Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu
Dr Fannie Wu is a Lecturer in the Department of Management at Deakin University. Fannie’s research interests include leadership, emotions, and social capital.
Location Deakin University, Burwood, Austalia
Activity
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Timothy Zulu
Welcome Tim to the course. Hope you will have many take home learning.
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Great suggestion, Rose. We will consider your suggestion and perhaps provide learners with a crisis response template for practicing the draft of a crisis communication statement (which I believe organisational leaders will find it helpful too!).
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Indeed although some suggest that trustworthiness is a personal trait, but others believe that leaders can also build trust with followers and external stakeholders through daily actions. What type of behaviors and leadership can increase people's trust not just to the leader but to the organisation becomes a paramount challenge in times of crisis when fear...
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I like your point about the role of Obama's communication in empowering his people. Across various examples of leaders shared in this course, charismatic communication style demonstrated by leaders is often highlighted and emphasized in the political context. The Starbucks example concerns an explicit wrongdoing. The context of crisis often has some roles to...
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Indeed leaders should not only feel but also exhibit optimism in times of crises when stakeholders experience negative emotions like fear and lost hope due to the damages incurred!
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Your responses in (3) and (4) have highlighted the importance of institutions external to an organization in coordinating the crisis responses with companies, especially when the crises are external by nature, in which organisations have little control. In private organisations, it can be challenging for leaders to coordinate food supplies and medical...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to hafsat afuye
This can be a crisis especially when multiple employees who withhold a significant portion of the social capital in their organisation leave their firm. This relates to one key characteristic of crisis as being "significant".
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Yes, crisis communication is challenging not only because it requires leaders to speak to their organisational stakeholders on a timely and decisive basis but also maintain communication and uphold stakeholders' confidence even though they themselves lack information and certainties.
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Indeed, based on Coombs and Hollaway's (2008) research which informed the development of this course's content, apology has been regarded as one key aspect of crisis communication, in addition to other response options (e.g., compensation, showing sympathy, disseminating information only). A good example here. Thanks for sharing.
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Hi Robert, at the end of each weekly module, we have several multiple choice questions for learners to review and apply what they learn. Were you referring to those quizes?
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Indeed, that's one aspect of opportunities brought by crises. I enjoy seeing the comment posts from learners for each other. Hope you will learn and gain much out of this course!
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Interesting to hear that some organizations have multiple crisis management plans. Or would it be more appropriate to see it as an overall crisis management plans that prepare the company for different types of crisis? Any commonalities or differences for those plans?
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Great additives. With so many qualities discussed in articles and available resources, I believe we can think deeper about whether some qualities are more/ less important to leaders at specific levels in the organisations.
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It appears that thinking ahead and taking precautionary measures in a decisive way is great additive to the list of qualities mentioned in the TED video. Good example shared.
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A good example of a crisis that occurs beyond a company's control and relates to factors in the external environment.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Interesting and some representative examples of crises that are internal vs. external to corporations. Some of you also commonly mentioned the term "negative", which acknowledged crises as being unfavorable to leaders and organisational stakeholders. Before proceedint to the next step, it can be useful to think about how the characteristics of these examples...
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The resources and knowledge can certainly be applied to different and future crises. Good to hear that what you went through in this course helps you think of some precautionary actions even though there is no current crisis. You are welcome to refer more colleagues and friends to this course.
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Great point and suggestion. When we review cases and examples of company leaders in handling their corporate or external crisis, we often read what has been reported by social media. We will consider the possibility of introducing the role of relationship building with not just internal employees, investors and customers during crisis but also with media and...
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Good to hear. Hope you also found the experiences, examples, and insights shared by other learners helpful for dealing with the crises you encountered.
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Many good points raised here. A few of you mentioned the importance of sparing time on self-reflection as a means to not be forgetful. Part of the goals of crisis planning and management involve clearly outlining the steps and tasks that leaders and followers may follow through when there is outbreak of crisis. Summarising your ideas and sharing, there are a...
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Yes, and it is important for organisations and leaders to test out their crisis management plan. This requires time and mobilisation of employees' effort and resources too.
