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The People Gardener Podcast with Rhonda Delaney
The People Gardener Podcast with Rhonda Delaney
Five Steps to Navigate Any Business Crisis Without Losing Your Mind
Leadership rarely reveals itself more clearly than during moments of unexpected crisis. That's the powerful lesson I witnessed unfold right outside my home when a truck driver's morning delivery went catastrophically wrong—his trailer jackknifed, blocking the entire road and destroying equipment in the process.
What struck me wasn't the accident itself, but the driver's remarkably composed response. Despite facing significant expense, embarrassment, and logistical challenges, he methodically worked through the situation with a calm determination that spoke volumes about effective crisis management.
This unexpected incident perfectly illustrates what separates exceptional leaders from merely adequate ones. When disaster strikes your business (and it will), do you have a system to guide your response? The five-step approach I outline here serves as your blueprint: First, pause and assess before making any moves—this shifts your brain from reactive panic to creative problem-solving. Second, verbalize exactly what you're facing; saying it aloud helps contain and define the challenge. Third, conduct a reality check by separating facts from emotions. Fourth, prioritize by executing one step at a time rather than becoming overwhelmed by the entire situation. Finally, control the narrative by communicating clearly with everyone affected.
The most critical element throughout any crisis is emotional regulation. Your team is watching closely, and your composed response builds confidence, strengthens trust, and demonstrates that mistakes aren't catastrophic. Save the deep analysis and emotion for after the immediate situation is resolved—when crisis hits, your business needs your best thinking, not your strongest feelings.
Ready to transform how you handle the inevitable challenges of business leadership? Develop your crisis response plan now, before you need it. Subscribe to my newsletter at rhondadelaney.com for more leadership insights, and download the Raving Fans Society app to continue growing as a people-focused leader.
Well, hey there. Welcome to the People Gardener podcast. I'm Rhonda Delaney, your host, also known as the People Gardener, thrilled to put this podcast together to help small business owners, new business owners, frustrated business owners and aspiring leaders, whether they're inside business or outside. Each week, we bring you some actionable steps so that you can actually improve your skill as a leader. That's what we're about. We're here to help you become a better leader by giving you access to lots of different perspectives. By giving you access to lots of different perspectives, the guests are varied. We're thrilled to have them. Get out your pen, get out your paper and be ready to learn Every single episode. You're going to be able to take something away that you can implement. Are you ready? Let's get to work. Well, hey there. Welcome back to the People Gardener podcast. Happy to have you here. I'm Rhonda Delaney, also known as the People Gardener.
Speaker 1:My topic completely changed for today. It's because of a situation that happened as I was working out this morning. So three days a week Monday, Wednesday, friday I'm out there in the garage where I have all the weights set up and that's where I do my workout, and now that the weather's improved, I have the garage door open. So I'm lifting my weights and I see this truck go by with a trailer that's filled with logs, big logs like the full length of the trailer, probably 10, 15 foot logs. Okay, that's no big deal on the road. But it wasn't long after the truck passed by our driveway that there was this horrific noise crash. It was just awful. So I stopped my workout, being the nosy Nelly that I am, and it was like, okay, good grief, what's happened? So I run in the house and go out on the patio where I could actually see, and here is this truck. It is across the road, facing back towards our house, and the trailer is in the ditch. Well, I'm not sure if it was actually in the ditch because there is one kind of driveway area.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, watching and he tries, you know, the backwards and the forwards, and that's not gonna work. His vehicle was probably at a what would I say degrees he, he, let's just say that he wasn't straight. He was considerably angled towards the trailer. So I watched for a bit and I thought, okay, well, I'm just going to go back in and get working. There's nothing I can do to help. So I get back in and I'm doing my workout and we're having all sorts of vehicles turn around in our driveway because they can't get through. He's totally blocking the road.
Speaker 1:And then a dump truck comes by. I'm going, huh, I wonder if that dump truck is going to be able to help him. So I stop again and I go out to the patio and I'm watching, and so the truck driver and the dump truck driver, they're having a conversation and they obviously came to some conclusion. The fellow got a strap out of the truck and so the dump truck moved forward and they connected and they started to pull and it just wasn't happening and it was kind of like, oh, and then another truck pulls up and I guess it's this guy's dad and he's got this big chain, and so they go and they work that thing. Anyway. I decided, okay, you've got to stop this, you need to get back and finish your workout.
Speaker 1:So just as I had finished my workout, the truck lim, limped, pulling, the trailer limped and I guess Trev had communicated with him and they brought the truck into our driveway. And what a wreck. The axle was blown, one of the wheels was totally flat and I just marveled at the countenance of this man that was driving the truck. He hadn't planned on this happening in his day. It definitely was not a good outcome. There's definitely going to be expense involved. The trailer was a wreck and who knows what happened to the chassis of his truck from the pulling from the dump truck. He was safe, he was fine, but I was just so impressed that he was able to separate his emotion from what had happened. The trailer had started to go from side to side on him and he could. There was nothing he could do and eventually it caused this whole catastrophe to happen.
