Journal

Defining and Preparing for Crisis Leadership

Leaders must be able to identify when they are in the midst of a crisis. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires that affect your organization are easy to recognize as a crisis. More difficult to label as a crisis can be situations such as revenue decline or sexual harassment allegations. Bass (2008) defines crises within an organization as “sudden, acute, and of great magnitude. They are outside the organization’s typical operations, but they place extreme demands on the organization, especially on managers’ [leaders’] time and attention” (p. 837). For example, when Cambridge Analytica swiped personal data from over 50 million Facebook users, Mark Zuckerburg , Facebook’s CEO, quickly found himself in the middle of a crisis. The situation happened suddenly, and Zuckerburg’s normal schedule changed instantly when he learned of the news.

Crisis leadership is the behavior, attitude, and skill of the leader who navigates the tumultuous waters of a crisis. DuBrin (2016) defines crisis leadership as “the process of leading group members through a sudden and largely unanticipated, intensely negative, and emotionally draining circumstance” (p. 163). In April 2015, Blue Bell (Gibson, 2018) stopped ice cream production after 10 people were hospitalized and 3 people died from listeria contamination. Later that month, Blue Bell recalled eight million gallons of ice cream and laid off 1,450 employees. Blue Bell’s CEO, Paul Kruse, was suddenly in a negative and emotionally draining crisis.

Tim Johnson (2018), crisis leadership consultant, views crisis leadership in a unique way. He first identifies competencies and behaviors that are critical in everyday effective leadership. Through his research, Johnson notes the following critical leadership competencies for every organization on a typical day:

· remains flexible and changes opinions

· communicates openly and often

· keeps a group organized and on task

· clarifies objectives, rewards, and consequences

Similarly, he also recognizes effective leadership behaviors as the following:

· passion

· compassion

· resilience

Johnson (2018) argues that these competencies and behaviors are essential in crisis leadership as well. He concludes, therefore, that there is no difference in the necessary leadership competencies of everyday organizational leaders and leaders leading through crisis. Instead, he argues that what is different is the situation with its extreme pressures that test the leader’s capability in moving between the competencies with agility, “pulling at different levers at different moments in the crisis” (p. 14). How prepared are you as a leader to act with these competencies and behaviors? As you go through Dallas Baptist University’s Master of Arts in Leadership program, keep in mind that you are preparing yourself for a crisis. You are honing the competencies and behaviors necessary to be at your best when the circumstances are at their worst. For today’s journal reflection, you will complete a self-assessment quiz to gauge how prepared you are to handle a crisis.  

Crisis leadership provides strength and stability. Early in Samuel’s calling as Israel’s prophetic leader, he faced a colossal challenge. However, Samuel demonstrated the competency and the character necessary to lead the Israelites through the crisis. The Israelites had gathered at Mizpah to fast and to confess their sins, returning to the Lord and recommitting their lives to love and to serve the Lord only (7:1-5). The Philistines, Israel’s dreaded and powerful enemy, heard of the gathering, assembled an army, and set out to attack Israel (7:7). Samuel was at the forefront of a life or death crisis for an entire nation. The Israelites were afraid for their lives. Samuel stepped in as the leader and provided the strength necessary to move forward in spite of the overwhelming fear that gripped his followers. Bass (2008) writes, “Clear, confident direction is important for effective leadership when panic is imminent” (p. 838). Crisis leadership delivers strength and stability to followers in times of fear and uncertainty.

For example, when this author served as a head football coach at a high school, one of his players died in a tragic car accident late one Friday night after a football game. A family member called to let me know what had happened on Saturday morning. By Sunday evening, the entire school had assembled in our auditorium and looked to me for words of strength. Fortunately, I had served for some time as the pastor of a church that experienced the loss of several church members—two of those deaths were suicides. Drawing on the experiences of ministering to those families, I stood before the school and offered hope and comfort through Scripture. In leadership, you will need to comfort your followers, offering assurance and hope of brighter days ahead. Are you ready?

Crisis leadership relies on preparation. Samuel was ready. He was prepared and knew exactly what to do. 1 Samuel 7:9 reads, “Samuel took the suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord.” Samuel had watched, listened, and practiced under the mentorship of Eli. Samuel took his leadership preparation seriously. When his leadership was needed in a time of duress, Samuel did not waver because he possessed the knowledge and the confidence to lead under pressure. Using a contemporary sports analogy, Michael Jordan wanted the basketball in the last seconds of a close game. He had the confidence and the skill to hit the winning shot. Jordan’s confidence was the result of hours and hours of preparation. Likewise, Samuel had mastered the leadership skills necessary for leading in a crisis.

Ian Mitroff (2002), Professor Emeritus of management at the University of Southern California, developed a table to help leaders prepare for a crisis. Take time to study the table below. The table identifies six major types of crises for which leaders of organizations should be prepared. It also offers examples of the major types of crises.

Finally, in preparing for a crisis, Johnson (2018) offers an important warning about optimism bias. He writes, “A surfeit of optimism can infuse leadership with a dangerous sugar rush. … This ‘it-will-be-alright’ defense mechanism that we call on, consciously and subconsciously, on innumerable occasions every day, can lead to a profoundly worrying sense of invulnerability” (pp. 20-24). Leaders with this optimism bias do not prepare for a crisis because they are busy handling other things, and they think a crisis will not happen to them. Christians may be especially prone to this laxity, noting faith and God’s provision as an excuse. The temptation is to think, “I don’t need to prepare because God is on my side.” This is carelessness on the part of the Christian leader, which God does not honor. In fact, such negligence potentially leaves the leader responsible for unnecessary suffering to those they shepherd. As Christian leaders, we must steward our organizations well and prepare for any potential crisis.    

This means creating a crisis-ready culture (Johnson, 2018). The leader will set the tone throughout the organization to be crisis-ready through his or her behavior. If the leader talks about and takes concrete steps to be ready for a crisis, followers will also embrace the urgency of being ready for a crisis. This author remembers being a young staffer at DBU and hearing stories from other staffers on how diligent DBU was about preventing fires on campus during the celebration of the 4th of July. The University staffed “fire scouts” around campus to watch for any fire threats. The fact that other staff personnel told me about this communicated the overall importance of being ready for a crisis on DBU’s campus. 

Crisis leadership trusts God rather than men. Samuel trusted God for Israel’s protection rather than trusting in men. Samuel could have easily become distracted with mobilizing an Israelite army and arranging for war supplies. However, Samuel focused his attention and the attention of the Israelites on God’s divine help.

He [Samuel] cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him. While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar (1 Samuel 7:9-11, NIV).

We can see from Israel’s response that they were ready for battle. Israel was armed for war, but the passage never discusses when and how they got ready for the battle. Rather, the focus is on prayer and petitioning God for his help. In the midst of crisis preparation, Christian leaders keep the focus on trusting God rather than their own skills and plans.

Crisis leadership gives God glory. Finally, leaders in crisis always give credit where credit is due. In verse 12, Samuel, “took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’” (NIV). Samuel gave the credit to God for the victory. He celebrated with the Israelites by worshiping God and creating a monument for everyone to remember what God did that day on their behalf. When the dust settles from the crisis, the leader refrains from taking any credit for seeing people through. Instead, he or she becomes a lead worshiper of God’s greatness and creates a remembrance of God’s provision.