How can you effectively manage conflicts during an emergency?

Managing conflicts during emergencies is crucial for maintaining order and safety. Your outlined steps provide a solid foundation for handling such situations effectively. It's also important to remain adaptable and open to new strategies, as each emergency may present unique challenges.

Since there is conflict during an emergency situation, the resolution needs to be time-bound. 1. Empowering the right level for decision making 2. Conflict management through conversations around defining priorities & clarity in communication. 3. Defining roles & responsibilities matrix for driving the solution (e.g. someone can be nominated as leader) 4. Resources to be made available for coming to a solution e.g. problem solving tools, access to legal counsel, finance etc 5. Monitoring the entire process without actually intervening 6. Having a diversity observer who ensures that all voices are heard 7. All the possible solutions then to be weighed & to select one solution 8. A lessons learned session to share the experience

Leadership is an art crafted over time, much like a masterful marketing campaign. Drawing from 25+ years in digital marketing, I've seen firsthand how stepping back to assess a situation is crucial. Whether navigating the fast-paced realms of AD-Tech or decoding the nuances of Programmatic, the key is to understand before acting. As a certified expert with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, I assure you that resolving conflict begins with a clear map of its terrain. Like a superhero gathering intel, we must understand the stakes before the first move. Ready for the leap? Your next ally in leadership and marketing mastery is just a 'LinkInBio' away. Engage!

It is easier to manage conflicts if your organization is prepared and has policies in place to guide the team to work through the sticking issue in an organized and constructive manner.

"Any one can hold the helm when the sea is calm" is an excellent example here. In normal situation, you as a leader have ample time to lead the team and manage targets and priorities. Real leadership is tested in an emergency where people are in panic and they need someone to take them out of danger safely. When you are in a normal day to day operation, you must create emergency procedures to use in situations because in most of those situations, you don't have a luxury of time. Those procedures will guide you and your team to take things in control without impacting safety of people or property.

Unless the team is well trained on a common type of emergency, for instance the fire brigade rushing to a fire, the emergency is likely to completely disrupt the standard ways of working. Hence, Leaders can serve their team best by first being clear on the new order of priorities and assigning responsibilities. Emergencies that risk the livelihood of your team – their health or jobs – your team will experience a fair amount of stress and emotions may get the better of them. Maintain psychological safety where you can – make it safe for people to speak their mind, flag concerns, and assure them that they will not get punished for their reactions, but that the best outcome for everyone requires the team to work together.

As I reflect on my career, I realize just how many emergencies I have experienced - from M&A leaks, to earthquakes, to potential illegal activity by other leaders. In each of these instances, in addition to setting the tone, a leader must declare what is important, and why. It's a moment to DECLARE, not build consensus. As leaders, we often seek to talk with our teams about guiding principles, objectives, and collaborations. In crisis, we must clearly state what must be accomplished, and be open for swift (and sometimes poorly communicated) reactions. We must be open to all reactions and listen, but we must be efficient with how that happens.

Keep an even tone and emotions under control. Be motivated by finding the solution to the current emergency. Refuse to be distracted. Once you've set yourself as stated above, assess who are affected by the conflict in the emergency. You need to communicate how everyone will move forward. Be clear. If you're setting another time to deal fully with the conflict, say where, when, how etc. If the conflict affects stakeholders, you need to choose the most effective communication to get all of them together. Give them your full attention. Tell them also how you plan to manage the conflict and mitigate the impact on the emergency situation.

Your goal is to satisfy everyone in the conflict in the shortest time possible because you still have to deal with the emergency. Aim to collaborate and compromise in the short term. See how you can get parties to do their part to cater to the emergency. Focus on their strengths. Remind them of previous emergencies that they've managed together.

Understand the root cause of conflict or what kind of misunderstanding is causing this. Stay calm as a leader and try to listen to perspectives from all sides. Repeat your understanding, if required, write it down, and share it with everyone. When you understand what is the right thing to do by considering all the aspects of the team, business, stakeholders, and client, communicate that effectively and deliver your why. Ask for any disagreements or thoughts from the team. Sometimes you will need small group and one-on-one meetings to clarify further. Once everyone agrees to the best compromise, work to set a timeline and identify people who can now work towards a resolution. Share your lesson learned and iterate from that.

Make yourself accessible during the emergency. There will tension among all the team members because of the emergency. Give a listening ear. Allow them to take breaks where possible. Call up others to help where members are struggling. Get in and help to boost their morale. Celebrate both tangible and intangible successes and give credit to individuals, where due. Focus on small wins.

If you've never thought of it before, add a conflict management section to your emergency protocols. While some conflict can be prevented, there should be contingency for those that can arise unpredicted. To do this, you can monitor team conflict under normal circumstances and understand your team's conflict dynamics. You can also learn from conflict that arise in emergency situations. To do this, you can do an audit of how you managed the conflict in that context. Be open where you were unable to manage the conflict and be accountable to stakeholders. Encourage feedback from the whole team and also those who were involved in the conflict. Compile a conflict audit and ask the team for input, also.

A retrospective is a great tool for business as usual, and even better after an emergency. In fact, running two retrospectives can help: 1) A retrospective on the root cause and lead-up to the emergency. How could it have been prevented? Chances are, there was no single point of failure but a system that failed as a whole. 2) A retrospective on the team's response once in emergency mode. What worked well? What did not? What should the team start doing, stop doing and keep doing next time around? If further emergencies are likely, why not run a drill with the team to practice the new procedures.

Here’s a thought: Individuals with both autism and ADHD might excel in conflict management during emergencies due to unique cognitive strengths. Our ability to hyperfocus on specific tasks, think outside the box, and maintain a high level of alertness can aid in quickly assessing situations, considering multiple perspectives, and finding innovative solutions under pressure. Our adaptability and quick thinking could contribute to managing conflicts swiftly and efficiently in high-stress situations. Having a neurodivergent in your team could be a great asset!

Be ready to adapt, be fair, and listen carefully to solve problems when they pop up during emergencies. - Understand the Situation: Figure out what's going on and how it affects everyone. Focus on the important issues. - Talk Nicely: Speak calmly and clearly. Listen to everyone and try not to blame or fight. - Work Together: Try to find solutions that make everyone happy. Be ready to give a little to reach an agreement. - Support Each Other: Emergencies are stressful, so help each other out. Listen and offer help when needed. - Learn from it: After things calm down, think about what happened. Learn from the conflict and make plans to handle things better next time.