Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five ninety four. Today's episode is called the
Speaker 2: seventy two hour crisis Recovery Roadmap because every leader will
Speaker 2: face a moment where something breaks. The system fails, a
Speaker 2: decision backfires, a headline hits, a key employee walks out,
Speaker 2: or a customer incident explodes. A crisis does not ask
Speaker 2: for permission, and it does not wait for your calendar
Speaker 2: to clear. What separates leaders who survive from leaders whose
Speaker 2: spiral is what they do in the first seventy two hours.
Speaker 2: This episode is not theory. This is a practical, real
Speaker 2: world roadmap for the first three days after impact. No
Speaker 2: corporate bs, no motivational noise. This is about stabilizing, leading
Speaker 2: and regaining control when everything feels loud and messy. So
Speaker 2: let's start with an important mindset shift. The first seventy
Speaker 2: two hours are not about fixing everything. They are about
Speaker 2: stopping the bleeding, protecting trust, and setting conditions for recovery.
Speaker 2: Leaders who rush to solve everything usually make it worse.
Speaker 2: Leaders who slow down enough to lead tend to come
Speaker 2: out stronger. And here's how the roadmap works. Hours zero
Speaker 2: to twenty four stabilize In signal leadership, the first day
Speaker 2: is about presence, clarity, and containment. Your job is not
Speaker 2: to have perfect answers. Your job is to be visible
Speaker 2: and grounded. The first move is to get accurate information,
Speaker 2: not rumors, not secondhand updates, not social media chatter. You
Speaker 2: need a clean picture of what actually happened, what is
Speaker 2: still unfolding in what is unknown. Unknowns are not weaknesses.
Speaker 2: Pretending you do not have them is next. Lock down communication,
Speaker 2: one voice, one message. If multiple leaders are freelancing explanations,
Speaker 2: trust erodes fast, decide who speaks internally and externally, and
Speaker 2: then stick to it. Then comes the hardest part for
Speaker 2: many leaders. Say what you know, say what you do
Speaker 2: not know, and say when the next update will come.
Speaker 2: Silence creates fear over explaining, create it's confusion. Clear and calm.
Speaker 2: Communication builds credibility even when the news is bad. Finally,
Speaker 2: protect your people. Crisis drains energy fast, pull your core
Speaker 2: team together, shorten meetings, remove non essential work and make
Speaker 2: it clear that priorities have shifted. This is not business
Speaker 2: as usual and pretending it is going to cost us later.
Speaker 2: Day one ends when the situation is stable enough that
Speaker 2: nothing new is actively deteriorating, not fixed. Stabilized ours twenty
Speaker 2: four to forty eight, Assess damage and reset direction. Day
Speaker 2: two is about assessment, not ego. This is where leaders
Speaker 2: either learn or defend. The wrong move is looking for
Speaker 2: someone to blame. The right move is looking for what
Speaker 2: broke in the system. Ask three ground questions. What decisions
Speaker 2: made this possible, what signals did we miss, What parts
Speaker 2: of our response helped, and what made it worse. This
Speaker 2: is also the time to listen more than you speak.
Speaker 2: Your frontline people usually know where the cracks are. They
Speaker 2: also know whether leadership is actually listening or simply waiting
Speaker 2: to talk. During this window, start defining what recovery looks like,
Speaker 2: not in a polished plan, but in a simple direction.
Speaker 2: What must be restored first, What cannot happen again? What
Speaker 2: trust needs to be rebuilt in with whom you should
Speaker 2: also be managing expectations. Recovery takes longer than the crisis itself.
Speaker 2: Leaders who promise fast fixes end up losing credibility. Leaders
Speaker 2: who set realistic timelines earn patients. Day two end with alignment.
Speaker 2: Your leadership team should be clear on priorities, messaging, and
Speaker 2: next steps. Confusion here will leak outward fast. Ours forty
Speaker 2: eight to seventy two. Act, learn and rebuild trust. Day
Speaker 2: three is where leadership becomes visible again. This is when
Speaker 2: you take action, not performative action, but meaningful steps that
Speaker 2: show learning has occurred. Fix the obvious gaps, adjust policies
Speaker 2: that failed, change processes that broke, retrain where needed, replace
Speaker 2: tools that no longer serve the team. This is also
Speaker 2: the moment to own mistakes publicly. When appropriate ownership builds
Speaker 2: trust faster than perfection ever will leaders who say this
Speaker 2: is on me and here's what we're going to do
Speaker 2: differently gain respect even in tough moments. You should also
Speaker 2: be checking morale. Crisis lingers emotionally ask how people are
Speaker 2: holding up, not in a survey, but in real conversations.
Speaker 2: Burnout often shows up after the adrenaline fades, and finally
Speaker 2: document the lessons while they are still fresh. Crisis is
Speaker 2: an expensive teacher. Do not waste the tuition. Capture what worked,
Speaker 2: what did not in what must change long term. By
Speaker 2: the end of seventy two hours, the crisis should no
Speaker 2: longer be running you. You should be running the recovery.
Speaker 2: And here's the leadership truth underneath all of this. People
Speaker 2: do not remember every detail of a crisis. They remember
Speaker 2: how leadership showed up. They remember whether you were calm
Speaker 2: or chaotic, honest or evasive or absent. Strong leaders do
Speaker 2: not eliminate a crisis altogether. They shorten the damage, protect trust,
Speaker 2: and turn disruption into discipline. If you're leading through something heavy,
Speaker 2: right now, take a breath. Focus on the next hour,
Speaker 2: not the next right move or the next right month.
Speaker 2: Leadership in crisis is not about heroics. It is about steadiness.
Speaker 2: So the seventy two hour window is where leadership reputations
Speaker 2: are made or damaged. Make sure you show up, speak clearly,
Speaker 2: listen hard, act with intention. Your team does not need perfection,
Speaker 2: they need leadership. They can stand behind and if you
Speaker 2: enjoy today's episode, Paul Falliblido dot com has a ton
Speaker 2: of free leadership resources you can download and start using today,
Speaker 2: and also check out my YouTube channel link in the
Speaker 2: description of the show and also on my website. This
Speaker 2: has been the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank
Speaker 2: you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fellow Alito podcasts, visit Paulfellowalito dot com