Run Toward the Roar

by John Robertson of FORTLOG

When the Roar Comes, What Does It Reveal?

Critical Moments Don't Create Culture — They Reveal It

Over the last few weeks, a consistent theme has emerged across several workplaces I've been working in. When the roar comes, what does it reveal?

Every organization eventually faces those critical moments that test it. The two workplaces I've been spending time in had a full assortment:

• A difficult conversation that needed to be held

• A toxic team dynamic scapegoated onto the leaders

• An intervention that revealed a massive communication breakdown

• A decision that didn't land well

• A season where several issues needed addressing, tension was building across departments, and suddenly a list of other urgent, important matters appeared out of nowhere

In those moments, leaders understandably focus on solving the immediate problem as quickly as possible. But critical moments do more than disrupt operations, they reveal patterns. Is trust building or eroding? Do people feel safe enough to speak honestly? Is leadership reacting instinctively or responding intentionally?

The event itself is rarely the real crisis. The reactions to it are.

I've heard a common theme from leaders in both organizations: they feel like they're juggling running chainsaws. So, I want to be clear — I am not adding one more thing to an already full plate. Shouting "swim harder" to a drowning person is not my approach, and it's certainly not any of my values.

Here's the plain truth: pressure doesn't create culture. It reveals it.

Just like character. When the roar comes, what leaks out is not the values on the wall. It's the values already being operated by.

Simple question: When the roar comes, what does it reveal about you and your organization?

AIM — Clarity Before Activity

This month, the aim is intentionally small: use one critical moment as a learning opportunity, not just a problem to fix.

But special note, if you find an easy way to do this, call me and let me know how 😉. Fixing is faster, quicker, and tragically more harmful in the long run.

Most of us are trained to fix. This month, aim to first understand what the moment is revealing about trust, about communication, about the culture you're actually building versus the one on the poster.

Here's something I call the English Second Language issue. When most people don't feel heard, they say things louder. The same thing happens when someone speaks a different language — many people just speak louder. An honest receiver responds: "I'm not deaf, I just don't speak your language."

The same is true in our workplaces. When something isn't going smoothly — a conflict, a missed expectation, a conversation that didn't land — people say things louder. And that usually creates backlash instead of dialogue.

So instead of immediately asking "How do we solve this?", pause and ask: "What might this moment be revealing?"

Grow Forward only happens when we're willing to notice what pressure is exposing.

ANCHOR — Identity Before Strategy

The I AM distinction is at the heart of values-anchored leadership. It starts here: who am I in this moment?

• An accountability culture asks: what went wrong and who's responsible?

• A values-anchored leader asks: what does this moment teach us about us and what does it need from me?

In most meaningful relationships (mentors, guides, coaches), to rush in and fix is to deny learning and growth. Ironically, it inhibits the very resilience and capacity to thrive that we say we want to build.

Granted, reacting is faster and feels like we are caring. But it's driven by pressure, not values. And when leaders react habitually in critical moments, they build cultures where people learn to manage up, hide mistakes, and survive quietly rather than thrive honestly.

Responding takes presence. It takes self-awareness. It requires the relational maturity to stay in the room when every instinct says fix, flee, or defend.

The healthiest cultures are not built by leaders who avoid hard moments. They're built by leaders who stay anchored within them.

ACT — Practice Over Perfection

When a critical moment arrives this month — and it will — try these four moves. Imperfectly, but intentionally.

1. Pause before responding. Even a brief pause changes the tone of what follows.

2. Name what's in the room. Pay attention to what people may be thinking and feeling, not just based on what is said.

3. Ask the learning question. What is this situation teaching us about Trust, Leadership, or Communication (TLC)?

4. Identify one behavioral shift. Not a new policy. Not a program. One clear, small change in how you or your team will show up next time.

As you move through May, notice one thing in particular: Are you fixing faster than you're reflecting?

The impulse to stabilize quickly is understandable, but it's also how organizations end up with a cycle of the same critical moments year after year. The Groundhog Day of leadership development: another program, another reset, the same underlying pattern.

The goal this month isn't mastery. It's motion, just one meaningful adjustment in how people show up for one another. Small shifts, repeated consistently, shape culture over time.

As I often remind people: not even God can steer a ship that won't let go of the harbour.

ALIGN — Learn Before Moving On

At the end of the month, take ten minutes — not to judge what happened, but to learn from it.

• Did we grow forward, or did we just recover?

• What will we do differently the next time a moment like this arrives?

• How did my leadership shape the outcome, for better or for worse?

• Who have I invited to give me honest feedback on how I showed up?

• Are we building a culture where people can thrive or one where they're learning to survive?

That last question matters most. In an accountability culture, survive quietly becomes the unspoken goal. In a values-anchored culture — one built on the I AM rather than the I HAVE — thrive becomes genuinely possible.

Closing Thought

Critical moments are inevitable. Growth is optional.

Teams that learn from their roars become stronger, calmer, and more cohesive. They stop treating disruption as the enemy and start treating it as a teacher. They stop asking how fast can we get back to normal and start asking what does normal need to become?

This month, you have the chance to model that shift. Not by having the perfect response to every hard moment, but by being the kind of person, and leader, who is willing to ask what the moment is trying to teach.

Run toward the roar. What it reveals might be exactly what your culture needs to grow forward.

A Practical Resource for You

If you'd like to apply these principles in your organization, I've created a free application guide that makes it really practical. It's designed to walk you through the process for a real critical moment - whether a previous situation or something you're facing currently.

Dive Deeper

When an organization experiences a break down, it's typically not because of just one event. Rather, it's often a result of foundational issues that aren't as easy to see.

This article and video outline the tripod illustration I use frequently in speaking and coaching. It helps you strengthen the three tripod legs that keep your organization steady, so you can thrive, even in the midst of critical moments.