Crisis governance: what I learned from chairing a collapsing Presidium

In May 2023 I was elected Vice President of IFM-SEI, a 100-year-old international federation, at the end of an Extraordinary Congress called because the organisation was in statutory and economic freefall. The Secretary General was under investigation. The Presidium had resigned en masse. There had been no statutory congress for seven years. Five global regions were waiting to see if anything was coming.

The first lesson: in a crisis, transparency is cheaper than secrecy. Every hidden decision becomes a rumour, and every rumour costs trust you cannot afford to lose. We opened the books — literally. Published the zero-based budget to the membership within thirty days. Showed where the money had gone and where it was going. The shock was real, but the alternative was worse: a federation that died because its leadership was too embarrassed to tell the truth.

The second lesson: reactivation beats restructuring. When an organisation has gone dormant, the temptation is to redesign everything first. That is a trap. We reactivated the regional secretariats in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific before we reformed them. A broken machine that runs is better than a perfect machine that exists only on paper. By month four, all five regions had a functioning contact point. By month eight, three had submitted funded project proposals.

The third lesson: cross-border diplomacy is operational, not ceremonial. Representing the federation alongside AJYAL, NOAL, and Hashomer Hazhair through the Willy Brandt Centre Jerusalem meant navigating active conflict zones with partners who had real reasons to distrust each other. The only currency that works there is consistency — showing up, following through, never promising what you cannot deliver.

I exited the term at 23 with restored operational credibility, active regional networks, and governance documentation that passed statutory audits. The federation survived. I would not recommend the experience, but I would recommend the lessons.