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Good to know. Indeed leadership doesn't just occur and be important in workplace settings but in every part of our life. Glad to hear that you find the course beneficial.
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Good point about information gathering for developing a sound crisis management plan and team. It can be sometimes challenging to choose representatives from various departments to form the team. Usually organisations don't seem to have a clear guidelines or criteria in mind in identifying suitable personnel.
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Indeed more frequent communication within the crisis planning and management team is essential in not only the in-crisis but also pre- and post-crisis stages.
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This idea is similar to scapegoating in times of crisis where people from minority groups may be in a glass cliff position. It is easier for them to rise as leaders (such as being the leaders in the crisis planning and management team) but when things go wrong they are also expected to be the one to take accountability.
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That sounds like a common risk and event reported in corporations. I think there also involves an ethical dilemma here. One needs to consider the stakeholders' interests by informing them of this data leakage but doing so may harm the reputation of organizations. In times of crisis however, it is important to be proactive and do the right thing.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Welcome everyone! The advantage of this MOOC is that it offers you all the flexibility to go through the content based on your schedule. You don't need to feel compelled to follow the course weekly schedule strictly. Many of you mentioned the importance of getting involved and engaging with other learners. We will have many opportunities to not only comment on...
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In times of crisis, most people tend to focus on the immediate threats caused to their own interests and resources. I think one important role of leaders to help shift people's perspectives to see the bigger picture and consider the broad list of influences caused to others as you pointed out here.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Great to see many interesting thoughts and ideas here! You are right that it is often challenging to make planning for something that is unpredictable and dynamic like crises.
Recently, there are interesting perspectives shared on the Web. Some suggest that we are constantly living with crises now and question the goals of crisis planning and response...
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Great example there. Jacinta's messages and communication style seem to vary depending on the stages of crisis! As you rightfully pointed out, her messages show more empathy when she tried to comfort and restore confidence of people who need her but became decisive when she needed to implement policy changes to confront the change of the crisis situation.
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Indeed, to handle a crisis that affects individuals and organisations at a global level like the pandemic requires concerted effort from many parties, not just those who are directly hit by the crisis but also representatives from industries and government units. Good point about the role of communication. This is something useful across various phases of a...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Hope you all have enjoyed the content in Week 2. I really enjoy reading your posts and reflections. Some of you even attempt connecting the relationships between the various traits we covered in this unit and consider how other personality traits (introvert-extrovert, personal values, authenticity) are related to charisma, empathy, and decisiveness. The three...
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Great point and sharing. The article mentioned the role of mass media in shaping leaders' charisma which is interesting. I think social media, and the PR team in companies nowadays play an important role in influencing how their leaders are perceived by the public and stakeholders. Even some leaders lack the skills or sufficient training to communicate and act...
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Interesting perspective and example, @SaiKhamSheng. Can you elaborate on your point and example? How do leaders in Myanmar misuse their charisma - do they use it for evil purposes or do they lack the skills required to display charisma?
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Many interesting points here. From what you all share, I see that people may identify with the qualities and outstanding characteristics of an effective leaders that are manifested in not just their speech but also how they act in both public and in private, the symbolism associated with their family and socioeconomic background, and the vision they advocate...
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Hi everyone, welcome to Week 2 of the crisis leadership course!
In this week, we will learn about several leader attributes that have been found to predict effective leadership in times of crisis based on scientific findings in the literature. We begin this week's learning with a speech delivered by the former U.S. president Barack Obama. Thank you all for...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Great to see all of you mentioning all the qualities relevant to crisis leadership - empathy, being decisive, thinking ahead and identifying pitfalls on a timely basis, and charisma. Fortunately all these qualities can be improved by acquiring the right skills and knowledge. Even charisma can be improved and demonstrated through the choice of words and...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
You all pointed out the same important point - leaders and organizations should both evaluate past events that may influence the organizations and their members and predict future incidents that are yet to happen. These strategies are particularly relevant and crucial to the pre-crisis stage.
