Do you have the leaders in place for this crisis? Many organisations are realising that they do not.

The capability-chemistry-character criteria provide a helpful framework for assessment of leaders. These three categories raise crucial questions in the current crisis:

• Character: Does your Chair/CEO/COO/FD have the emotional resilience, self-awareness, integrity, strength of resolve, humility and compassion to lead right now? Is she able to build trust, hope and stability during turbulent times?
• Capability: The skills required for excellent leadership may not have dramatically changed, but they come into sharper focus during a crisis. Some leaders who might have got by during the good times are now finding themselves out of their depth.
• Chemistry: During the good times, the chemistry fit was important; during a time of crisis, it’s essential. Under pressure, cracks in relationships easily emerge and are made all the worse given the lack of face-to-face contact.

If your organisation did not have quite the right leadership before the covid-19 crisis, perhaps the cracks could be papered over, but now that is just not possible. This may be the time to invest in finding new people at the top level.