What is it?

This is a 120-minute interactive workshop that uses Joseph Conrad's classic novella Typhoon to explore how leaders behave when plans fall apart, information is incomplete, and pressure is at its peak. Participants won't need to have read the book. Instead, they'll explore the leadership principles that emerge from the story and apply them to modern workplace crises through structured practice and reflection.

Why is it useful?

Most leadership development focuses on ideal conditions. This workshop tackles the harder truth: your leadership is defined in moments of chaos, not calm. Participants will examine their default responses under pressure, practise staying present when they want to retreat, and build practical approaches for leading teams through uncertainty. They'll leave with concrete strategies for the moments when their carefully laid plans stop working.

Target Audience

• Team leaders and managers who face operational uncertainty
• Project managers navigating complex or shifting priorities
• Senior leaders responsible for guiding teams through change
• L&D professionals seeking fresh approaches to leadership development
• Consultants working with organisations in transition
• Anyone who wants to lead more effectively when things go wrong

Workshop Objectives

• Identify personal default behaviours when facing pressure and uncertainty
• Practise staying present and decisive when information is incomplete
• Develop strategies for maintaining connection with team members during crisis
• Build a practical framework for leading through chaos
• Create personal commitments for applying these principles in real situations

Summary

Duration: 120 minutes
Group Size: 8-16 people
Format: In-person, highly interactive

Materials Needed

• Flipchart paper and markers
• Printed Crisis Scenario Cards (one set per small group)
• Printed Personal Reflection Worksheets (one per participant)
• Printed Leadership Under Pressure Framework handout (one per participant)
• Timer or phone for activity timing
• Sticky notes (two colours)
• Pens for all participants

Process

Step 1: The Captain's Dilemma (15 mins)

Goal: Introduce the core concept and surface participants' initial assumptions about leadership under pressure.

Activity:

1. Share this brief context with the group: "In 1902, Joseph Conrad wrote a novella called Typhoon about a ship captain named MacWhirr who sails directly into a devastating storm. Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, calls it the most powerful leadership story he's ever read. He doesn't read management books. He reads this. When he first encountered it twenty years ago, he thought the captain was reckless. Now he sees profound lessons about leading through uncertainty."
2. Pose this question to the group: "A massive storm is approaching your ship. You have two options: take a longer route around it, which will delay you significantly and use more fuel, or sail straight through, trusting your ship and crew to handle whatever comes. What would you do, and why?"
3. Ask participants to stand on an imaginary line across the room. One end represents "go around at all costs" and the other represents "sail straight through." Have them position themselves based on their instinct.
4. Interview three or four people at different points on the line. Ask them to explain their reasoning in one or two sentences.
5. Reveal: "Captain MacWhirr chose to sail through. Not from recklessness, but from a practical assessment that the storm was unavoidable and his job was to lead his crew through it rather than pretend he could escape it. This workshop is about what happens when you can't go around the storm."

Debrief Questions:

• What assumptions did you make about what a "good leader" would do?
• How did it feel to commit to a position publicly?
• What factors influenced where you stood on the line?

Step 2: Your Storm Response Profile (20 mins)

Goal: Help participants identify their personal default behaviours when facing pressure and uncertainty.

Activity:

1. Distribute the Personal Reflection Worksheet to each participant.
2. Ask participants to work individually for eight minutes, answering the following prompts on their worksheet:
   • Think of a recent situation where plans fell apart or you faced significant uncertainty. What happened?
   • What was your immediate internal response? (What did you feel? What did you want to do?)
   • What did you actually do?
   • Looking back, what worked well about your response? What would you do differently?
3. After individual reflection, form pairs. Each person has four minutes to share their situation and what they noticed about their response pattern.
4. Bring the group back together. On flipchart paper, create two columns: "Helpful Responses" and "Unhelpful Responses." Invite participants to call out patterns they noticed, either in themselves or heard from their partner. Write these up without attribution.
5. Highlight any patterns that emerge. Common unhelpful responses include: freezing, over-analysing, withdrawing from the team, pretending everything is fine, or becoming overly controlling. Common helpful responses include: staying calm, communicating frequently, focusing on what can be controlled, and checking in with people.

Debrief Questions:

• What patterns do you notice across the group?
• Were there any responses that surprised you?
• How might awareness of your default response change how you handle future situations?

Step 3: The Three Anchors Framework (15 mins)

Goal: Introduce a practical framework for leading through uncertainty, drawn from the principles in Typhoon.

Activity:

1. Introduce the three anchors that Captain MacWhirr demonstrated, and that research on crisis leadership supports:
   • Stay Present: Don't retreat into analysis paralysis or future-catastrophising. Deal with what's in front of you right now.
   • Stay Human: Your people need to see you as a person, not a problem-solving machine. Acknowledge the difficulty. Show that you're in it with them.
   • Stay Committed: Your job is to bring your crew through. Not to have all the answers, but to keep moving forward with them.
2. Distribute the Leadership Under Pressure Framework handout.
3. For each anchor, share a brief example from the book:
   • Stay Present: During the worst of the storm, MacWhirr focuses only on the next decision, the next order. He doesn't waste energy on regret about entering the storm or anxiety about what might happen next.
   • Stay Human: When chaos erupts below deck, MacWhirr personally goes to check on his crew. He doesn't hide on the bridge.
   • Stay Committed: Even when the situation seems hopeless, MacWhirr never considers abandoning ship or giving up. He simply keeps doing his job.
4. Ask participants to turn to the person next to them and discuss for three minutes: "Which of these three anchors is your natural strength? Which is your growth area?"
5. Take a quick poll by show of hands: "Raise your hand if Stay Present is your growth area." Repeat for each anchor. Note the distribution.

