EFFECTIVE CRISIS LEADERSHIP By: Dr. Jeffrey C. Fox, PhD Fox Public - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

EFFECTIVE CRISIS LEADERSHIP

By: Dr. Jeffrey C. Fox, PhD

Fox Public Safety: Training, Educating, and Consulting LLC

https://www.fox‐publicsafety.com/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/profile/preview?locale=en_US&trk=prof‐0‐sb‐preview‐primary‐button Fox Public Safety: Training, Educating, and Consulting LLC Online Training Offered https://foxpublicsafety.eleapcourses.com/

Course Description

This webinar will provide attendees with a strong foundation for understanding and implementing the necessary skills needed to be an effective crisis leader.We will examine collaborative leadership, systems thinking, and creativity. We will discuss emotional intelligence, risk communication, and the art and science of influence and negotiation. Further, we will consider conflict management. Finally, we will look at exemplary leaders who dealt with crises.

Objectives

1.The student will analyze collaborative leadership. 2.The student will examine emotional intelligence. 3.The student will describe risk communication. 4.The student will describe the how to deal with conflict management. 5.The student will identify traits of a successful crisis leader.

Poll Question

Have you ever been involved or impacted by a crisis (disaster, emergency event, or major incident)?

• (Involved means as a follower or a leader)

Yes_____ No_____

Poll Question

If you answered yes to the last poll how well was the crisis (disaster, emergency event, or major incident) handled by the leaders? Excellent ____ Good____ Okay____ Not so good ____ Very poorly_____

The Need for Skilled Crisis Leaders

• Acute threats; natural and human‐caused
• A crisis causes dramatic systems change
• Systems means a combination of related parts organized into a complex

whole.

• There are differences between management and leadership
• A crisis will affect multiple systems; there is a need to manage conflicting

goals, values, and responsibilities

• In addition to the impact on the population affected, there are workforce

changes

• What is the impact on people?
• Need to have multiple and flexible plans
• Crisis leaders must be able to influence others in a positive way; they can’t

rely on title or position alone

Leaders v. Followers

• Leaders work on the system.
• Followers react
• Leaders lead, spend time planning.
• Followers listen, spend time reacting.
• Leaders invest in people and prioritize.
• Followers spend time with people and fill the

calendar with requests.

Leadership vs. Management

• Leaders work on the system.
• Managers work within the system.
• Leaders do the right thing.
• Managers do things right.
• Both are important and are needed.

Essential Leadership Skill Set

• Collaborative leadership
• Systems thinking
• Creativity
• Emotional intelligence
• Risk communication
• Influence and negotiation
• Conflict management
• What is your leadership style?
• Maybe it is fluid and depends on the situation?
• Transformational (with a sprinkle of transactional as needed)
• Situational
• Servant

Leadership is Complex

• No one is given a set of directions or a plan
• Failure is not an option
• Leaders take into account the totality of

systems

• Leaders are held accountable for outcomes
• People are both predictable and unpredictable
• Leadership skills must be honed and sharpened
• Leadership exists at all levels of an organization

Defining/Measuring Crises

• A crisis can happen any

time, any where, to any

• rganization or

community

• Some are predictable;
• thers come unannounced
• Characterized by a high

degree of instability

• Carry potential for

extremely negative results

• Brings about dramatic

change

9/11/01 The day that changed everything

A record number of vehicles were involved in the Feb 22 crash on I‐95 in Stafford County, VA. The 117‐ vehicle pileup resulted in one fatality and 31 injuries. It was necessary for rescue personnel to cut the roof off some vehicles to remove the occupants. Some of the vehicles burned

Organizational Crisis Scenarios

• ALL HAZARDS
• Hostile take‐over (change in political group in power)
• Financial catastrophe (budget reductions; loss of grants)
• Loss of facilities/resources
• Employee sabotage/ violence
• Executive or employee(s) scandal/defection
• Strike/boycott
• Act of war
• Natural disaster
• Accident
• Terrorism/Crime

Comparing ICS with Crisis Leadership

• Incident Command

System

• Command
• Control
• Coordination
• Highly structured;

clear roles and responsibilities

• Training and

exercises are conducted regularly

• Crisis Leadership
• Leadership isn’t just

about title or position

• Leadership skills can

be learned/honed

• Communication
• Clarifying vision and

values

• Caring

Leadership’s Role in a Crisis

• Leaders set the tone by their example and conduct
• Leaders must pay attention to the components of

influence

• Positional Power
• Emotion
• Expertise
• Non Verbal signals
• Leaders can have a significant positive impact on the

very human, emotionally charged climate

• Leaders cannot rely only on authoritarian or fear tactics

to get results during a crisis

It’s like a war zone out there!

The military’s single peacetime focus is preparing for combat, the ultimate crisis situation because it involves life and death. A major element of the military’s training teaches soldiers how to deal with the range of emotions they will experience before, during, and after combat. These emotions generally include horror, apprehension, grief, rage, revenge, loneliness, sadness, repulsion, vigilance, anguish, and guilt. Military leaders know these emotions will be experienced and must be controlled or the soldiers will not be able to function

• n the battlefield.

Combat leaders must learn to deal with their own emotions as well as with the emotions of the soldiers under their charge. This is the same challenge civilian leaders face during a crisis, and they can expect the same kinds of emotional chaos to flow over the people in their organization and themselves.

