Creative Crisis Management

The modern workplace is dynamic, complex and ever-evolving. It can be

difficult enough just to get through an ordinary working week, but the

pressure really begins to mount as soon as anything goes wrong. And no

matter how much managers believe they have everything under control,

no one is immune from crisis.

From IT meltdowns to riots, from industrial accidents to fraud, unforeseen

events can have a devastating effect on organisations large and small.

Not only do these events pose significant threats to the continuing

operation of the business, they also stand to place significant emotional

and psychological strains on the people who work in it. And while some

crises are large-scale, immediate and obvious, others can creep up on an

organisation in subtle ways that are much harder to anticipate.

Given the scale of these challenges, it can be tempting to sink into a

kind of helpless resignation. But there is actually a huge amount that

organisations can do to prepare for crisis and respond to it. And while

some losses may be permanent after a disaster, the experience of crisis –

properly handled – can leave those involved with a renewed sense of their

own resilience and determination.

“When written in Chinese, the

word ‘crisis’ is composed of

two characters – one represents

danger, and the other represents

opportunity.”

John F. Kennedy, US President (1917–1963)

“Watch out for emergencies. They

are your big chance.”

Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (1888–1963)

“There can’t be a crisis next week.

My schedule is already full.”

Henry Kissinger, American politician (born 1923)

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Thinking about crisis

One thing that we know about crisis is that it closes down

people’s capacity to think clearly. The latest findings in

neuroscience show us how sudden and intense stress is

actually registered in a part of the brain that is not even

capable of rational creative thought.

As soon as we are placed under intense pressure, human

beings tend to focus on one thing and one thing only, and

that’s survival. They may do this in constructive ways, such

as organising themselves to get out of a burning building.

Or they may do it in a chaotic way which actually makes the

situation worse.

If we take an event like the Hillsborough Football disaster

in 1989, for instance, we see that unforeseen developments

can throw planning into disarray, setting off a chain of events

that cannot be controlled. Investigations into the tragedy

revealed that match organisers failed to understand the

crowd dynamics at the beginning of the day. In an attempt

to deal with the unexpected surge of Liverpool fans, people

were forced into confined spaces on the terraces, leading to

a crush at one end of the stadium.

As the pressure mounted, communication broke down,

decision-makers either panicked or froze, and the chain of

command between stadium officials and police collapsed.

The contingency plans that were in place could not deal

with the rapidly unfolding reality, which led to a fragmented

response to the developing events. Almost 100 people died

that day.

Close analysis of many crises also reveals that while technical

mistakes in response to unforeseen events may be to blame

on the surface, the underlying root causes may be much

harder to spot, lying embedded within an organisation’s

culture.

In the investigation following the explosion of the Challenger

Space Shuttle in 1986, it eventually emerged that engineers

knew about faulty parts months before take-off. It was also

established, however, that a culture had developed within

NASA that made people feel unable to speak up about

Creative Crisis Management 2

perceived problems. The reasons for this were many and

varied, but the overwhelming pressure to deliver a functional

space programme combined with a fear of being ostracised

if they spoke up drove many engineers into silence.

Both Hillsborough and the Challenger disaster show that

people under intense pressure begin to make bad decisions.

This can happen both before a crisis, when people fail to

plan adequately and clearly identify the risks that lie ahead,

and it can happen during a crisis, when communication and

flexibility collapse into chaos and incoherence.

In both disasters, it is also important to notice that early

warnings of trouble were either ignored or not passed on. In

some instances, people simply felt they couldn’t speak up.

Creative Crisis Management 3

Practical guidelines

While it will never be possible to anticipate every risk that

you and your team face, it is more than possible – essential,

in fact – to ensure that when disaster strikes, it does not

come as a complete surprise. Harvard Business School

suggests the following steps:

Identify potential crises. One step you can take right now

is to pull out a piece of paper and write down the ten worst

things that could happen in your organisation. It doesn’t

matter how far-fetched they are at this stage. The important

thing is that you’ve thought about the threats that you face.

Potential perils might include accidents and natural events,

health and environmental disasters, technical meltdowns,

economic and market downturns or violence. It is useful to

consult as widely as possible when auditing potential crises.

You may be the manager, but you may be unaware of a lot of

what’s going on in your organisation.

The next step is to prioritise possible crises. You do this

by looking at both the impact of the potential disaster and

its probability. While an asteroid strike may be devastating,

there’s very little chance it will happen. The loss of a major

account, however, may not devastate your company, but it

is much more likely to happen. Doing these calculations will

spare you spending precious resources needlessly.

Deal with the small stuff . Many crises start out as small

problems. From minor technical glitches to communication

difficulties between key personnel, a lot of problems can be

solved relatively easily, as long as they are address promptly.

If you just hope they will go away on their own, however, you

run the risk of seeing those small problems escalate into

significant crises.

