3 Ways to Build Resilience Before a Crisis Hits
One of leadership’s most overlooked disciplines is preparation before urgency. A short story of an Old Chinese farmer I once used with students still shapes how I think about resilient leadership. The story goes like this:
A Chinese farmer loses his horse.
Neighbors say, “Bad luck.”
The farmer replies, “Bad luck, good luck. Who knows?”The horse returns with wild horses.
“This is good luck!” they say.
“Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?” the farmer says.His son is injured taming one.
“That is bad luck.”
“Bad luck, good luck. Who knows?”War comes. The injured son is spared.
The story is about disciplined readiness amid uncertainty. The farmer remained steady in his work despite the positive and negative opinions around him. He continued to work and prepare so he was ready when the next issue came along.
In my consulting and coaching work, I find that resilient leaders share one distinct trait: they build structural capacity before circumstances demand it. They recognize that when a crisis hits, you do not rise to the occasion; you fall to the level of your preparation.
When assessing organizational health, I look for preparation in the following three critical areas.
1. Develop leaders before vacancies emerge.
The strongest organizations do not wait for a resignation letter to build a succession plan. They treat leadership pipelines as an ongoing operational discipline – through mentoring, coaching, and strategic delegation – so that transitions are seamless rather than chaotic.
The Consultant's Lens: We are currently partnering with an organization taking this exact proactive approach. Recognizing the risk of leadership gaps, they have engaged us to deliver monthly, targeted development to their high-potential internal leaders. By investing in their bench strength during a stable season, they are not just filling future org. charts, they are actively mitigating succession risk and ensuring long-term operational continuity.
2. Strengthen culture before conflict surfaces.
Conflict rarely creates a fractured culture; it merely reveals it. Cultivating trust, shared values, and transparent communication during stable seasons ensures that your team can withstand structural friction when pressure increases.
The Consultant’s Lens: My years as an assistant principal taught me that you cannot build a relationship during a crisis. By intentionally building relational equity with students, parents, and teachers during calm seasons, we established a baseline of trust. When high-stakes incidents inevitably arose, they were de-escalated within the context of that existing trust, allowing for swift recovery rather than organizational fallout. Whether you are leading a school or a corporate enterprise, culture is your ultimate shock absorber.
3. Clarify systems before growth exposes weaknesses.
Growth is a lagging indicator of success, but it is also a stress test. Systems that work for a small team may fracture under scale. Effective leaders ruthlessly evaluate decision-making, staffing, and operational workflows today so that tomorrow’s growth is sustainable rather than disruptive.
The Consultant's Lens: In our work with expanding businesses, nonprofits, and churches, we frequently see organizations try to scale using "hub-and-spoke" dynamics. When you are small, every decision goes directly through the founder, the lead pastor, or the executive director. It feels efficient. But when a church adds a second campus, a nonprofit launches a new initiative, or a business doubles its client roster, that leader instantly becomes a massive bottleneck. Without clear, decentralized decision-making systems and documented workflows, the organization’s growth stalls. This is not due to a lack of vision, but rather from operational gridlock. You must build a system that outgrows your personal capacity before the demand arrives.
Resilience is rarely built during a crisis. It is formed quietly through ordinary disciplines practiced long before the storm arrives.
What are you quietly preparing today that your future leadership will depend upon tomorrow?
Our team of trusted advisors can help you prepare your organization to face future challenges. Contact us to learn more.
Over the past 30 years, Pat Tannous has gained exceptional experience in leadership through roles in education, as the co-founder of a global nonprofit sports organization, and as a board member of his church. His expertise includes crisis management, organizational culture, and executive coaching. Pat is passionate about helping organizations and leadership teams thrive around their mission and core values. He holds a master’s degree in Secondary Education and a principal certification from Penn State University.
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