Dr. Cara argues that fast decisions feel like leadership but trap teams in crisis mode. Instead, she proposes a holding pattern: acknowledge shared anxiety, establish shared values and purpose, then solve problems once the team stabilizes. Connection beats reactive control.
The biggest myth in leadership is that a fast response equals a good response. That's how you get leaders who are always in crisis mode. They're always putting out fires, and they never find themselves actually leading. Once you master your own personal holding pattern, you can start using this method to help your entire team navigate emotional turbulence. Most team meetings during a crisis are emotional crash sites. Everyone is trying to land their anxiety immediately, creating more and more turbulence. Start crisis meetings with we're all in emotional turbulence right now. Let's establish our holding pattern. Before we try to solve anything, have your team identify what are their collective instruments. Shared values, Common purpose? The people or the individuals that you serve. Teams that can't hold pattern together will crash.