Debrief Questions:

• Why do you think these three anchors work together?
• What happens when a leader has one but not the others?
• How might your growth area anchor affect your team during a crisis?

Step 4: Crisis Practice Rounds (40 mins)

Goal: Apply the framework to realistic workplace scenarios through structured practice.

Activity:

1. Divide participants into groups of four.
2. Explain the practice structure: Each group will work through three crisis scenarios. For each scenario, one person will be the leader facing the crisis, one will be a team member affected by it, and two will be observers. Roles rotate so everyone gets to practise being the leader.
3. Distribute one set of Crisis Scenario Cards to each group.
4. For each round (approximately 12 minutes each):
   • The leader reads the scenario card aloud (1 minute)
   • The leader has 2 minutes to think, then responds to the situation with the team member for 4 minutes. The team member should react realistically, not make it easy.
   • Observers watch for evidence of the three anchors: Stay Present, Stay Human, Stay Committed
   • After the practice, observers give feedback for 3 minutes, specifically noting which anchors they saw and which were missing
   • Brief group discussion: What could make this response stronger?
5. After all three rounds, ask groups to identify: "What was the hardest anchor to maintain across all scenarios?"
6. Bring the full group back together. Ask each small group to share their answer to that question and one insight from their practice.

Debrief Questions:

• What surprised you about how you responded under simulated pressure?
• How did it feel when someone stayed present with you versus when they seemed distracted or distant?
• What made the feedback from observers useful?
• How might you practise these anchors in lower-stakes situations?

Step 5: The Reckless or Profound Question (15 mins)

Goal: Challenge participants to examine their assumptions about what effective crisis leadership looks like.

Activity:

1. Return to the Sarandos insight: "When he first read Typhoon, he thought the captain was reckless. On later readings, he discovered profound lessons about leading through uncertainty."
2. Pose this question to the group: "Think about a leader you initially judged negatively during a crisis. With hindsight, can you see anything differently about their approach?"
3. Give participants 3 minutes to reflect silently and jot notes.
4. Form new pairs (different from earlier). Each person shares their reflection for 3 minutes.
5. Bring the group together. Ask for two or three volunteers to share what shifted in their perception.
6. Facilitate a brief discussion around this question: "What's the difference between reckless leadership and courageous leadership when facing uncertainty?"
7. Capture key insights on flipchart paper.

Debrief Questions:

• How might our judgments of others reflect our own fears about leading under pressure?
• What would help you extend more grace to yourself when you're the one in the storm?
• How can we tell the difference between a leader who is calm and a leader who is in denial?

Step 6: Commitment and Accountability (15 mins)

Goal: Ensure participants leave with specific, actionable commitments and built-in accountability.

Activity:

1. Distribute two sticky notes (different colours) to each participant.
2. On the first sticky note, ask participants to write: "The next time I face uncertainty or pressure, I commit to..." followed by one specific behaviour linked to their growth-area anchor.
3. On the second sticky note, ask participants to write: "To practise this before a real crisis, I will..." followed by one low-stakes situation where they can deliberately practise.
4. Give participants 4 minutes to write their commitments.
5. Return to the pairs from Step 5. Each person shares their two commitments with their partner. Partners should ask: "How will I know if you've done this?" to help make the commitment concrete.
6. Partners exchange contact details and agree on a check-in time (suggest two weeks from now).
7. Create a "commitment wall" on one section of flipchart paper. Invite participants to stick their first commitment note on the wall as a public declaration. Keep the second note for themselves.
8. Close with this thought: "Captain MacWhirr didn't have a manual for surviving the typhoon. He had his presence, his humanity, and his commitment to his crew. You now have a framework and a partner to help you build those same anchors."

Debrief Questions:

• How does making your commitment visible change how you feel about it?
• What support might you need from your partner to follow through?
• What's the smallest first step you could take this week?

Secret Sauce

• Normalise discomfort early: In Step 1, acknowledge that standing on a line and defending a position feels awkward. Say something like: "This might feel a bit uncomfortable. Good. That's what leading under pressure feels like too." This helps people stay engaged rather than shutting down.
• The line exercise reveals more than people expect: Watch for participants who refuse to commit to a position or who keep hedging. Gently encourage them to pick a spot, even if they're uncertain. This mirrors real crisis leadership where you must decide without full information.
• Protect reflection time: The individual reflection in Step 2 is essential. Don't let eager participants skip ahead to pair sharing. The solo work is where real insight happens.
• Crisis scenarios must feel real: If participants treat the practice as a game, the learning diminishes. Brief them that their job is to make it feel as realistic as possible, including the team member giving pushback.
• Watch for "fixer" mode: Some participants will jump straight into problem-solving during the crisis practice. Observers should note if the leader skipped Stay Human in their rush to Stay Committed.
• The Sarandos reframe is powerful: The "reckless to profound" shift gives participants permission to reconsider their own judgments. Some will have strong reactions. Give space for this.
• Accountability partners matter: Research shows that committing to another person dramatically increases follow-through. Don't let participants skip the partner exchange. If someone doesn't have a partner present, pair them with you as facilitator.
• End on action, not inspiration: Resist the urge to give a rousing closing speech. The commitments and partner check-ins are the real ending. Keep your close brief.
• If someone shares a traumatic crisis experience: Thank them for their openness, acknowledge the difficulty, and gently steer back to the learning focus. You might say: "That sounds like it was genuinely hard. What do you take from that experience about how you want to lead next time?"
• If the group is quiet during debrief: Have a backup question ready: "What's something you noticed that you haven't said yet?" Or simply wait. Silence often produces the best insights.
• Time management: Step 4 is the longest and most valuable. If you're running short on time, compress Steps 1 and 3 rather than the practice rounds.