Crisis Leadership A Guide For Leaders

In the context of our increasingly VUCA world and with the proliferation of modern crises, crisis management has evolved into a key task area that is no longer critical only to the energy, aviation, and security sectors and neither is it only the work of appointed crisis managers. Beyond the traditional acute crises, there are creeping crises, looming crises and black swan events, and also crises that have multiple, differentiated and non-linear trajectories. What then are the structures and capabilities necessary for organisations and leaders to be prepared to face this diverse range of modern crisis situations?The book presents several key competencies that crisis leaders and managers should possess and develop for effective crisis management. For instance, leaders would have to possess digital and cross-cultural competence, embody adaptive authenticity, manage tasks, engage in collective sensemaking, display transformative and agile leadership, and manage misinformation. The genesis of the qualities entailed a literature review, opinion surveys administered to officers who manage crises in their roles, and interviews with leaders and incident managers, as well as discussions with subject matter experts on the topic of Crisis Leadership. This book offers practitioners a better understanding of essential crisis leadership qualities and practical recommendations for action and development.Beyond the crisis leader, the book will also highlight the importance of the crisis-ready organisation and network. The interplay between the crisis leader and the broader organisational and operating systems in shaping effective crisis management will be discussed, with implications for leaders and organisations in developing and enhancing the crisis ecosystem so that crises can be effectively prevented, managed and learned from.

Business leaders would be better served by understanding key crisis concepts and applying them to their own situation rather than relying on crisis advisors to swoop in to take care of a problem once it has become a crisis. Loaded with Case Studies! How leaders deal with crisis can clarify character and strengthen reputation. On the other hand, the wrong words and actions from the C-Suite can worsen the crisis spiral. Crisis management does not begin on the day the fire erupts, the hurricane barrels through, or the accident happens. Dr. Jo Robertson, a leading expert in heading off and containing crisis, lays out the key concepts that business leaders need to apply to their own organizations so they don’t have to rely on outside crisis advisors to swoop in and save the day.

Modern organizational life seems dominated by crisis BP and the Gulf Oil spill, TEPCO and the Japanese tsunami, the global financial meltdown. Therefore it is particularly timely to find a collection of articles in this Handbook that provides research guidance and practical insights on how leaders manage or mismanage in crisis situations. The focus on the crisis leader highlights what they do, and how they do it, while at the same time raising important questions to guide subsequent analysis. Sydney Finkelstein, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth, US and author of Why Smart Executives Fail With contributions from many of the leading researchers in the field, the Handbook of Research on Crisis Leadership in Organizations summarizes much of the theory, research, and opinion about various facets of crisis leadership in order to advance this emerging field. It recognizes that crises have become an almost inevitable part of organizational life, and describes how leaders can facilitate people getting through the crisis. The Handbook is divided into four parts: attributes and behaviors of the crisis leader; leadership of subordinates during a crisis; managing the present crisis and prevent future crises; and an integration of approaches to understanding crisis leadership. Enough knowledge has been accumulated about crisis leadership in organizations to serve as guidelines for practice, as well as a research base to build on for the future. Leaders must help others get through crises as well as prevent them. Researchers in the field of crisis leadership and crisis management will find this important resource invaluable. Academics and students of organizational behavior, industrial and organizational psychology, and management will also find much of interest and might also suggest the book as a valuable addition to their library as an important resource in the field of crisis leadership. Human resource professionals in larger organizations as well as management consultants who endeavor to acquire advanced knowledge about this field will find the practical aspects of keen interest as well.

A major investor is on line one, CNN is on line two, and social media is exploding in anger. When you're a 'Leader Under Fire,' the next few moments can be an incredible opportunity... or they can destroy your career.In the past, companies prepared for crisis with expensive, static crisis communications plans. The pace was slower. You had time to process and plan a response with your senior team and lawyers. But those old-school plans don't work anymore. Many companies these days have no plan whatsoever and are simply sitting ducks.Today, managing a PR crisis is ALL about speed. With 24-hour news cycles and social media mobs, if you're not controlling your message by lunchtime, you could be convicted in the court of public opinion before dinner. Speed kills careers.'Leaders Under Fire' is for anyone who values their reputation, and understands how fragile it is today. Leaders who have spent decades building reputations have seen them destroyed in minutes. We'll help you avoid those traps.This executive-length book uses real-life examples to illustrate what works - and what doesn't - in managing a crisis. We'll also introduce you to two fictional CEO's who handle their crisis in very different ways. You can follow their story throughout the book as they learn some lessons the hard way - so you don't have to.

