The essence of a contingency approach to leadership is that leaders are most effective when they make their behavior contingent on situational forces, including group member characteristics. Leading during a crisis can be regarded as contingency leadership because

the situation demands that the leader emphasize certain behaviors, attitudes, and traits

leaders do not always develop entirely different relationships with each group member

it translates principles based on best evidence into organizational practices

larger differences in leader$-$member exchanges tend to lead to higher team performance