Speaker 1:So the thinking about you as the small business owner do you have a strategy when disaster strikes? Do you have a methodology, a process that you work yourself through in order to remain present and not emotional in navigating that, in navigating that disaster crisis response and that could be something little or it could be something really big the trick is helping us plan in advance how we're going to respond, what are the steps that we need to take in order to work our way through so that we actually get to a resolution. So, as I was thinking about this and bear with me, I have not completely fleshed this out, but it was like no, I need to talk about that, because this happens in small business, right, it happens time and time again and our reaction, our response, is saying something to the people who we employ. Number one it's helping them to feel more confident. It's helping trust levels to go up. It helps them not be so worried about making a mistake, because you're reasoned in your response.
Speaker 1:So let's talk. The first thing is you just need to take a moment. You know the pause and assess, pause and assess. So for this guy, what happened is okay, he landed the way he did. He got out of his truck, watched him get out, he went and he looked at the trailer. He went and looked at the hitch where the trailer was, he looked at his vehicle and then he came to the conclusion okay, I can try and get myself out of this. And that's when he did the back and forth. The reason that taking the time to pause and and shift, it helps us get out of that reactionary and potential emotional landmine and it helps move you into a problem solving mindset. It's like, okay, so let's take stock here, let's see. And then the next step is verbalize, and really it's important to say it out loud. It helps your brain process things.
Speaker 1:What is the problem? What is the issue that I'm facing right here? When you're able to define, it helps bring you down and it makes it so that you're less likely to be overwhelmed by whatever the situation is Like for this guy. I've totally ruined this trailer. My truck is never going to be the same. I'm blocking this road. Nobody's going to be able to get to work, or if the fire truck came or a sheriff's department vehicle came, they wouldn't be able to get through, like all of this stuff going through his head. No, the problem is the trailer and the truck are connected, but they are at odds with each each other and I don't think I'm going to be able to get out. I am going to need help getting out to be able to move this truck anywhere.
Speaker 1:So then we can do a reality check. This is the facts over feelings, keeping the emotion in check. So what happened? So for this guy, it was very clear to him that the trailer had started to sway back to side. I'm sure you have all been on the highway, especially in the summertime, right? People are traveling with their boats or their travel trailers, and ahead of you you're seeing this trailer swaying from side to side, just waiting for it to get enough momentum that it takes control of the vehicle and things flip. They do all sorts of things. Same thing with a boat. Well, that's what happened to this guy.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's what happened. What is the immediate impact? Who's affected and what is affected? Okay, my truck's affected and the trailer is affected. I am not going to be able to get this trailer out of the ditch on my own, under my own steam. Okay, what are the resources that we have to address it? Okay, what are the resources that we have to address it? Who do I know? Who can I call? Where can I find help? What have I done before? Have I had similar circumstances? So you start to take stock and again that brings the whole emotional part of things down and it gets you thinking logically in your problem solving mode.
Speaker 1:So, one step at a time is the fourth one Prioritize. Okay, what is my next one step? Talking to this fellow, I knew his next one step was to get somebody to be able to pull him. Dump truck happened by great. Then his next one step I've got to get the truck and trailer off this road. I can't impede traffic that got fixed by Trev, telling him to come into the driveway. He comes into the driveway. Now what's my next one step? And it was to call his friend who had a little skid steer, who brought it down and they transferred the logs onto another trailer that he went home and got. So, one step, one step, one step, and when you stay focused on that on your path, it keeps the emotions down.
Speaker 1:Control the narrative is number five. In this particular scenario, he didn't really need to inform anyone. He was the owner of the truck, he was the guy that was driving it when it all happened. But for you in your small business, it is getting information and facts out to people, the people that need to know, because their job might be affected, your customer might be affected, your production team might be affected, and you want to outline here's what happens, here's what we understand our next steps are going to be. This is the plan and this is when we believe we will have it fixed, that we will be able to move on it, that, whatever your time frame is, you want to make sure that you get all of that information out to anyone that would be affected by whatever this crisis or whatever this disaster is.
Speaker 1:Number one is keeping your emotions in check. There's lots of time after it's solved to go in and do a deep dive and determine exactly where things broke down. Deep dive and determine exactly where things broke down, why it happened, how it happened and what processes and procedures you can put in place to mitigate it happening again. But when you're in an emotional state, you can say stupid stuff. You could do stupid stuff. You could do stupid stuff because when you're agitated and your emotions are running amok, your brain is not processing and firing on all cylinders. You need it to be doing that in order to come up with a solution for whatever the crisis or disaster might have been.
Speaker 1:Anyway, my thoughts from today. I tell you I was just so impressed with how systematically this man responded to his morning exploding you know he certainly hadn't planned on this happening and very cheerful, very acknowledging hey, this is the reality, it is what it is. And now you know these are my next steps that I'm going to take. Have a plan for yourself in place. Take these five steps where you pause and assess, you label it and contain it. You have, you know, the facts over feelings.
Speaker 1:What are the three questions? Execute one step at a time and then control the narrative, make sure everyone's clear on what's happening. So that's it for this week. We'll talk to you again next week. Well, thanks for joining me today. Just a quick reminder if you are not on my email list, go to my website, rhondadelaneycom, and there's a place there that you can subscribe to keep you up to date on all things people, gardening and leadership. And also a reminder that the Raving Fans Society app is available on the Apple Store and the Google Store. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you again next week.