facing budget pressure, even if you don’t tell them In many situations, people are rooting for you to succeed - or they would if you let them -- If this group had said “we’re normally a 4-person band and we’re down 2 people due to an unforeseen emergency, we appreciate you pumping us up while we do our best to give you a taste of what we do” - the whole audience would have been with them -- Instead, the audience was confused and unimpressed It’s better to acknowledge the challenge head on, even with incomplete information, rather than letting people fill in the blanks on their own ➡️ In what part of your work are you holding back acknowledging a challenge because it’s uncomfortable? ➡️ What would it look like to acknowledge the challenge for your team? ➡️ How might you respond if they’re not happy with what you’re sharing? #leadershipcommunication #leadership

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