Crisis Leadership, by Gene Klann, The Center for Creative Leadership (2003)

Communication

• Well‐honed

communication strategy

• Clear, articulate verbal

expression

• Careful listening
• Body language
• Clear, concise and

straightforward writing style

• Example: Sir Winston

Churchill during WW II

A Real Crisis Leader

• Three strikes and you’re not out! There is

always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor.

• A leader must ask, “What am I doing that I

should not be doing, and what am I not doing that I should be doing?”

• A leader must be visible and exhibit

confidence under any set of circumstances. The determination to prevail must be felt by all.

• A leader must always be ready! When there is

nothing going wrong, there’s nothing going wrong except there is nothing going wrong.

• Trust your instincts. Instincts and intuition

give you an immediate estimation of a situation.

A Real Crisis Leader

• Everything in leadership boils down to judgment.

Intelligence and good character does not imply you have good judgment.

• Study history and leadership qualities. Pay special

attention to why leaders fail.

• A person in a position of authority does not

automatically become immediately respected or

• trusted. This is earned.
• Every person in an organization is as important

and necessary to a mission as the next person. That goes from the top to the bottom.

• Instill the will to win. There can be no second‐

place trophies on display—awarded or accepted.

• Never deprive a person of their self‐respect.

NEVER!

A Real Crisis Leader

• To do well in any field of endeavor, it is an advantage

to work with good people.

• Strive to have one or two people around you who are

totally trustworthy.

• Spend quality time with the team, learning who they

are and what motivates them. Create a family.

• Great leaders learn to lead self first. Before you can

lead others, leading self successfully must be accomplished day in and day out.

• Successful leaders create the future.
• Leaders must lead. Be the first boots on the ground

and the last boots off.

Clarity of Vision and Values

• Personal and/or
• rganizational
• People need to

understand it; feel

• wnership; endorse it
• During a crisis, leaders

can leverage and use as a rallying point

• Example: Martin Luther

King, Jr. and civil rights

Caring

• Sincere interest and genuine

concern for others

• Treat with respect, dignity,

approval, appreciation, attention, significance, value and trust

• Presence; leading by

example

• Example: Mayor Rudy

Guliani during 9/11 response

Emotional Intelligence

• An ability and capacity to recognize your

personal feelings and the feelings and emotional reactions of others. (Goleman, 1998a)

• Leaders must also be able to manage their

emotions and feelings in their relationships with

• thers. (Rowitz, 2006)
• Emotional intelligence requires a balance

between heart and head

Competence

No amount of personality, political skills, or cracker‐barrel wit can disguise or overcome a deficit in basic technical and managerial competence. And almost nothing can multiply employee anxieties and reduce confidence more during crisis than a leader who is perceived to be marginally competent.

Crisis Leadership, by Gene Klann, The Center for Creative Leadership (2003)

Decisiveness

• Even a wrong decision that promotes action is better

than doing nothing.

• Influential decision making means gathering

information and getting input as soon as possible;

• knowing that all the information needed to make the

decision isn’t available;

• accepting that there are risks involved;
• getting recommendations from others;
• Listening to gut feelings;
• making the decisions that need to be made
• No analysis paralysis allowed

Courage

• To tell the truth under difficult circumstances, to

make hard decisions, to answer tough questions, to face the unhappy crowd, and to accept responsibility.

• Start with a clear code of personal values,

ethics, and standards

• Calculated risk‐taking
• It is okay to be scared, nervous, worried
• It is not okay to let these feelings stop you,

control you, or define you

Preparing for Crisis

• It’s never too early to prepare
• Leaders should begin with a self‐assessment
• Need to conduct an organizational assessment
• Focus on human resources and their readiness
• Do they clearly understand the vision/values?
• How do you demonstrate that you care?
• Systems View
• Community Assessment; Intra/Inter‐agency

assessment

Recovery and Rebuilding

• Remember, you are in a marathon, not a sprint
• Continuous assessment of progress
• Focus on mental health as well as physical health
• Enlist of the support of others
• 3 “C’s” still provide the model
• Communication, Cooperation, Coordination

&

• Command (Leadership & Management)
• Involve everyone in “lessons learned” events
• Understand what resiliency means and prepare for it.
• Bounce Back (Major General Bob Deeds)

To Recap

• Leaders must be engaged before, during,

and after a crisis

• Leaders must be familiar with ICS
• Crisis leaders must be skilled in

communication, clarifying vision and values, and demonstrate caring at all times—not just during a crisis

• Leaders need to take time to hone their

skills and reflect on their effectiveness

Poll Question

How prepared or ready are you right now to be an effective crisis leader? Very prepared ____ Prepared ____ Not very prepared

References

• Boin, A., Hart, P., Stern, E., & Sundelius, B. (2005). The politics of

crisis management public pressure under leadership. Cambridge University Press.

• Canton, L. G. (2007). Emergency management: Concepts and

strategies for effective programs. Wiley, (2007).

• Klann, G. (2003). Crisis leadership: How military lessons and

corporate experiences can help leaders find opportunity in times of

• chaos. Center for Creative Leadership.
• Mitroff, I. I. (2004). Crisis leadership planning for the unthinkable.

Wiley.