Crisis Leadership

By Mike DuBose

It was Sept. 11, 2001, and I was lecturing in front of 150 professionals who had traveled by plane to Austin, Texas to hear me speak. Members of my staff and I had just conducted the same class in New York City in a building near the World Trade Center towers. The lecture was going well until my vice president alerted me to the disaster that was unraveling in New York due to multiple terrorist attacks. My first words to everyone were, “Don’t panic!”

As a leader within any organization, sooner or later, you will be faced with a crisis or disaster that could make or break your company. I was not prepared for the 9/11 attacks, but I became a therapist, comforter, humorist, and guide to those 150 people in Austin who spent five days with me in a class I will never forget. I have trained more than 25,000 individuals over 22 years, but that class was a memorable one because we all cried, loved on each other, prayed for others, and survived a crisis together. Like it or not, I was their leader during this time, and though I wanted to cancel the class and hit the road, all flights, rental cars, and other forms of transportation were cancelled due to the fear of more terrorism. We were all stuck in Austin during one of the greatest crises our country has ever faced!

I stared a crisis in the face and survived! But how do you prepare to lead during a crisis? Since that time, I have learned to “expect the unexpected and anticipate the unanticipated.” Hope for the best and prepare for the worst—great companies must be prepared for the unimaginable. Whether in your personal or professional life, at some point you will certainly face a nightmare that you thought could never happen. Everyone in your organization will look to you to lead them out of the crisis, and your job as a leader is to remain strong, calm, logical, and decisive. I have sometimes gone home with a burdened heart because of very difficult decisions I have made that negatively impacted real human beings. But in front of my employees, I had to be a strong leader who could and would make difficult corrections to problems I saw ahead. It also meant I would have to stand in front of them and apologize for the hard, painful, and unpopular decisions I had made to serve the employees who remained after layoffs, changes in company direction, dissolution of divisions, or actions that went against what the majority of employees wanted.

Potential disasters are like the hundreds of thunderstorms that form each year off the coast of Africa: some will become tropical storms, some of which will make their way toward America but suddenly turn back out to sea. And then there are the few that will build into Category 4 or 5 hurricanes and slam into the coast, killing people, destroying buildings, and wreaking havoc on the environment. One thing is for certain: crises will come and you never know when that big one is going to hit you! A good leader must be prepared to weather the storms.

Leading during a crisis means that you must “put your president’s hat on.” This can be one of the toughest journeys you will travel because it means you will have to become an unfeeling robot that methodically looks at the facts, solicits opinions from as many sectors as possible, analyzes the data, and makes the best decision (without emotion) for the company’s security and prosperity. While you want to consider and care about your employees as much as possible, the bottom line is that as the leader, you must face “the brutal facts of reality” when making decisions for your company, then provide direction to steer the business out of a crisis. Case in point: In 2006, I realized that we had to cut expenses in order for one of my companies to survive. After a careful analysis, we determined that four non-essential employees would be impacted. We studied all of our options, but senior management was forced to lay off the employees in order to balance the budget. There had been warning signs for the budget problems, but I had prepared for the future based on our past successes and did not truly recognize them. We did everything we could to save those four employees, but in the end, they had to go. Every day for a month, I stared them in their faces, knowing I would soon have to tell them of their departures. Then, at an employee social held one week before I had to tell them, one of the employees announced that she was pregnant! Now, I had to tell a very competent pregnant employee who I really cared about that she would be laid off. I think it was the worst moment in my professional career when she announced (with a big smile), “Everyone, I want to let you know about my exciting news—I’m going to have a baby!” But that is what crisis leadership is all about—it is leading, making the tough decisions, and being the rock-solid foundation that your employees will learn to depend on and hopefully respect. In a crisis, they need to immediately think, “This is awful, but I know Mike will make the right, fair, and ethical decision that will be in the best interest of the company—and me.”

I know what you’re thinking right now: “This is one cold-hearted human being.” But after leading, succeeding in, and failing at business for 22 years, I know that my job as CEO is to:

Make the company better than it was the year before.
Create an environment where my staff likes their jobs and coming to work.
Develop outstanding products and services.
Ensure that we take in more money than we spend.
Exceed customer expectations.
Forge a clear path to the future where everyone has input and knows where we are going and how to get there.
Guarantee the survival of the company.