This book is for anyone who is interested in crisis leadership. The concepts offered apply to anyone whether he or she is a seasoned leader or inspiring new one, for public or private life, for any type of crisis or any type of discipline. This is a comprehensive examination of all aspects of crisis leadership. We will cover several overarching themes. We will look at the skills needed to be an effective crisis leader. We will examine leadership styles, how best to communicate in a crisis, and the human component of a crisis. We will examine the team concept of crisis management. We will look at how leadership can and should function during the prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery phases of a crisis. We will examine decision making and problem solving. We consider how we might use after action reporting to enhance future responses or prevent, prepare for, or mitigate crises.

Uniquely two-books-in-one, this 2nd Edition of Blindsided covers both Crisis Response and Crisis Preparedness and interweaves the principles of Crisis Leadership through every phase. Intensely experiential, the book lands you in the middle of a fast-breaking crisis and uses riveting case studies/examples to demonstrate what a top-notch leader would say and do at every turn. Then, based on this eye-opening simulation, the author uses his 30 years of global crisis experience to show you how to write and implement a real-world crisis management plan. Blythe has divided Blindsided into two operational sections: Crisis Response and Crisis Preparedness. His emphasis throughout is on the often-neglected human side of crisis management, going beyond protecting tangible assets and instilling principled concern for human well-being into every decision. Part 1. Crisis Response: Using the technique of focused imagery, Blythe places you in a dramatic and realistic scenario. You're now an unprepared manager blindsided by the reality of an active shooter loose in your building. Some workers may already be injured or dead. What's your next move? How do you make sure everybody is safe? How do you set up teams, command centers, crisis containment, and effective communication? How do you protect your corporate reputation? Can you rebuild the spirit, cohesion, and productivity of employees in the post-crisis "new normal"? At the start of the book, before you faced the sudden crisis in this simulation, a crisis response plan may have been a project for 'someday', now it's a priority. Part 2. Crisis Preparedness: Now you embark on building a crisis response plan – or enhancing the one you have. Blythe guides you and your teams to analyze foreseeable risks, evaluate existing controls, add new ones, test and re-evaluate the plan. Analyzing the behavior of national and world leaders, you distinguish clearly the two kinds of leaders who emerge in a crisis: the "crisis whisperer" who becomes a calm center in the storm, and the one in the "crisis red zone," worsening the situation with every word and every decision. You learn to employ the Be-Know-Do leadership model (adapted from military) that has been implemented by senior management teams throughout the world. Blindsided includes practical forms, checklists, case studies, real-life examples, glossary, index, discussion questions, and other take-and-use tools, including: Quick Use Response Guide: Each chapter ends with a summary checklist, all 15 can form a ready-reference pocket guide. Incident Checklists for 9 Major Crises: Practical checklists for accidental deaths, aircraft crash, chemical/toxic exposure, civil unrest, earthquake, explosion/fire, flood, kidnap ransom, shooting, plus 20 other foreseeable risks. 20-Page Guide for Addressing Families of the Injured: What to say/do to help families of fatalities or seriously injured with medical/financial assistance, emotional support and training teams assigned to work with them. Your next crisis will happen when least expected, but with Blythe's guidance, you'll never again be blindsided!

This book examines a relatively unexplored area of leadership research – personal aspects of leadership – by considering the impact of leaders navigating their own personal crises on their relationships with teams, peers, and supervisors. Through original research as well as an integrative review of the literature, Hickman and Knouse focus on the "leader-as-person in crisis," including the real-life personal crises and experiences of leaders. This important volume offers a detailed and thoughtful description of intersecting factors that contribute to the ways in which leaders experience and cope with personal crises to spur additional research attention to this neglected area. This book also offers current and prospective leaders advice and direction on effectively navigating personal crises.

"Nothing tests a leader like a crisis. The highly charged, dramatic events surrounding a crisis profoundly affect the people in an organization and can even threaten the organization's survival. But there are actions a leader can take before, during, and after a crisis to effectively reduce the duration and impact of these extremely difficult situations. At its center, effective crisis leadership is comprised of three things - communication, clarity of vision and values, and caring relationships. Leaders who develop, pay attention to, and practice these qualities go a long way toward handling the human dimension of a crisis. In the end, it's all about the people."