Lessons from Leading Flybe during a Crisis

What would be the major lessons you would give to young leaders, in communicating to your team, during a crisis?

Don’t be afraid to really communicate about what your strong beliefs are. Don’t be afraid to give inspirational speeches to your team, about why you think it’s possible, with honesty and maybe a lot of personal input on what you are doing and why you are doing it. You need to keep a very consistent vision or purpose, all through the crisis. But I think the honesty and the trust you can create will be how you communicate as a person. As a true person. That’s something that, from time to time, they forget to do. I’m not saying I did it perfectly, throughout the crisis. But the impact you have on people is by them convinced that you are truly trying to make it happen.

It’s about trust; it’s about honesty; it’s about transparency. It’s about relentlessly communicating, not only by emails. It’s about meeting people in the corridors, on the tarmac, in the hangar and stopping and having small talks and shaking hands. It’s also important for leaders to realize that mental health is not only mental health during a crisis, for you or your team. It’s about the mental health of the organization. Every single little thing that you do, to show that you care, becomes more and more important during a crisis. People have personal challenges. They could be insecure at home and you don’t know that. Being closer to your employees during a crisis will also make them more resilient if they are maybe not as strong as they would like to be.

Some people, from time to time, just have a breakdown, because they overestimate how strong they are. We had a breakdown in our organization. People completely burnt out by the crisis, etc. When people don’t to go home, you have to send them home. It’s okay; we need you more in one month, because you cannot do that anymore. You are too exhausted and you have to just stay home for a while.

So mental health of your team, your employees and the HR is playing a critical role in making sure you are aware of what is going on.