The past few months have been frightening, heartbreaking, disruptive. It’s ironic this is the year 2020 – the same numbers used to describe perfect vision.

Someone told me recently he thought our society’s definition of ‘perfect’ was off, and we were all being called to adjust our focus and reconsider what's most important.

We’ve all experienced moments like this before -- moments when we’re pushed into the unknown and chaotic. Early in my career, I was hired into a leadership role at a company which, unbeknownst to me at the time of my hire, was experiencing an internal crisis. Shortly thereafter the dot com bubble burst, 9/11 took place, and the Great Recession hit.

These continual punches in their various forms of crisis and change influenced my career trajectory. I’ve since actively researched how to navigate crisis and successfully manage change, authoring books on the topics and guiding organizations through decline, disengagement, disruption, and conflict.

Based on what I’ve experienced and learned over the course of the past two decades, there are three practices leaders need to rely on in a crisis – practices which offer leaders and organizations a clear way forward, no matter what the situation.

Create community.

It’s scientifically proven; our brains are wired to resist change. Collaboration is the antidote and it’s most successful when it incorporates cognitive diversity -- actively engaging the participation of people representing different career stages, backgrounds, and experiences. Be it in the form of mentors, think tanks, advisory boards, or teams, collaboration eases our fears and spurs innovation. Collaboration helps manage change and create something valuable out of chaos.

• Immediate next steps: Bring a group of stakeholders together – people who are passionate about the organization and positively influence your community of members or employees. Collectively, determine the best course of action to best serve and engage the community. Collectively, implement the plan.

Narrow your focus.

Being hyper-focused on serving a niche, fulfilling a mission, inspiring a vision, and delivering exceptional performance is the only way to compete in a disrupted market. Pull in the best experts, build the best curriculum, develop the best tools, deliver the best experiences – all the while practicing collaboration and community-building by staying in conversation with your team and audience and being more responsive to their needs.

In the end, your members, clients, and employees are engaged, and your organization will be driven by something considerably more impactful than profits or traditions.

• Immediate next steps: Clearly identify your competitive advantage and commit to doing fewer things exceptionally well. With your team of stakeholders, identify what your community needs to succeed and what the organization does – or needs to do -- to effectively forge an emotional tie to your community of employees, members, and volunteers.

Communicate continuously.

During crisis, leaders feel vulnerable and many opt to keep quiet. And yet, in moments like this we look to our leaders for support and guidance. For my book, Talent Generation, I researched organizations with extremely high profitability and high employee engagement. In every instance, the leader was visible and communicative – not just in times of disruption, but all the time. Many of these organizations also empowered their communities to be part of the story-telling effort. As a result, widespread changes and grassroots momentum occurred, all which positively contributed to the organization’s culture, visibility, and branding.

• Immediate next steps: Authentically communicate with your community. Go to the people. Be visible. Engage your stakeholders, inviting them to communicate with your audience as well. Eventually their efforts will expand to a larger group of people, and your audience will begin to actively engage.

Now is the time to adjust your focus. Engage your community. Get clarity on purpose and communicate vision with the help of your community. Lead from a place of collaboration and your organization won't just survive this disruption -- it will emerge even stronger and more relevant than before.

This article was written by Sarah Sladek, for more information on Sarah Sladek click here.