That last one requires having tough skin, making difficult decisions, thinking logically, soliciting a lot of input, leading, and yes, a good dose of paranoia! Crisis management expert Ian Mitroff notes that “a major crisis results when there is a serious breakdown, or malfunction, between people, organizations, and technologies.” Mitroff also shares my belief that “the need to prepare for the unthinkable has never been greater;” defining “unthinkable” as “that which humans are unable to consider or imagine.”

I think of myself, the leader of our companies, as a submarine commander. When you are several hundred feet under the sea, your chances of survival in the event of a crisis are limited. Effective submarine commanders constantly test their crews for all types of crises, known and unknown, predictable and unpredictable. They quietly prepare them for the unexpected (even a fire, the worst kind of crisis to happen underwater). Crews drill, drill, and drill, preparing for that dreaded day when a catastrophe could happen.

I am the same to my businesses (some of which have been in business since 1986) as that submarine commander is to his ship. I think of every possible disaster, conflict, and problem my companies could encounter. And take my word for it: some will come out of left field. I will never forget sitting in a hotel in Maui, Hawaii the day before I was scheduled to speak to 100 professionals. I was watching the television and asked the clerk, “What is that spinning thing out there in the ocean?” It was a hurricane that was approaching the islands and would hit the next day! Of course, I reacted immediately, calling everyone to cancel the class. I could go on and on about similar emergencies, tragedies, and crises my businesses have encountered since 1986. Great companies prepare for, predict, manage, and learn from crises. But even the best crisis planners will miss some because “no crisis ever happens as one plans for it!” But as an old Eagle Scout, the words “Be Prepared” were pounded into my memory at an early age, for anything can (and will) happen!

The most successful strategy in dealing with a crisis is to “think what can happen, then prevent it.” I think of every possible crisis and institute processes to prevent those problems from occurring. Thus, it is important for every leader of any type to encourage everyone in the organization to “think about the unthinkable.” One example is that I “plan to die tomorrow.” While I have set a personal goal to live to 100, I stare the possibility of dying before then in the face. I think “What if I die tomorrow? What would happen to the companies and everyone I care about in my businesses?” Because of these thoughts, I have spent hundreds of hours implementing detailed strategies to ensure that my companies will keep right on marching forward without me. And because I think like this and have developed plans to prepare for crises (like my death or disability), when I go to that wonderful heaven that God has planned for me, those left behind will not face a crisis. I hope they will say, “He really planned for his departure! We are good to go because of his planning!”

It is my opinion that crises go through different stages and the leader must be prepared to spring into action in every phase. Predicting Disasters: It is important to try to predict bad things that could happen to your business. Let’s examine one of my businesses, Columbia Conference Center, which provides meeting spaces, catering, and venues for receptions and socials. I think, “Ok, we have 600 customers and staff in a facility, what could happen to them?” We have created drills for many situations, like:

A tornado is approaching.
Customers eat our food and get sick.
Someone pulls out a gun and starts shooting people.
Someone is attacked in our parking lot.
There is a car crash in our parking lot.
Someone breaks into the facility.
The electricity is cut off during an electrical storm. A customer has paid $20,000 for a wedding reception that is in full swing—and the temperature outside is 100 degrees.
A major water line breaks, severing water service to the building, and there are 600 people at our facility who need to use the bathroom.
A person has a heart attack and dies while at our facility.

The list goes on and on! As a leader, what would you do in any of these situations? Of course, the best answer is to predict the problems ahead of time and plan accordingly.

Assemble your staff and discuss possible problems, crises, and disasters that could occur. Encourage everyone to “think outside the box” and focus on the worst-case scenarios. Go through every phase of product development, sales, delivery, and post-sales to think, “What could possibly go wrong?” Make a list of every threat that your group can identify. (Of course, we know this as part of a SWOT—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—Analysis). In fact, it would be interesting to record steps for identifying all the threats to your organization. Action Strategies: After you and your team have identified threats, think about solutions to address the problems. At Columbia Conference Center:

We conduct fire and tornado drills where we ask customers to participate, sending hundreds of participants downstairs to our unsuspecting staff in an unexpected drill.
Our staff members are trained in first aid, CPR, and emergency procedures.
Some are trained to use weapons and certain staff members are armed to protect customers from violent intruders.
We have processes in place to document problems, refer to past issues, and protect staff and customers from future crises.
We conduct drills for power outages and have a backup generator to provide emergency power if ours goes out.
We have installed surveillance cameras that enable us to view suspicious people or actions taking place in or near the building. We do much more, but basically we try to determine what problems could arise and then develop very specific plans on what to do when a potential problem occurs.
Assembling a Crisis Team: Steven Fink, author of the first book ever written on crisis management, says that “every crisis demands a crisis management team to run the plays.” He also cites a Fortune 500 survey taken in conjunction with his book where 89 percent of the executive officers interviewed “‘agreed that a crisis in business today is as inevitable as death and taxes’ but fully 50 percent of the respondents admitted they do not have a prepared crisis management plan.” It is important to designate certain individuals within a company (usually leaders) to prepare for the unexpected. When a crisis hits, they will assemble and strategize on how to respond to the threat. Of course, the makeup of these teams can vary, but make sure that you have one in place before you need it, with backups in place in case any person is unavailable. This team generally consists of fewer than eight people and provides the final decision-maker with multiple inputs and different options to make the best decision. Keep an open mind and encourage different views. Select team members from diverse backgrounds so they can assess the problem through their own viewpoints and make good decisions on how to address the crisis. Though, as Norman Augustine noted, “crisis situations tend to be accompanied by conflicting advice,” you should still strive to see the problem from different people’s perspectives, incorporating their chains of advice into your solution.
Communicating During a Crisis: The team should react immediately to the situation, analyze the facts, and then determine who should be informed. In our company, we have an open environment and try to keep everyone aware of bad and good news. Augustine recommends that a single person serves as company spokesperson. Before communicating, confirm that the information is correct and as complete as possible. You want the recipients to trust your release. Augustine writes, “It is preferable to err on the side of overdisclosure, even at the risk of harming one’s legal position. Credibility is far more important than legal positioning.” Remember to stay calm and to transmit accurate information on a timely basis. Above all, always be ethical, open, and honest! Trust and credibility are very important with staff, customers, and the public.
Crisis Management: The crisis team’s primary responsibilities are to identify and accept crises, develop solutions, and meet the crises head on. Once a solution or strategy is developed, stick to it unless new information emerges. But if it does, move quickly. In the resolution stage, “Speed is of the essence. A crisis simply will not wait.” You do not want to bog down the entire company in the crisis if possible. Crises create stress, fear, and uncertainty. The crisis team should focus on managing the crisis and bringing in experts and support (when needed), while the rest of the company should continue marching forward, creating the products and services that will keep it alive and pay the bills. You shouldn’t allow a crisis to drain your company’s profits and productivity. Be very careful that key decision-makers are not exposed to the trauma of a crisis for too long of a period. Constant exposure to negativity can result in emotional drain that can in turn cause depression. Having been in that dark pit once myself, I know firsthand that individuals who are depressed are not effective decision-makers and sometimes focus on the “gloom and doom.” Assign the crisis-solving strategy to can-do people who can get the job done, but also include people with different perspectives to keep the boat steady as you move forward into no man’s land. As you move into the wilderness, keep track of what caused the crisis and its symptoms.
Crisis Learning: “Almost every crisis contains within itself the seeds of success as well as the roots of failure. Finding, cultivating, and harvesting that potential success is the essence of crisis management,” says Augustine. After the crisis passes and everyone takes a rest, reassemble the crisis team and using Total Quality Management (TQM), dissect the crisis and carefully examine causes, symptoms, system weaknesses, and solutions. As TQM leaders, you want to zero in on the cause to ensure that the same crisis does not surface again. Don’t point fingers or blame, but encourage an open environment where people can come forward to offer opinions and advice to prevent the problem in the future. This is the opportunity stage where painful mistakes and failures become gifts from God. As long as you can learn and grow from a misstep, it is not a mistake. Share what you learn with everyone so that gift is multiplied. This also illustrates that you are serious about having an open environment and will not sweep mistakes under the rug. Implement processes and procedures to alert your staff when the problem threatens to surface again so you can contain it before the monster consumes you, your staff, and your business!

A crisis can be a very painful event that you would never want to repeat. However, it can also be the push needed to take employees, companies, and you to the next level. A crisis can be a great learning opportunity where everyone involved grows from the experience. Of course, the best crisis is that which is predicted and prevented. The bottom line: hope for the best and prepare for the worst!

Suggested Reading:

Crisis Leadership: Planning for the Unthinkable by Ian I. Mitroff
Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable by Steven Fink
Harvard Business Review on Crisis Management