Learning to make sense

As we have seen, then, crises are driven by both technical

factors, such as faulty equipment and inaccurate contingency

plans, and human factors, such as a breakdown in thinking

and communication. It follows, then, that robust crisis

management must address both.

On the technical side, this means ensuring that your team is

well trained and is using well-designed equipment, accurate

operating manuals and checklists and is briefed in relevant

standard operating procedures.

The human side can be harder to achieve, but organisational

psychologists agree that it means creating an atmosphere in

teams in which people feel they can speak up without fear

of retaliation. It also means that managers remain flexible

and accessible and are willing to listen to different points

of view.

If a climate of open and healthy communication prevails

during times of calm, your team will be much better placed

to do what researchers describe as “sense-making”, that

is to say they are able to adapt and understand rapidly

evolving environments and demands.

According to research conducted by Amy Edmonson, an

associate professor at Harvard Business School, resilient

teams that are able to learn quickly from experience are those

whose members feel comfortable making suggestions,

trying things that might not work, pointing out potential

problems, and admitting mistakes. By contrast, when

people feel uneasy acting this way, the learning process is

stifled and teams run the risk of experiencing a collapse in

sense-making in response to acute stress.

Apart from acts of violence and terrorism, disasters are

more often than not caused by oversight and inaction. If you

feel that your organisations procedures and policies have

become vague and out-of-date, it’s time for a reappraisal.

Plan, plan, plan. Contingency planning involves doing as

much thinking and organising as possible before a crisis

strikes. It is essential, therefore, to create a crisis response

team that can take the list of potential crises that your

organisation faces, fully assess the scope of the problems

and develop a flexible set of response plans. These plans

should include a communication strategy, outlining who will

say what to whom and when. They should then be tested

regularly in live simulations.

Listen to the warnings . Health and safety warnings are often

the precursor to some kind of crisis. All too often, though,

it’s warnings from employees that go unheeded. Managers

need to create a working environment in which employees

feel empowered to speak up about potential problems and

pitfalls. Research shows that teams with clarity of vision and

a robust set of shared values will tend to collaborate more

effectively in times of challenge.

Don’t forget the human factor. When disaster does finally

strike, it’s very easy for managers to become focused purely

on technical procedures, which can seem more secure and

predictable than having to face emotional turmoil among

their staff. As we’ve seen, it’s crucial to have well thought-

through contingency plans in place. Time after time, however,

a bad situation is made worse because organisations fail to

address the emotional needs of their people.

Creative Crisis Management 4

Thinking Through Crisis: Improving Teamwork

and Leadership in High-Risk Fields

by Amy L. Fraher

Books

Crisis Management: Master the Skills

to Prevent Disasters

by Harvard Business Essentials

Managing Through Turbulent Times:

The 7 Rules of Crisis Management

by Anthony Holmes

One of the first confusions of a crisis is that you might not

know where all your people are, so creating some kind of

check-in web page or centralised telephone crisis line is

crucial. In times of rapid change, speculation and rumour

mongering will often fill the void if management does not

communicate what is going on to people. So communicating

liberally with everyone involved is a sure way to minimise

the anxiety they may be feeling. If you don’t yet know

what’s going on, tell people that, but reassure them that

you are trying to find out. Scheduling regular updates can

give people a framework to rely on. Having top people at the

scene of the crisis also sends a powerful message that you

think the situation is important.

All of these measures will begin to stabilise what feels like

a frightening and unpredictable situation. This will in turn

restore people’s capacity to think clearly and make creative

decisions. For managers themselves, who can easily feel

flooded with the widespread anxiety that surrounds them,

seeking out their own sources of support is essential. This

might be a trusted friend, senior colleague or your GP.

Learn from the experience. However unprepared you may

feel to face a particular crisis, the experience will provide you

with invaluable learning, insight and experience … as long

as you take the time to capture it. This process needs to start

during the crisis itself. Someone should be documenting

who did what and when. Daily crisis team meetings should

always give some time to discussing what new things

were learned today. In the aftermath of a crisis, the crucial

questions to be asked include:

What were the warning signs?

Could we have seen them earlier?

Did we have a solid plan?

What went well?

What mistakes did we make?

Trauma researchers have discovered that most people tend

to under-estimate the likelihood of being involved in a critical

incident, at some point in their lives. While this shouldn’t

mean a retreat into risk-averse withdrawal from life, it does

mean that we need to face up to the reality of crisis.

Crisis events will always take us by surprise to a certain

degree. Trauma, almost by definition, is unexpected. But

for anyone working in an organisational setting, especially

managers, research also shows that sound preparation can

help lessen the impact of disaster and create an environment

in which teams and the people who work in them can adapt,

recover and grow in the aftermath of crisis.

(This helpsheet is intended for informational purposes only and does not represent any form of clinical diagnosis. While every effort has been made to ensure that the content is accurate, relevant and current, Fully Focused Solutions accepts no liability for any errors or omissions contained herein. The list of books is provided for interest only and Fully Focused Solutions is not responsible for their availability, accuracy, or content).

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