There is a raging debate on one of the LinkedIn groups about "Who is the best person to lead people during a crisis?"
"Someone with experience doing what needs to be done."
"Someone who has crisis management experience."
"The business continuity planner."
I've been watching the debate - and its both good and educational - since it commenced.
Then it hit me: The person probably - and that's the operative word, "probably" - best qualified is someone who has been a squad or platoon leader in a combat situation.
Squad and platoon leaders - the sergeants, not the lieutenants - catch it from all sides. The enemy is making their life miserable. The Company commander is pressing to complete the mission.
Meanwhile, the squad/platoon leader is just trying to keep the troops alive and safe.
A field medic also might be a good candidate if the medic has had to operate under fire or if the medic was faced with more wounded than can be accommodated. (Been there, done that, and learned that this practitioner, while I am an excellent planner, I am a not crisis mode commander.)
I do not think the "crisis mode commander" need be a responder with a specific duty other than to make certain the tasks that need to be performed are performed and "meet spec."
The crisis mode commander, I think, needs to be able to direct the troops; he or she needs to stand aside and let others do what they are trained to do.
That's Management 101 - MANAGE the situation.
That's a hard job for people who need to get their hands dirty, who see something that needs doing and insist on doing it "right now" versus getting someone else to do whatever needs to be done.
The crisis mode commander has one job: commanding the troops, managing the troops.
It's unfortunate, but I suspect we have all too many people with squad and platoon leader-under-fire experience, and we have all too many medics who had more wounded than they could care for, and yes, I know about triage.
Why not simply assign a C*O as the crisis mode commander? After all, the C*O does management jobs all day long.
Why not? Because the C*O, like this practitioner, may be excellent in everyday, minimal stress operations but may fail as a crisis mode commander.
Crisis mode commanders
- need to be able to delegate
- need to trust the Subject Matter Experts to do their jobs "to spec"
- need to control, as much as possible, outside interference so responders don't get frustrated by outside pressures
- need to be able to deal with Very Senior Management to assure that VSMs don't try to highjack or redirect the response effort
- must be cool under fire
- must be able to change directions if it's necessary - but must also know when to maintain course; decisions must be made, sometimes with incomplete information
- must realize that they probably will make a mistake - we all do - and have enough self confidence to get on with the job at hand
The crisis mode commander's onlyresponse function is to control responders, not to perform another response task - not to hang tapes, not to handle communications with the media, not to help HR handle travel and lodging, not to keep track of expenses, but to assure these tasks ARE accomplished.
The bottom line is that the crisis mode commander can be anyone - man or woman, staff or management - who can keep his or her head and direct others.
One caveat: All personnel - absolutely everyone - needs to know that the crisis mode commander and the crisis mode commander-alternate have VSM's full confidence and authority.
As for the risk management practitioner - maybe that person should serve in the role of go-fer as in "go for this" and "go for that."
One minor catch: How to identify a potential crisis mode commander?
Exercises and training, training and exercises - again and again, adding as much pressure as can be brought to bear. It's better if someone "breaks" during an exercise than later when it's the "real thing."
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