Leading Effectively e-Newsletter - January 2008 Issue

Crisis Leadership: Making a Difference When Disaster Strikes
When Plans Fail, Improvise

"The day after the storm, we realized that 98 percent of our plans weren't any good," said Joe Spraggins, director of emergency management for Harrison County, Mississippi, whose first official day on the job was the day Katrina hit. It was as if "an atomic bomb hit the Gulf of Mexico," said Spraggins. "This was something that had to be dealt with in a different manner."

Crisis, as anyone who has been through it, forces people to think and behave in new ways. Extreme crisis exponentially ratchets up that response.

Crisis response requires both planning and improvising. Planning and preparation helps enable rapid coordinated action; at the same time plans are always insufficient. A plan is a starting point, but every situation will involve something unexpected. Your logic and imagination cannot factor in every contingency. People need the capacity to read and understand a situation and improvise their approach as the reality unfolds.

While you may not face a crisis as severe as Katrina, you'll be better prepared if you take into account some of the lessons learned by those who were there.

• Systems fail. Infrastructure, technology, alert mechanisms and communication may fail or be insufficient. Processes fall apart, leaving you in unfamiliar territory. The failures may be brief or long-lasting, confined or extensive. Ongoing or systemic problems that are manageable in routine circumstances may be a serious problem in a crisis.
• The picture is distorted. No one has a complete picture of what is happening. People looking on from outside (via the news media, for instance) may have a sense of the big picture but may lack accurate, detailed and critical information from within the crisis zone. In contrast, people in the middle of the crisis see what is in front of them - but may be cut off from what is taking place elsewhere.
• Time is compressed. In the heat of a crisis, the time pressure is great. Moving forward or tackling a part of the problem may be risky in the absence of solid information, but doing nothing isn't a choice. As the crisis evolves beyond the immediate urgency, the time pressure eases, only to be replaced by the complex demands of a protracted crisis or recovery.
• Authority is limited - and limiting. A crisis can easily trump existing structures of authority. Whoever is "in charge" is whoever is there. If your organizational protocols require strict adherence to command structure and approvals, they may hinder rapid and effective responses.
• New leadership emerges. A crisis will generate previously unexpected and unknown leadership capabilities. Individuals will step up to rescue or respond. New organizations and networks rise to provide aid and assistance.

As you prepare yourself and your organization (or your family and community) for facing crisis, make your plans and do your training. At the same time, develop the ability to make decisions, gather information, work in unfamiliar ways and learn as you go - skills that will be in high demand if crisis comes your way.