Rotational Leadership During Crisis

 

My friend, Jamie McIntosh with Compassion Canada, recently posted an update about the value of sharing the load of leadership during times of crisis. I agree. During the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders can easily find themselves overloaded and weighed down by the burden of supporting staff and keeping their organizations viable. If you're an executive leader and you're feeling burned out, unable to sleep, and irritable all the time, it may be time to for you to rotate some leadership duties with your team.

This got me thinking about a clear example of rotational leadership from sports: the road cycling team. In cycling, there is a team captain who is clearly setting strategy on the road, but is rarely out front in the lead position. Instead, the captain is surrounded by teammates who help block the wind and create a better environment for the team captain to lead. In fact, cycling teammates regularly rotate the front position in order to "pull" the team as they draft behind the front rider, always keeping their team captain well protected. At times, a teammate may even sacrifice their own cycling equipment or position in order to help the team captain. This teammate is referred to as a "domestique" or servant. All of this team positioning leads to one thing - for the team captain to break away at just the right time and win sprints, climbs, and ultimately stages.

Tibco_Cycling_Team.jpg

As COVID-19 wears on and we enter what could be a protracted crisis with various phases, the cycling team model could be a helpful guide. Here are a few ideas of how a leadership team could support each other and rotate executive leadership:

  1. Allow vice presidents to rotate weekly leadership communications on behalf of the CEO.

  2. Diversify leadership voices to the public so it's not all on the CEO's shoulders

  3. Consider letting executive team members take an extra rest day after an intensive period of leadership.

  4. Consider shifting CEO individual efforts to being team-based projects

What other ideas come to mind? How could rotating leadership allow the entire team to survive and thrive in the midst of a crisis?

 
Russ DebenportComment