How can you lead a team through an emergency situation?

In a true emergency situation, leadership is key. We are talking about extraordinary situations that demand immediate action: an airplane fell, your product is making people sick, your systems have been hacked. The first step is to establish a "war room" and to gather all relevant expertise, and the second step is to gather the facts of the situation, and assess the consequences of those facts. It is key to have communication/P.R. experts as part of the war room. Examples of emergencies: the loss of flight MH370 from Malaysian Airlines, Adidas and the consequences of Kayne West′s actions, or in the case of Shackleton′s expedition: "our ship has sunk, no one will rescue us".

Beware, and try to best navigate the proverbial (and in some cases-literal) game of "telephone," that occurs during and in the immediate aftermath of an emergency. Years ago in my old job, someone reported seeing an armed fugitive who was the subject of a statewide manhunt (and did have ties to the facility) and inadvertently triggered an active-shooter style lockdown. As we worked through the incident, phones, social media/apps, and 3rd hand reporting compounded efforts to restore order. The fugitive had; in fact, already been apprehended a significant distance away, (and was never in the immediate vicinity) and subsequent accounts of armed men on our campus were plainclothes US Marshals who responded to the erroneous claim he was there.

This is where your Hazard vulnerability analysis really helps with having plans in place that have been trained and exercised. 1. Activation of EOC-state/regional,Gather information /facts state/local staff, stakeholders-state/local homeland security offices to help generate a Common Operating Picture(COP). 2. Set Battle Rhythm, determine timeline , determine contracts activation,determine immediate resources available for deployment,determine sustainment/backfill. 3. Coordination of response/evacuation. 4.Coordination of recovery

A comunica??o Assertiva é uma das maiores ferramentas a serem utilizadas pelas organiza??es. Quando as equipes se comunicam adequadamente, conhecem o foco da empresa, seus resultados e propósitos, a tarefa de gerenciamento de crises se torna mais natural. A constancia e a clareza s?o as chaves para momentos de emergência. Assertive communication is one of the greatest tools to be used by organizations. When teams communicate properly, know the company's focus, its results and purposes, the task of crisis management becomes more natural. Consistency and clarity are the keys in times of emergency.

Communication is a key task. Who are the stakeholders, and what has to be communicated to whom? when? (customers affected, other customers, the public at large, authorities, employees, the board...). Communication must be clear, concise, and consistent, which means that communications must be coordinated by a single responsible owner. The worst that can happen is multiple, inconsistent messages to different stakeholders - that could destroy our reputation and damage internal morale.

The objective of the War Room is not only to communicate, but to make decisions. These decisions are difficult because most likely there is time pressure and not all the facts are known. As more facts are known they need to be incorporated into the decision making process. As in any decision making process, but more so, emotion and ego need to be removed. All team members will be stressed, and leaders need to be the source of logic and reason. In an emergency situation, decisions have far reaching consequences that must be analyzed. For example, if your digital systems are under attack - do we revert to a manual process? do we then activate the business continuity plan? are there compliance consequences? etc.

This is obvious, but an emergency situation is not "business as usual". However, you need to deal with both the emergency and running "business as usual". You may need to temporarily change some organizational lines, empower others, and re-assign others. Remember: you as a leader are the source of calm, logic, and motivation. If you lose your cool, that could be deadly for the organization. Also - watch your team because under extraordinary circumstances some people may need extra help and support.

A good leader can assess the capabilities of their team and assign them roles that best suit their strengths. That said, when 'you know what' hits the fan; a good leader is also aware that unusual circumstances will impact the status quo. An otherwise great member of the team might get tunnel-vision; the resident slacker might jump into action, and even if most remain unchanged mentally, adrenaline will only minimally improve their physical limitations. Be ready to call audibles as needed. Afterward, unless they abdicated all duty and concern for others; don't come down too hard on people who didn't rise to the occasion as well as their peers. Conversely, give credit to those who truly went above and beyond. Emphasize "live and learn."

This is the time when you need to lead from the front. We all tend to get bogged down behind the keyboard, checking emails, drafting documents, etc. Let your team see you leading. Empower them to assist in handling the crisis. Get out there and communicate. Assess and pivot as needed. Refer to your emergency planning but there may be decisions to make on the fly that will not be in your ops plan.

Para aprimorar processos para novas situa??es de emergência é interessante aplicar o PDCA que é uma ferramenta de qualidade. As etapas do ciclo PDCA s?o: planejar, executar, verificar e agir. Vale a pena se aprofundar nos detalhes de cada uma destas etapas. Aplicando estas etapas você poderá organizar as li??es aprendidas e reunir um verdadeiro arsenal de conhecimento para o enfrentamento de novas situa??es.

Once the emergency is over, the decisions have been make, and the consequences are know, it is time to learn from the experience. In a true emergency, no one is thinking about what they will learn, but how to survive. Once things return to calm, that is time to learn from the experience: where we efficient? where we effective? where we fair? are our process robust? what our communication consistent?

A line I often used when my colleagues would bemoan drills and training; particularly for sentinel events or emergencies that they believed would never occur, is that 'with enough time, the improbable becomes inevitable.' Assessing your (and others') response to worst-case scenarios will pay dividends, especially if you are honest enough to note vulnerabilities and humble enough to concede that fate will test you in the most inconvenient and costly of ways. Do not "rubber stamp" your training. Do not allow yourselves (or other stakeholders) to become convinced they shouldn't (or "can't") fail a test or drill. After-action reports/meetings are for the purpose of mutual aid and constructive feedback; not blame shifting and scapegoating.

“Ser líder é como ser uma dama: se precisa provar que é, ent?o é porque n?o é.”Margaret Thatcher, ex-Primeira-Ministra do Reino Unido. Seja em uma situa??o de emergência ou no dia a dia, o verdadeiro líder é reconhecido por sua postura, firmeza, conhecimento e sobretudo respeito. Um líder que mesmo em meio a crise respeita opini?es, decide com precis?o e delega com firmeza, certamente constitui uma lideran?a digna de ser lembrada.

Inspirar debería ser la máxima en un líder. El liderazgo activo focaliza en el crecimiento, desarrollo y contribución del equipo, es flexible y se entrega al equipo, agradece, reconoce y celebra los éxitos del equipo. La confianza es la fe profesada e inspirada por los valores que cultiva. Al reconocer sus propios errores muestra el camino de la mejora.

Responders need to check their egos at the door before entering an EOC virtual or otherwise. Those responders sometimes need to take on other and additional roles in some cases, but it is made difficult by those who can't check their egos. Be prepared to be accountable no matter what role you are given, anytime an EOC can do that the operation will run smoothly and everyone can focus on the objective(s) and not wonder what is in it for them.