L7: Turnaround Situations & Crisis Leadership

Situation

Organizations facing existential threats require leaders who can maintain clarity and decisiveness while others panic. Current leadership may have been effective during stable times but now freezes under pressure, creating a dangerous leadership vacuum precisely when decisive action is most critical.

Symptoms

Crisis Leadership Failures:

• Decision paralysis: Critical choices delayed or avoided due to fear of making wrong moves
• Pressure-induced derailers: Previously effective leaders becoming micromanagers, autocrats, or withdrawing entirely
• Emotional contagion: Leadership anxiety spreading throughout the organization, amplifying crisis impact
• Analysis paralysis: Over-researching decisions when speed is essential for survival
• Blame and finger-pointing: Energy focused on fault-finding rather than solution-building

Organizational Consequences:

• Customer confidence erodes as inconsistent messages emerge from leadership
• Employee morale collapses as teams lose faith in leadership's ability to navigate the crisis
• Strategic opportunities missed due to slow decision-making during critical windows
• Cash flow and operational efficiency suffer from leadership indecision
• Market position deteriorates as competitors capitalize on the organization's paralysis

Challenge

Primary Goal: Identify and deploy leaders who can maintain peak performance under extreme pressure while inspiring confidence and driving decisive action during organizational crisis.

Why it matters: Crisis situations amplify leadership strengths and weaknesses by 10x – behaviors that work under normal conditions often become liabilities under pressure. Organizations with crisis-capable leadership are 6x more likely to emerge stronger from major setbacks.

Key Questions to Answer:

• Who maintains clear thinking and sound judgment under extreme pressure?
• Which leaders inspire confidence rather than spread anxiety during uncertainty?
• How do different leaders' decision-making capabilities change under stress?
• What resilience factors enable sustained performance during extended crisis periods?

Solution Approach

Deploy crisis-specific leadership diagnostics that reveal performance under pressure:

Phase 1: Pressure Performance Assessment

• Stress response and derailment profiling - Identify how leadership behaviors change under extreme pressure
• Cognitive performance under load - Measure decision-making quality when facing multiple urgent priorities
• Emotional regulation and resilience analysis - Evaluate ability to maintain composure and inspire confidence

Phase 2: Crisis Leadership Capability

• Rapid decision-making assessment - Test ability to make quality decisions with incomplete information
• Communication and influence under pressure - Measure capacity to maintain stakeholder confidence during uncertainty
• Change acceleration and momentum-building - Evaluate skills in driving swift organizational adaptation

Expected Outcomes

• Immediate (0-1 month): Clear identification of crisis-capable leaders and rapid deployment
• Medium-term (1-3 months): Improved decision-making speed and organizational confidence
• Long-term (3+ months): Successful crisis navigation and strengthened leadership bench for future challenges

Available only in the PEATS Guide: in-depth comparisons of the most relevant online assessments for this case — including pricing, strengths and weaknesses, scientific quality, and detailed insights into the 8 closest-fit online assessments:

L7. Turnaround Situations & Crisis Leadership

• Hogan HDS → derailers in crisis.
• Hogan HPI → resilience profile.
• Hogan MVPI → values under stress.
• Talogy PAPI → leadership style in teams.
• Talogy Factors → drivers under pressure.
• Talogy Logics → cognitive ability in crisis.
• Thomas HPTI → traits in crisis leadership.
• Thomas GIA → cognitive processing in crisis.