Leaders of midsized businesses have a crucial role to play in leading their employees through the coronavirus crisis.

Employees in every business worldwide are hungry for leadership because they are scared and uncertain. Midsized businesses are often led by untrained leaders unschooled in crisis management techniques and who are likely scared themselves about this global health emergency. Yet leaders must stand up and do their job. On February 13 I wrote about preparing for supply chain problems. But the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has spread significantly since then.

Leaders of midsized businesses have a crucial role to play in leading their employees through this health crisis. They must do it ethically for the good of their people and they must do it to keep their businesses functioning as well as possible for the good of their customers, their mission and all stakeholders.

At times like this, our people look to the leader (or leadership team) to show that they understand the fear and concern of their followers. Being silent or passing on CDC information or delegating this to HR is not enough.

Leaders must lead.

Lead through this health crisis, then likely lead through the downturn that is likely to follow.

Leading doesn’t mean being autocratic. Leading doesn’t mean creating panic. Leading isn’t done by e-mail alone. It means:

1. Putting a voice to the feelings of your followers. Express their fear and concern. Empathize with it. It is through this expression proving you understand them that people will gain the confidence to follow you, trust you. Fears include personal health risk, risk of infecting their loved ones and at-risk friends, fears of shortages and fears of economic disruption of their lives.
2. Explain that your goal is to keep as many of your people healthy and able to live their lives as close to normal as is possible. Keeping the team healthy is the right thing to do and crucial for continuing to serve our customers. It is a delicate balancing act.
3. Encourage communication of any type. The more we all know, the better we will all be. If anyone has a connection to a COVID-19 case, we must be informed and we will make sure everyone knows. People who have a likelihood of being infected should quarantine themselves to minimize the risk to others.
4. Push hygiene. Hygiene is CRUCIAL now. Frequent handwashing and careful cleaning of surfaces is a top priority.
5. Leaders plan. Your leadership team should be meeting to create a set of plans now, as follows:
   1. Plan A: No known employee is infected. Emphasize hygiene. Think about travel policies. Think about keeping some people working from home (less likely to be infected—an insurance policy).
   2. Plan B: One or more employees is infected. People who have been close to them may be infected even before symptoms show from the person who became infected. What will your company do?
   3. Plan C: A significant number of your employees are infected. How will the business sustain? This is a harder question for those companies who cannot work from home (i.e. in isolation). I hope this never happens, but if it does, it would be much better to have a plan in place.
   4. All plans: Give special consideration to high-risk team members—“older adults” (I’ve heard over 70 multiple times and some say over 60) and anyone with severe underlying health conditions—they are your most vulnerable.
6. Involve the full leadership team in the planning so they have buy-in. Involve rank and file informal leaders early, sharing the plan to gain alignment. Listen to rank and file concerns and do your best to respond to them.
7. Share that you have plans and contingencies in place with all your employees. Show confidence. Share some of the details of the plan to ensure they believe you.
8. As this rolls on, leaders should regularly check in with team members, asking how they feel emotionally. People need to express themselves and creating an outlet to do it is good leadership. Of course, don’t overdo it! Constant talk about the coronavirus just exacerbates worrying, which is a useless waste of energy. Reduce worry by allowing an outlet for it, then encouraging everyone to refocus on something positive – work while at work, and the rest of life while at home.

Having HR being actively involved in this health crisis is important. Passing along CDC information is important. Standing up and being a leader is crucial.