What would you do in the three situations briefly outlined below?
Crisis Leadership Moment #1: Imagine that it finally hit! The avian flu has just been confirmed to be contagious. One of your traveling employees has just been diagnosed with this dreaded disease after returning home. Your workforce is fearful that they might have been exposed and most are not personally prepared at home for an outbreak. But, you need them to carry out the company's business continuity plan. Employees in mass want to take time off. What do you do?
Crisis Leadership Moment #2: You learn that one of your facilities has been emitting low-level toxic substances for an undetermined amount of time. It is the company's fault due to a prior decision to delay replacement of a faulty system in one of your facilities. But, it is quickly remedied. Possibly, employees, visitors and others have all been exposed to a small degree. Most likely, the exposure was minimal with no harm.
Unfortunately, a similar situation occurred at the same facility last year. You reported it to the authorities and the media, in learning about it, exaggerated the story, blaming the company for putting people at risk.
If knowledge of the present toxic emission were unveiled publicly it would likely cause serious reputational and legal damage to your organization, now that it has happened again. But it would be worse if discovered later that you tried to cover it up. Possibly, your position within the company is on the line, as well. Only you and a couple of trusted subordinates know about the emission now. Do you proactively go public and risk the feared personal, reputational and legal damage or try to resolve the situation quietly with (hopefully) no public harm done?
Crisis Leadership Moment #3: Two bombs hit your facilities simultaneously in different locations with a note from an activist group taking credit. Do you close all your facilities throughout the enterprise as a safety precaution? If so, for how long? If not, what are alternative responses?
Preparedness: Each of these situations requires a "defining decision." Initial information is usually wrong. Rumors are rampant. Action must be taken without time for sufficient consideration. The consequences are high. People are watching your every move. The velocity of information coming in is staggering. The stress is numbing.
Now, make those decisions that may have life and death implications. Act in a manner that will be scrutinized later. Take that risk that may define your career as an excellent leader when the organization needed it most . . . or an inept manager with poor judgment under pressure.
Could we rewind the scenario please? Possibly, some preparedness in Strategic Crisis Leadership would be in order before the crisis hits.
Every crisis has components that derail your planning. In these cases, there is simply no substitute of sound leadership judgment. And, we know from experience that there is simply no substitute for adequate preparedness.
Pilots, emergency medical responders, military, law enforcement . . . the list goes on. We want those who protect our lives to be prepared. Those in life-protecting professions all do it the same way. They are adequately trained. They practice their skills through exercises and simulations. Recurrent training is required. Proficiency must be demonstrated.
Are the responsibilities of corporate leaders during times of crisis not equally important? We all want our leaders to be adept in handling crises that threaten our lives and standards of living. Yet, most corporate leaders have not taken the time to adequately prepare for serious crises. Sure, they have identified checklists of people to notify. Crisis management teams have been identified. Tactical lists are produced to address early emergency responses. But, what about purposeful preparedness for leadership in crisis? Are you ready if the bell rings right now? No matter how big or small your silo of responsibility, are you truly prepared to make the tough crisis management decisions when needed? And, make them right?
During my two decades of crisis response and preparedness with corporate executives and managers, the same mantra has been repeated. "Our managers are intelligent people. They have lots of experience. And, they are paid to make the tough decisions when crises hit." The question then becomes, "Why then not be purposeful about being a prepared leader under the pressure of a crisis?"
Protecting Core Assets: Senior management and all those who support them have two overarching responsibilities. One is to grow the company. This is where the preponderance of leadership books, articles and training is focused. The other overarching responsibility is to protect core assets.
Protecting core assets is the defensive side of leadership. Much like a professional sports team, an adequate offense and defense is necessary to win. It is not enough to increase revenues, efficiency or quality of operations. You must also be fully capable of protecting core assets of the organization when they are threatened by a crisis. People, key relationships, trust, reputation, brand, finances, shareholder value, intellectual and physical property, business operations . . . which do you want to do without? Any of these core assets can be threatened by serious crises. It is your responsibility to protect them as a leader.
Defining Decisions: Lets go back to the two simultaneous bombs hitting your facilities. This is a potential career-defining situation. Suddenly the crisis hits! There's no time to think. The clock's ticking. The media's at the door, government regulators are on the phone, customers are nervous, employees and families are furious, the public is scared, law enforcement is baffled, shareholders are angry, insurers want answers, your brand is in danger, and so is your job . . . depending on how you handle this situation. You're flooded with calls, emails, visits and hurried meetings. You've got conflicting news, and competing views. The fact pattern looks like a Rorschach inkblot and your lieutenants can't seem to agree on anything.
Time's up. Tell me. What are you going to do?
