My community is in crisis. What should I do?

Sadly, nearly every community or project will experience a crisis. It might be financial trouble, an ethical violation, a sudden departure, or an external issue that shifts what’s possible for your work. How you navigate a crisis can make or break your project and it can be powerfully important for your leadership afterward, too. 

Egyptian television preacher Amr Khaled had grown a loyal following over decades of leadership. But in the aftermath and confusion of the revolution, he made a decision he still regrets–making a questionable commercial for a chicken brand. It took years to rebuild his reputation. 

Though stressful, moments of crisis can ultimately refine your vision, strengthen your values, and grow your compassion. When things get hard, you’ll rely on deeper grounding, clearer boundaries, and a commitment to growth over perfection. If you can meet the hard moments with honesty, care, and courage, what you’re building has the chance not just to survive—but to mature into something truly lasting and life-giving.

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Grounding resources

• Bayo Akomolafe’s essay The Times Are Urgent, Let’s Slow Down is a reminder that in moments of crisis, slowing down and listening more deeply can open up surprising new pathways forward.
• In this talk from Margaret Wheatley, she offers wisdom for leading with courage and steadiness when fear or despair threatens to overwhelm.
• To remind yourself of the developmental stages of team formation, read Norming, Forming, Storming, Performing.
• When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön is a compassionate guide for finding resilience, wisdom, and even beauty in times of breakdown, helping leaders face difficulty with honesty and grace.

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Leadership tools

• Nonviolent Communication is Marshall Rosenberg’s classic guide to cultivating empathy, clarity, and mutual understanding in the midst of disagreement or tension.
• Sustained Dialogue Institute is a global network offering tools and approaches for transforming conflict into constructive dialogue that builds trust and relationships.
• Similarly, the Conflict Resolution Network is a hub with free tools and training to help communities approach conflict with skill, creativity, and hope.
• Otto Scharmer’s short talk introduces four modes of listening, from downloading and factual to empathic and generative.
• Kazu Haga’s Fierce Vulnerability and Nonviolence explores how courageous vulnerability can disarm conflict and create authentic connection.
• Sarah Schulman’s Conflict Is Not Abuse argues that mislabeling conflict as abuse can escalate harm, and invites healthier ways of engaging difference.
• The Art of Hosting is a global community of practice focused on participatory leadership and conversation design, equipping leaders to hold spaces of complexity and conflict.
• The Six Conversations from Peter Block is a set of frameworks that help people move from defensiveness and separation into deeper connection through simple, humanizing conversations.