Ten thoughts on crisis leadership
The Chairpersons and members of our Crisis Management Teams (CMT) don’t manage crises every day, it’s not their day job. They already have challenging and demanding roles as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, IT Directors, Risk Directors etc. Despite this, we expect them to drop everything and immediately be effective in a crisis.
This is why CMTs members need to be regularly trained and exercised and they should be aware of how their behaviour affects the response. We’ve listed our thoughts on the leadership behaviour of our crisis leaders.
During a crisis, it’s not bad news that makes people panic, but rather conflicting messages from those in authority.
During a crisis an ineffective leader will continue demanding a higher quantity and quality of information, but still prevaricate. It’s sometimes called analysis paralysis.
Time limit is an important issue in crisis management. A good leader must be able to make a decision based on available and often incomplete information. Decision points must be set.
A bad leader is not someone who takes a wrong decision, but someone who takes no decision.
Crises demand constant decisions and calculated risks. No leader is going to make the right call every time.
Crisis leadership is about recognising that you actually have a crisis. If an incident seems out of control this can challenge a leader’s pride, which can result in a faltering response to an emergency when it comes to allocating resources and expertise.
Too busy to plan, train, test and practice? Seriously?
Strong leaders take ownership of a crisis, but they don’t work in a vacuum. They recognise the importance of a team and embrace skills and ideas proffered by others.
In an emergency, praise should be freely given when deserved, and firm but compassionate redirection when necessary.
A good leader must institute an enlightened post-crisis review to understand and mitigate shortcomings while at the same recognising that the next emergency will be different, as no two crises are the same.
Effective leadership in a crisis can be the difference between a successful response and a firm not surviving the crisis.