In the process of gathering data to evaluate past events and...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Sparrow Katekar
I think those crisis examples you mentioned out of corporate context differ from those experienced by companies in that they influence either larger or more specific groups of people. Housing crisis may influence many citizens in a city; domestic violence is relevant to the well-being and harmony of the community.
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A great example of crisis induced by external environmental change, Johannes. "Corporate crises" usually describe events that are responsible by employees or leaders/ organizations. Your example is similar to other crises that org has little control, such as earthquake and pandemic.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Ashlee Bagby
Thanks Ashlee for sharing. The example you share involves a specific individual's injury. Based on prior news and acadeimc research, some crisis events caused by individuals in organizations may cover scandals committed by executives, employee suicide, or significant human error caused in specific employee. It may be worthwhile to think about how your example...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Excellent! Thank you all for sharing the interesting insights and the strategies your organizations have adopted before. Based on your inputs, it seems that crisis strategies implemented by organizations can generally be categorised as (1) reactive (e.g., communication) vs. proactive (e.g., training), and (2) preventive vs. curative.
In addition to...
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The advantage of our MOOC on this FutureLearn platform is that it allows learners to engage in self-paced learning based on their schedule and time zone. Our educator team will continuously monitor posts throughout the facilitation period. In fact, in most cases, our students find it more useful to read about each other's posts and exchange views with others....
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Can't agree with you more. Crisis can happen across different contexts - not only in our firm but also community groups we are involved, our family, nation, etc. And this course and learnings can be used to reflect on and apply to leaders at different levels. Having learners from different backgrounds help us gather diverse perspectives!
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Welcome everyone to this MOOC! In the following three weeks, we will be exploring some core concepts, cases and examples, and engaging in some learning activities to understand what crisis leadership means and how to lead in crisis times more effectively. I am sure that the diverse background and experiences you all share will be valuable for idea exchange and...
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Welcome Yohana. Hope you will find the learning in this course useful for your interest and professional development.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Thanks all for the great insights! Relevant scientific evidence and review suggest that charisma is not only embodied in leaders' speech as a verbal cue but can also be inferred and communicated to observers through other non-verbal signals, such as their physical appearance (e.g., height, shape of eyebrows, facial structure, body posture), text, and the...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Great to see that most of you identifying majority if not all of the five communication tactics in the examples of leader communication. There are varied frameworks suggested by scholars and practitioners for understanding how leaders can better communicate with their followers, stakeholders, and the public during times of crisis.
In addition to the above...
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Welcome to Week 3, everyone! In this week, we will explore the major tasks focused by leaders across various stages of a crisis. It is important to note that crisis often occurs as a process, as opposed to a one-off event.
Given the demands and priorities of leaders can change throughout a crisis, we introduce 3 major tasks to be focused by leaders here:...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
We have reached the end of Week 2. Thanks all for sharing many great reflections and perspectives based on your work and personal experiences!
There are many articles out there discussing a variety of leader qualities (e.g., empowerment, cooperation, building resiliency, role modeling positive behavior) - see some more useful articles for your interest...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to L P
Great thoughts for foreshadowing what we will be covering in the following week's content. Planning, communication, and learning may serve different functions during a crisis but can contribute to various goals across different stages of a crisis. Look forward to more reflection and sharing from you all in Week 3.
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Thanks for sharing your responses and experiences to the two key questions here. Indeed, the decision to shut down businesses during the pandemic is difficulty and involve balancing interests of different organizational stakeholders - it may be useful to reflect on the benefits vs. costs of closing the organizations. Another point related to the second...
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Related to the point about drawing on media release or public press for making decision, many people criticised the media for publishing biased (or a more radical word "fake news") during the covid-19 pandemic. So extending your perspective, it suggests that leaders should not only act decisively but also rationally, fairly, and unbiasedly during times of...
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All fair points - from your sharing, I can see that communicating and acting decisively involve not just speed, not also consistency in one's confidence (not swinging back and forth in decisions made), and having evidence to back for one's decision or judgment.
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This seems to apply to normal/ good times too. Is or why is demonstrating leaders' concern for employee dignity and respect particularly important in times of crises?
