What do you do if team members clash during a high-stakes emergency response?

In emergencies, you do not always have the luxury of picking your team. In the moment, you often have to play the hand you are dealt with. This means less experienced or less capable personnel will be in positions that have more responsibility than they my be accustomed to. You will see this, as will others that are working the problem. Knowing this before the emergency and having a plan to manage the inevitable conflict that may arise as a result. It is imperative that you know your people, their capabilities and how they handle stress. Help them before the emergency through training, mentorship and coaching. If you can catch the signs of impending conflict, you can often intervene before it becomes a problem effecting the response.

Recognising early signs of conflict between the team members like missed or breaking communication and messages sharing, raised voices to respond and no interest to cooperate and coordinate as per the emergency response plan. It’s important to identify as early as possible to take potential action to prevent clash to be escalates and diverts the attention from common goals of the rescue team.

In my experience, even before conflicts arise under the pressure of an emergency response, a skilled team leader can often anticipate which team members are more likely to clash. By strategically arranging the team and managing roles effectively, the leader can reduce the likelihood of these conflicts occurring in the first place. It's about being proactive, understanding the dynamics of your team, and mitigating issues before they escalate.

I have always advocated that we all need to focus on the work. We collectively need to understand the emergency at hand has to be prioritized over any interpersonal conflict. If you are in a leadership role, you have to ensure this message is clear. Ensure the follow through to resolve conflict and gain mutual understanding of the different perspectives takes place after the emergency is resolved or there is a lull in activities.

Clear communication is always a struggle and even more so during an emergency response. Communication is a first step in gaining and maintaining a common operational picture. Ensure everyone does their best to leave ego outside the emergency. Communicate ad nauseum to provide a clear picture of what is going on and what we are doing to resolve the problem. Solicit input, even demand it. Everyone working an emergency has a perspective that has value and may provide insight that can resolve the situation. You will never know unless everyone communicates information that could help to reach a resolution.

While every emergency has its uniqueness and nuance, it is rare that it has not been encountered in some form in the past. This prior occurrence should inform the protocols that are developed. The protocols are there to help make decision making faster and easier for the decision maker by providing a shortcut or de-cluttering the number of decisions that have to be made. Protocols and policies can resolve many conflicts if used appropriately. If you encounter someone who is resolute in their position to the point that it no longer serves the response to the emergency, you may have to move that individual to a position that has less of a direct impact on the emergency, or remove them from the problem entirely.

Response to the emergency is the guiding principle. Any conflict that hinders that response must be resolved quickly or collectively tabled until it can be. In this environment, the decision maker has to be the bad guy sometimes to get the mission accomplished. This means they will make a decision that may not be universally supported or understood in the moment. Authoritarian responses should be minimized, but can be effective in finishing the mission. Understand this may cost you some followership capital. If you have been in a position of leadership for any length of time, hopefully you have been making deposits in that bank to encourage the trust of your subordinates.