I was talking with an executive about the dramatic changes going on in her organization. Everything is maxed out: expectations, pressure, stress, timelines. The whole nine.

In the midst of it, two leaders who experienced a serious professional rift a number of years ago are simultaneously thrust into the center of today's crisis. They are readjusting their roles, as they’re now required to always be on the same page publicly. They also have to have a keen sense of what the other one is thinking, saying, and doing.

Hearing this, I wondered aloud: will today's crisis heal the professional rift and reset the relationship?

via Shutterstock

I've experienced the impact of using a crisis to push forward with change. I've experienced the team-building and affiliating impacts of a group of professionals banding together to accomplish a major initiative. I hadn't put the two together to think about embracing a crisis situation to reset a professional relationship.

Which prompts me to wonder: when today's crisis emerges, what is the potential impact of reaching out to people that you aren’t as close to anymore? What are the potential benefits to involving them in facing a common, critical challenge? When you let a professional crisis go by without doing so, what is the missed opportunity?  – Mike Brown

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