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Thanks for sharing your feedback to the video and example, @LP ! Do you have any suggestions on how Mia can demonstrate a deeper sense of caring? This is quite interesting as I think in the previous steps many learners emphasize the behavioral component of empathy - it is important for leaders to not just listen but act on employees' needs. In this...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Based on you all's sharing, it becomes apparent that empathy is a quality that consists of both an emotional and behavioral component - as many of you rightfully pointed out, an empathetic leader should not only receive and process inputs from stakeholders but also act on them in order to show that they recognize the needs of others. One challenge in times of...
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Thanks for sharing the two leader examples in the educational leaders, @LaReLaw. Do you think the role of empathy can vary across sectors? In the example illustrated in this step, the leaders are in the political sector. You mentioned empathy can help gain support from the communities and students. It may be meaningful to think about whether community groups...
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Good perspective, @LP. You have pinpointed leader gender as one factor that influences how leaders are seen by the public. It does account for the many attributes (including communication as you mentioned) displayed by male versus female leaders. Do you think the public will respond to a male politician who demonstrates empathy as positively as they do to...
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to L P
Interesting perspective, @LP. Your thought made me wonder whether a charismatic leader can gain popularity and people's support even when the communicated agenda does not align with what one believes in during times of crisis. In times of crises when there are constant changes and high uncertainties, sometimes there is no "perfect agenda" so it may come...
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Thanks @LaReLaw for sharing your thought. Research findings have found evidence of both the ups and downsides of charisma, suggesting that sometimes charisma (when overly displayed or displayed in the wrong context) might lead to negative outcomes. Your view well aligns with such findings.
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Yes, low in predictability is one key attribute of crises. A key challenge for leaders in the crisis is to build unity and keep their followers together despite all the challenges, negative emotions, and challenges incurred.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to L P
Indeed, adding a personal touch and engaging the audience by being open and building trust is a key to displaying charisma to audience and observers. I wonder whether there are other leaders who are perceived as charismatic and yet deliver public speeches in a distinct style as Obama did. Perhaps it's useful to reflect on other examples of political leaders'...
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Excellent discussion here. I think most of you believe that charisma comes down to communication skills - how and what a leader communicates to others. While what we usually see is a leader disseminates a message in the form of speeches, communication can be in many forms - not just speeches but also what they shared on TV, interviews, magazine, company...
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Some more great points and reflections! Why do you think empathy is so important, @LaReLaw? You've mentioned this in both point #2 and #4. Comparing Dan Price and Jacinda, are there any different attributes you appreciate in their leadership and strategies used to cope with the crises their employee/ people experienced?
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Excellent examples of what leaders should focus on across various stages of a crisis, @LouiseGrech! Do you think there are differences in the actions you outlined as they are implemented at the front-line level vs. at the higher (executive) level?
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Very good answers to the above questions, @LaReLaw. Can you think of some more practical examples and policies that may help increase the transparency, feedback provision, and ethical practices in organisations so as to mitigate the negative consequences of crises?
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Leon, great example and reflection here. The example of how the travelling industry has been negatively impacted by the pandemic and how the situation may provide an opportunity for company to rise well demonstrate the point that crises are not entirely negative by nature but it also creates new opportunities for leaders and organizations, as long as they can...
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The experiences you shared are intriguing, Ralf. Indeed, because crises are often novel and rarely happen, once it occurs, it demands the needs for leaders and stakeholders to collect more evidence-based information about it in order to develop effective planning and management strategies. As some other learners pointed out, some fake news and...
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@SaraCheyne Interesting sharing. It is good to see that you were involved in the process of developing a short-, medium-, and long-term plan in your organization. After the business continuity team was formed, did its work change throughout the course of the crisis? And can you think of the differences across various stages of crisis management? For example,...
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Mary, it is good to see that you took this opportunity to think about what crisis is. To help you think further, please try to apply the example in the work and professional setting - does crisis have implications to individual employees or organizations as a whole? What constitute organizational crises? And what makes you define the incident as a crisis to...
