Life happens. Loss, illness, injury, family drama, or other challenges. No one is immune to the ups and downs of being human. And life doesn’t care about your job title. For top leaders, uncertain times make succession and other planning crucial: Who runs things when you can’t?

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will. Something big (or small) that demands an immediate life and work adjustment. Add to this the number of times key members of your team experience their own crises and the need to have a game plan for the unexpected becomes clear.

The first time it happened I was completely unprepared. My father died when I was negotiating the landmark agreement on which my company, a startup in the education technology space, was founded. I was on an airplane racing home to try to see him when I heard the news that he was gone.

I am an only child; my father was my only living parent. That loss—of my champion and my history—sent me into a dizzying spiral of grief. As my brain shut down, my autopilot kicked in and I went into professional overdrive. At the same time, my cofounder realized the gravity of my grief and stepped up. We plowed through and closed the deal.

Leadership is the job that never quits. Everyone knows what it means to have a full-time job. But when you’re the boss, “full-time” can literally mean around the clock. Market uncertainty and volatility. Competitive pressure. Plus, people issues, critical inbound and outbound communications, and big-picture decisions that just can’t wait.

Round Two: A Crash

Nearly 10 years after my father died, my life was unexpectedly disrupted again, this time by an accident and injury.

I am a cyclist. The road clears my head and focuses my thinking. On a sunny Sunday last year, while riding a trail I had cycled hundreds of times, I clipped a curb and was thrown off my bike, separating my shoulder, bruising ribs, and sustaining a concussion. I have no recollection of the accident, only of my sudden realization in the hospital emergency room that the world I woke up to was not the one I had left a few hours before. 

That kind of accident is never well-timed, but this was particularly challenging, coming in the first year of my promotion to CEO. As when my father died, I was in full leader mode one moment, and temporarily sidelined the next. Except this time, I was ready. And although there is no recipe for disaster recovery, the following tested tactics helped me (and can help you, too) when life benches you:

Take stock of the situation objectively 

Sure, this is a little like telling someone who’s panicking to calm down. It’s difficult to think clearly amidst a crisis, but finding a path forward depends on an honest assessment of your circumstances. Try to evaluate the severity of the situation and identify in what specific ways it is likely to impact your role and work.

Trot out the monsters and get to know them

Give voice to your worst fears about what “could” transpire on the heels of a personal disaster. This helps because imagining the scariest scenarios forces you to move from anxiety into problem-solving.

It was clear in the hours after my cycling accident that the new limits on my behavior (no screen time, no travel) directly conflicted with the demands on my time (hours of Zoom meetings and out-of-market travel). I found myself spinning nightmare scenarios: What if I couldn’t perform my duties as the CEO? What if other emergencies arose that caused the company to falter? Absent formal succession planning, who could take the reins? 

Once I asked those questions, their absurdity became clear. Accommodations were needed, but I was far from unable to do my job. Meetings could be rescheduled or handled by other members of my team—I found that there was a small army of smart, capable people I could call on for help. With some temporary adjustments, we got back to business.

Align your professional and personal “Musts” 

A key step in effective planning is to align your “must do” professional responsibilities with a list of your “must have” personal needs. Group them into timeframes: those that will arise immediately (days to a week), near-term (one to three weeks), and longer term. Then compare your professional “must do” and personal “must have” lists. You’ll likely find that only a subset of your professional and personal needs will conflict. Those few items are the only ones that need to be reconciled.

For example, I wanted to keep working immediately after my father died, but needed longer blocks of time off later to settle his affairs. This timing matched my business needs, and I was able to successfully negotiate the pending deal and thereafter step out of day-to-day operations to take care of my personal needs. In contrast, when I had my cycling injury, my hospitalization directly conflicted with my professional commitments, and I needed to solve for the immediate crisis by activating my network and deploying my team.

There’s a universe of workarounds

Get creative. Think of this as a brainstorming exercise. Ask yourself if the thing that “has to happen . . . in this exact way” has to happen precisely as you’d originally envisioned. Are there other ways to execute the task? Even better, enlist a thought partner. Often creative solutions that are invisible from within are obvious from an outsider perspective.

Succession planning matters

Succession planning may feel like an administrative formality, but the best time to prepare for disruption is before it happens. Then, if the unexpected occurs you can activate your network and tap your team to rise. 

The great myth of the lone leader gets exploded in times of hardship. No one can go it alone all the time: everyone needs a pit crew. Luckily, you likely have one in your leadership team, with people who hold their roles precisely because they want to learn and lead. Your request to have a lieutenant step up is one of the greatest compliments you can pay them and a valuable career-building opportunity for the team. 

Put structure around the unknowns

In times of crisis—even your own—your team and stakeholders will look to you to find out “what’s next” and “by when.” Be honest if you have not solved for every issue, but make sure to identify a specific timeframe (a day, a week) in which you will get back to them with a more concrete assessment of your needs and plans.

Take the opportunity for reflection

A downside to being broken is that you will need time to rest and heal. The upside is also exactly that: You’ve now been “given” some space and a chance to reflect and do some deep work.

As hard as they were, the weeks following my cycling accident were a time of personal and professional reflection. While I would never wish that struggle on anyone, being forced to put down my devices left room for big picture and long-term thinking that can be crowded out by the noise of day-to-day operations. While recovering, I found myself reassessing our strategic position. Those insights eventually led to changes that are transforming our company. The accident was a curse, these byproducts its gifts.

After all, you have your role for a reason. And being on a gurney is clearly not a wish come true.

Let’s be real: It’s not going to be perfect . . . don’t sweat trying to get everything right. You won’t. When an emergency temporarily takes you out of the game, the important part is to act decisively to set up your team for success and ensure that the enterprise carries on until you’re back 100% in the captain’s seat. Meanwhile, what you and your team discover about yourselves and your organization might even improve the way you work.