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In this episode of Leadership in a crisis, Chris Hardwick says, “leaders have to lead, there is no time for panic. If you panic” Hardwick warns, “you won’t survive.” He acknowledges it is not easy to remain calm when the world is cascading down around you and your business. However, he says, “you need to have a forward looking perspective. That means if you want to have a business when this health care crisis ends, you’re going to need your team. Without them, you don’t have a business.”

A typical reaction he says is, “to lay people off and cut expenses, hunker down and hope you have enough money to turn the lights on when the crisis has passed.  In some situations, business owners have no choice but to lay people off”. However, Hardwick suggests where possible keep your team together. He says, “you can use this time to realign your business, clear out inefficiencies and complete employee training, have team members share jobs to reduce costs, do whatever you can to maintain the team.”

According to Hardwick, keeping your team together means that when the crisis passes your company will be hardened, committed and ahead of the curve on your competitors who laid off their teams. It’s a philosophy based on a concept Dr Gustavo Groditzky calls social capitalism which relies on the social need to belong, to connect and that in turn drives behaviour rather than just the pursuit of financial exchange. In other words, you and the team are working together for the same purposes.