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Hi Jess, the benefit of doing this MOOC is that you can adjust your learning pace and activities based on your work and personal agenda. Hope you enjoy the course.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Thanks all for sharing your thoughts. Indeed, getting involved by participating in discussion, exchange views with other learners, and trying out some of the reflective exercises are very useful for learning and applying what you learnt! I hope you all will enjoy the upcoming content. We will be introducing the concepts and examples related to crisis...
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Welcome Blessings! Hope you will enjoying the course and find it useful.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Mary K
Welcome Mary. It is always great to see learners coming from different cultural and industry backgrounds. Look forward to having you to join us in this MOOC.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to D Brown
Welcome Dionne, hope you will find the course useful in meeting your needs and learning goals!
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Thanks Puran for letting us know that you find the case studies and articles particularly useful.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Thank you Ashley! It is very useful to understand the constraints of the course platform and content from learners' perspectives. The word count limit in the comment box function and notepad/ clipboard function are the limitations of FutureLearn platform but we will bring these ideas to our discussion with FL's learning designers. Right now, if learners wish...
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Thanks for pointing out what you found to be particularly helpful, Robert. We will consider embedding more case studies and scenarios into the MOOC in future runs.
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Thank you Margaret for sharing your feedback. It is indeed important to incorporate more perspectives of individuals and experts (both leaders and followers) from practice into the course content. We also note your suggestion to introduce concepts and content related to concepts such as shared leadership which relates to the non-hierarchical structure of...
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Thanks Bianca for your positive feedback. It's great to know that you enjoyed the course!
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Hi Ardesa, Sue, currently non-paying participants have access to all the learning materials in the MOOC for 5 weeks (throughout the 3-week period in the course plus additional 14 days post-course period).
The payment option allows participants to receive a Certificate of Achievement after passing the final test.... -
Thanks Awad for your feedback and referring this MOOC to your friends who are interested in the topic!
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Thanks Samukelisiwe for your feedback. It is great to hear that you find the questions in the quizzes relevant.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to John Cope
Welcome John. Hope you will gain insights for the questions raised here at the end of the MOOC!
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu made a comment
Thanks all for sharing your reflections and examples in relation to how Australia/ other countries and companies have been handling the pandemic in a (in)decisive way. Another crisis incident happened recently that requires corporations' responses is the Ukraine Crisis. As this article pinpoints...
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Thanks Sagar for your very constructive feedback. We will take your suggestions regarding the incorporation of more diverse types of crisis into our future course redevelopment plan!
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Thanks Bryan for bringing up the importance of good decision-making. Do you think if there is similarity/ difference in the decision-making processes in crisis versus non-crisis situations?
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Hunmin Campbell
Thanks Hunmin for sharing this example. From your sharing and reflection, I can see that crises do not always occur from within an organisation but from the external environment. Those external events, however, may still pose significant impact to the operations of organisation that require rapid responses.
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Thanks Sally for the sharing. Indeed understanding the needs of the stakeholders involved in the situation is essential for crisis management and responses.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Jennifer Ewen
Hi Jennifer, welcome. Look forward to your sharing about the work that you do in the charity sector.
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Nhung Truong
Welcome aboard, Nhung Truong!
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Hi Oluwatosin, welcome to this course!
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Esther Indriani
Welcome Esther! I hope you find this MOOC course useful for learning more knowledge to help you better handle crises in the leadership position. Look forward to more sharing from you about your profession and organisation!
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Yuen Lam (Fannie) Wu replied to Annie SYN (MBA)
Hi Annie, welcome to this course! What do you do in your job as a freelance Adult Educator? And what type(s) of changes have you encountered in your work that motivates you to join this course? Hope you find this MOOC helpful.
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@JudithCOOKE Thanks for your follow up feedback! We will surely continuously review the course for potential improvement and upgrading the materials. If you have any suggestions, we are really keen to know and please do share with us.
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Thanks Madihah for the positive feedback.
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Thanks Adam for letting us know which week of the course you find most useful. Hope you can apply your learning to improve the crisis leadership and management at your workplace!
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Thanks Judith!
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Thank you Josh for the feedback and sharing of your key take-home learning!
