The majority of businesses do not recognise the importance of or appropriately address the issue of crisis leadership, according to an international expert in crisis risk management.
There is often an “optimism bias” that leads very capable business leaders to assume that the same traits or skill set that helps them succeed in routine business matters will enable them to function as effective leaders during a crisis or disaster, said Steven Crimando, MD of the extreme behavioral risk management division of the AllSector Technology Group.
“That assumption is often not accurate and can have dire consequences for the leader and the organisation,” he said.
“In general, people in high-stress and high-fear situations do not rise to the occasion but rather default to the way the most often handle situations, and such a response can contribute to flawed decision-making.”
Crimando, who trains multinational corporations and US government agencies in disaster recovery, business continuity and homeland security, said that the first thing that comes to most peoples’ mind about the emotional response to disasters and an emergency is traumatic stress.
He said one of the most common flaws in organisational crisis plans is that there is no recognition of how human behavior, in employees and leaders, as well as others, in policy, plans or exercises.
Another common flaw is that, if there is any recognition of these human factors, that it is based on inaccurate assumptions about how people will really react to different disaster or crisis scenarios.
“Organisations that develop plans based on solid behavioral assumptions about how leaders and employees will respond, and rehearse that in behaviorally-accurate exercises put themselves in the best position to effectively manage a real emergency or crisis,” he said.
“It is important to remember that, perfect practice makes perfect.”
He said organisations developing plans or holding drills and exercises that do not accurately reflect the realities of the emotional and behavior consequences of disasters can find themselves well down the wrong path in an actual emergency response.
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