Crisis Leadership Competence: An Important

Crisis Leadership Competence: An Important Consideration When Hiring New Leaders

It is often said that the only true test of leadership is the need to confront a crisis. No organization can assume that a crisis will not occur during a leader's watch. This truism has been tested on numerous occasions in recent years, after the dot.com bubble burst; in the aftermath of September 11th; and during the more recent economic crisis in the credit and mortgage markets. Crises do not have to be epic in scale, however. Even small organizational crises demand effective leadership. Furthermore, the damage control needed to confront a crisis should not begin on day one of an event. Rather, crisis management should be part of the organization's contingency planning for a variety of 'what if' scenarios. The organization's mentality should not be what to do if a crisis occurs, but what types of crises are likely to loom on the horizon, and how should it cope with them.

The most critical aspects of dealing with a crisis, according to management theorist Erika Hayes James are detection; preparation and prevention; containment; recovery; and learning (James 2008). It could be added that these steps are critical to a more general approach to management of day-to-day affairs: detecting new trends, for example and capitalizing upon positive aspects of the future while seeking to minimize the impact of negative future events. Learning is also a necessary and constant process regarding both good and bad events. All organizations should keep metrics to determine if they are meeting the critical success factors and benchmarks. Reassessing organizational development post-crisis must likewise become a regular part of organizational standard operating procedures. Thus a good leader and a good crisis preventer and crisis manager are synonymous.

The need for constant regrouping and transformation further underlines another essential aspect of crisis management: turning negative experiences into positive ones. Although a crisis can be traumatic for an organization -- financially and emotionally -- the lessons learned will hopefully create a better, leaner, and more effective structure that is better suited to deal with the future. Leaders who are fluent in crisis management are not afraid of crises because they have engaged in the necessary planning and preparation, have a number of coping skills to deal with a variety of scenarios, and are skilled at turning potential negatives into positives. They are adaptable, and can quickly readjust strategies to suit present needs, rather than remain stuck in one specific plan for the future.