Key Principles for Effective Crisis Leadership

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Key Principles for Effective Crisis Leadership

• Joyce Gaufin, Executive Director
• Great Basin Public Health
• Leadership Institute
• April 5, 2006
• Salt Lake City, Utah

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• Year-long program in advanced leadership skills
• 75 Graduates 39 new scholars
• Member of the National Public Health Leadership
  Development Network
• Faculty of national and local experts
• Incorporates on-site training, distance learning,
  self-study,
• and delivery of a project

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The Need for Skilled Crisis Leaders

• Acute threats natural and human-caused
• A crisis causes dramatic systems change
• There are differences between management and
  leadership
• A crisis will affect multiple systems there is a
  need to manage conflicting goals, values, and
  responsibilities

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Overview (continued)

• 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 cant rely on title or
  position alone

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Establishing Crisis Competencies

• Comprehensive set of over 27 leadership
  competencies
• EMS already has a well-defined plan for operating
  during emergencies ICS
• Leaders from all groups should become familiar
  with their local Incident Command System
• Crisis Leadership Cycle Before, during, and
  after an event

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Essential Leadership Skill Set

• Collaborative leadership
• Systems thinking
• Creativity
• Emotional intelligence
• Risk communication
• Influence and negotiation
• Conflict management

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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

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Defining/Measuring Crises

• A crisis can happen any time, any where, to any
  organization or community
• Some are predictable others come unannounced
• Characterized by a high degree of instability
• Carry potential for extremely negative results
• Brings about dramatic change

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9/11/01 The day that changed everything
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SARS and Pandemic Flu
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Dammeron Fire Complex, Southern Utah, July, 2005,
photo by K. Sharkey
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Organizational Crisis Scenarios

• Hostile take-over (change in political group in
  power)
• Financial catastrophe (budget reductions loss of
  grants)
• Loss of facilities/resources
• Employee sabotage/ violence
• Executive scandal/defection
• Strike/boycott
• Act of war
• Natural disaster
• Industrial accident
• Terrorism

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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 isnt just about title or position
• Leadership skills can be learned/honed
• Communication
• Clarifying vision and values
• Caring

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Leaderships Role in a Crisis

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

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Reference Book

• Crisis Leadership Using Military Lessons,
  Organizational Experiences, and the Power of
  Influence to Lessen the Impact of Chaos on the
  People You Lead
• Gene Klann, Ph.D., Center for Creative
  Leadership, 2003
• Use of key influencing skills/tactics to help
  people before, during and after crisis

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Its like a war zone out there!

• The militarys single peacetime focus is
  preparing for combat, the ultimate crisis
  situation because it involves life and death. A
  major element of the militarys 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 on 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)

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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

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Editorial Yes, we're worth itFrom The
Times-Picayune, Sept. 2, 2005 (edited)

• Even as people from New Orleans desperately
  search for their family members and rescue
  workers patrol the region in boats, hack through
  roofs and try to pluck survivors out, some people
  in other parts of the country have begun to blame
  us, the victims. Our crime? Choosing to live in
  New Orleans.Especially heartless were U.S.
  House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the writers of
  an editorial that appeared Wednesday in the
  Republican-American, a newspaper in Waterbury,
  Conn. Mr. Hastert was quoted by the Daily Herald
  of Arlington Heights, Ill., saying it makes no
  sense to rebuild New Orleans where it is. "It
  looks like a lot of that place could be
  bulldozed," he said.
• After Mr. Hastert made his insensitive comments,
  his press secretary tried to spin them. The
  speaker didn't mean that there shouldn't be a New
  Orleans, the spokesperson said. He was just
  suggesting that as they rebuild, officials give
  serious thought to how future destruction could
  be prevented. That goes without saying. We're
  much more sophisticated now than we were when the
  city was founded in the 18th century. Of course
  our officials are going to rebuild in such a way
  that reduces the threat of future
  devastation.At least President Bush realizes
  how valuable we are. He flew over the
  storm-ravaged areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and
  Alabama on Wednesday afternoon and seems
  sincerely sorrowful for all the people whose
  lives have been irreversibly changed by this
  storm. His promise to send aid, and lots of it,
  was encouraging. It's going to take a huge amount
  of money to rebuild New Orleans and a similarly
  large amount of assistance to sustain the
  hundreds of thousands of people who have been
  displaced.

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Risk Communication

• 1 N 3 P
• (One negative statement is equal to three
• positive statements)
• Vince Covello, PhD, Speaker
• National Public Health Leadership Development
  Network
• April, 2003

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Clarity of Vision and Values

• Personal and/or organizational
• People need to understand it feel ownership
  endorse it
• During a crisis, leaders can leverage and use as
  a rallying point
• Example Martin Luther King, Jr. and civil
  rights

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Editorial Where is the cavalry?From The
Times-Picayune, Sept. 1, 2005 (edited)

• The lack of a law enforcement presence is
  stunning. It is apparent that no one -- neither
  New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass nor state
  and federal officials -- were prepared for what
  would come after Katrina had passed through.Not
  only did they not have basic communication plans
  in place locally, there seems to have been no
  strategy to get the hundreds of military and law
  enforcement officers on the ground who were
  needed to establish order immediately.The city
  police officers who are on the streets don't know
  what the overarching strategy is and have had
  little or no communication with top brass.Of
  course, this sort of horrific event is far beyond
  the ability of any single law enforcement agency.
  But that should have been obvious from the time
  Katrina entered the Gulf. Virtually everyone
  involved in public safety has failed the people
  left in New Orleans who are trying desperately to
  survive.

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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

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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
  others. (Rowitz, 2006)
• Emotional intelligence requires a balance between
  heart and head

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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)
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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 isnt
  available accepting that there are risks
  involved getting recommendations from others
  listening to gut feelings making the decisions
  that need to be made

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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

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Preparing for Crisis

• Its 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

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• Exercise What Makes a Leader?
• Purpose To understand the traits of a
  successful leader
• Key Concepts Leadership, emotional intelligence
• Procedures
• Write down 10 traits of a successful leader.
• How many of these 10 traits do you have?
• How many of these traits relate to emotional
  intelligence?
• What do you have to do to demonstrate more of
  these traits?

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Recovery and Rebuilding

• Remember, you are in a marathon, not a sprint
• Continuous assessment of progress
• Focus on mental health
• Enlist of the support of others
• 3 Cs still provide the model
• Involve everyone in lessons learned events

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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 timesnot just during a crisis
• Leaders need to take time to hone their skills
  and reflect on their effectiveness

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Contact Information

• Joyce R. Gaufin, Executive Director
• Great Basin Public Health Leadership Institute
• 348 East 4500 South, 300
• Salt Lake City, UT 84107
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email Jgaufin_at_healthinsight.org