At different points in my career, I have been in what one might call “crisis mode.” We’re in one of those times right now as the world tackles the COVID-19 virus. Going through it this time, I am reminded of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Develop the relationships you need to be successful before you’re in crisis. I’m going to take it for granted that we all know no person is an island, i.e. we need others. And, the time to think about who/what you need is before the need arises. This may sound crass, but consider building relationships to be like insurance — invest in them now so that you have them when you need them later — but do it genuinely. This includes relationships not only at work but also at home (think: potential babysitters, folks who can run errands, etc.).
Get organized with your approach to reduce the uncertainty you can control. One of the first things I do is to create a tracking document (excel is my preference) to capture all of the questions, resources, and communications we have or need to have. At the beginning, there are more questions than answers, and everyone is trying desperately to get up to speed. If you can capture those in one place now, you’ll have resources in one spot to get new team members up to speed and will have issues cataloged for triage and prioritization.
Establish a nimble strike team with clear decision roles. In these times, most people want to be involved and helpful, but it’s difficult to make decisions with 20 people in the room. Identify who the key people are, based on content expertise, ability to work in a fast-paced, intense environment, and/or other factors that may be relevant to your organization (think of potential sources of political capital — do you need someone of a particular rank or from a given team?). Start small. Get buy-in from your leader. Be willing to add more people as you learn more. Oh - and those people who want to help? Make sure you give yourself time and space to know how best to utilize them, because you can’t do everything, either.
Remember to call on the experts. You may decide that having certain experts on your strike team isn’t the best option. That doesn’t mean that you can’t call on experts to add credibility and support to the decisions you need to make. That could be a subject matter expert or even an organization that is leading out on community-wide recommendations. They are great folks to give feedback on the plan the strike team pulls together.
Take care of yourself. This is true all the time, but especially during a crisis, you may be carrying more stress than you know. Now more than ever is the time to be mindful of your health. For me, this means a morning meditation, choosing to hold off on that glass of wine, staying hydrated, and getting rest. It also means setting some boundaries to make time for self care to occur (delegating tasks at work or getting extra help at home — see tip #1 above).

I hope these tips help you navigate uncertain waters.
Time to get back to my project tracker and strike team to check in. But, before I do - a bonus tip: treat this as a learning opportunity. It may seem fast, hectic, and stressful, but these are often times of tremendous growth. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say.