As the CEO of Crisis Management International, I've helped countless domestic and international companies make the kind of "defining moment" decisions that save lives, brands and careers. I haven't just coached companies through hundreds of crises. I've had to quarterback a few of my own, including a crash in a private jet and a harrowing experience with a day trader who shot nine people dead in our Atlanta office building and was reportedly stalking the halls in the aftermath. So, what does all this crisis experience indicate that you should do as a corporate leader over your silo of responsibility?
Experience and empirical research all seem to agree. It is best to prepare. Crisis planning, training, tabletop exercises and simulations - they all play an important part in helping you as Facilities Managers (an other corporate leader) prepare for an unexpected crisis. But, then it hits for real and all bets are off.
With no prior notice, you must make on-the-spot crisis leadership decisions and implement rapid-fire responses. Your people are stressed-out and deadlines are time compressed. Information is inadequate and the high-consequences of your responses could determine if people will be harmed, careers ruined and your company seriously damaged.
Quick! What's the first thing you'd do if someone slammed his car through the front plate glass doors of one of your facilities? What if it happened during work hours and people were killed? Have you made some decisions? Great, now unmake them. Because you just found out that he was a disgruntled employee? That changes things. What do you do now? Have you decided? Good. Now undecide. Because you just watched a local TV anchor report that your company knew the employee was an alcoholic and he had been making threats.
Most crisis preparedness addresses tactical and logistical issues, e.g., notifications, evacuations, emergency response, etc. Unfortunately, there is very little preparedness for managers who must make high quality defining decisions in the midst of chaos. Yet, leaders at all levels of an organization in crisis must make best-judgment crisis response decisions in ambiguous, high-consequence situations.
Purposeful crisis leadership preparedness is a vital missing ingredient in most corporations. Commonly, the belief is that managers like you, "are intelligent, experienced leaders and they are paid to make tough decisions during crises." This attitude is analogous to a professional sports team that believes they have such highly talented athletes there is no need to develop a playbook and use any plays during the game.
Crisis Leadership: There are significant differences between Tactical Crisis Management and Strategic Crisis Leadership. The list below gives some of the high level differences:
| Crisis Management | vs. | Crisis Leadership |
| React | | Anticipate |
| Short-term | | Long-term |
| Process | | Principles |
| Narrow focus | | Wide focus |
| Tactical (implement) | | Strategic (envision) |
Strategic Crisis Leadership involves high-leverage skills that are vital to corporate recovery in the midst of a disaster. Crisis leadership skills are needed that define the crisis beyond the obvious, forecast the intended and unintended consequences of decisions, anticipate the effects of the crisis on impacted stakeholders, assess the impact of the crisis on core assets, and follow the values and guiding principles of the organization . . . and your own ethical standards that may be tested to the limit.
Crisis leadership is more about who you are than what you know. No learned crisis leadership skill will overcome the lack of character, ethics or integrity. An effective crisis leader must act deliberately, quickly, and effectively with honesty, high moral values and ethically.
Be, Know, Do: The U.S. Army defines the three basic components of leadership, as Be, Know, Do. "Be" is about who you are. "Know" is about the skills and knowledge you have acquired. And, "Do" is about the actions that you take on a timely basis. Purposeful attention to all three components of Strategic Crisis Leadership will increase the likelihood that you'll know what to ask, what to do and how to do it. And more importantly, learn to manage the unexpected.
Be, know do . . . what are the skills needed to meet these Strategic Crisis Leadership responsibilities? There are many. But in closing, I want to keep it simple and leave you with three key crisis leadership responsibilities that you can remember when a crisis hits you unexpectedly. Chances are, you will have to deal with a serious crisis sometime in your career. Most all of us do. So, here is a simple introductory prescription for effective crisis leadership.
What do you need to be? Caring. Demonstration of caring is more important that all other leadership traits combined according to research by the Center for Risk Communications. If you come across as uncaring, people will become outraged. Caring during crisis response is not a feeling. Caring is a set a corporate and personal behaviors that elicit the perception in impacted stakeholders that you and your company truly care.
What do you need to know? As a leader, you must know have a vision for crisis resolution. Without a clear and compelling vision for response and recovery, you will not be able to adequately lead your people during times of crisis.
And do? The single most important action is two-way communication. Simply put, you will never be any better at responding to crises than your communication. That involves how well you listen to obtain the facts and how well you speak openly to impacted stakeholders.
Caring, vision and communication. How do you remember these in the whirlwind of an unexpected crisis at some unknown time in the future? Memory experts recommend "anchoring" these concepts. Remember caring by pointing to your heart. Vision, by pointing to your eyes. And, communication can be remembered by pointing to your mouth. Be, know, do. Caring, vision and communication. Heart, eyes, and mouth. Rehearse these in your mind intermittently. This is one prescription that we impart in leaders who take the time to purposefully prepare for their responsibilities as Strategic Crisis Leaders. It can work for you, too.
Strategic Crisis Leadership: Are You Ready to Lead in the Midst of Chaos?
