Comments on: Leadership Caffeine: Surviving as a Leader When Things Go Horribly Wrong

By: What to do When the Ship is Sinking | Heather Villa

What to do When the Ship is Sinking | Heather Villa — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:41:20 +0000

[...] is an excellent article at the Management Excellence blog that I thought you’d enjoy called “Surviving as a Leader When Things Go Horribly Wrong.” It’s by Art Petty, a management consultant and college professor at DePaul [...]

By: Art Petty

Art Petty — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:25:55 +0000

Matthew, great example with your work and I agree that you don’t know how you will handle the crisis until you experience your first one. Build us some strong bridges, please! Best, Art

By: Matthew Dent

Matthew Dent — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:18:11 +0000

Great topic Art! I completely agree with the quote, “Man Plans and God Laughs.” I work in the construction industry specializing in building bridges. No matter how effectively we plan we tend to operate in a crisis mode. On a daily basis we place concrete and because it is a time sensitive product being delayed even a minute could cause the whole load to be rejected and now you are operating in the negative. In the beginning it is very difficult to grasp this idea of being able to operate in crisis mode. We are taught and told to control every aspect of our lives and that things could be improved upon. I think for young leaders it is difficult to train for a crisis because you truely won’t know how you will react until you experience a crisis.

By: Art Petty

Art Petty — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:55:59 +0000

Wally, thanks for the selection. It is an honor!

Art

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:48:34 +0000

Congratulations! This post was selected as one of the five best independent business blog posts of the week in my Three Star Leadership Midweek Review of the Business Blogs.

http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2009/10/21/102109-midweek-look-at-the-independent-business-blogs.aspx

Wally Bock

By: Three Star Leadership Blog

Three Star Leadership Blog — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:51:00 +0000

10/21/09: Midweek Look at the Independent Business Blogs…

Every week I select five excellent posts from this week’s independent business blogs. This week, I’m pointing you to posts on how to build a culture of fear, the misuse of technology, two posts that look at what happens when crisis hits, and challeng…

By: Nick Halen

Nick Halen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:07:08 +0000

Great post Art,
I take this post very personal and this is how I strive everyday to lead in my organization. Everyday there is always something that doesn’t go quite as planned and we as leaders are faced with the decision of how to deal with it. It is how we react to this is what defines us as leaders. As a leader I am constantly striving to always look at the positive or the bright side of something. I try taking every situation and learn from it so that in the future I cannot make the same mistake twice. Because of my attitude towards situations is, most of the time, very positive, I believe this attitude is very much mimicked by the employees around me.
Nick

By: Art Petty

Art Petty — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:54:17 +0000

Apologies for falling so far behind on comment responses. Thanks to all for jumping in!

Peg, well said on that important point of recognizing when orders are required versus when to let things flow. And I agree…Wally’s additions are excellent!

Thanks, Paul for your comment as well. It’s critical that the leader become attuned to team dynamics and the stall points. Experience and a lot of paying attention are great teachers here!

Steve, thanks for the honesty and rest assured that you are not the only one that has struggled in these areas. Thanks for calling out 2…minimize the churn phase.
This is a response killer and so many groups fall into this trap. Perhaps now, your former “misses” will become strengths!

Elaine, what a great example. Another book for my reading list! Glad to know that this list has some applicability in the ultimate stress situation.

Pamela, thanks as well for your comment! Great guidance on the “support functions.” I will need to do a better job incorporating that component in this list.

Thanks to all…for reading and commenting. It’s great to learn from all of you. -Art

By: Pamela Howell

Pamela Howell — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:47:12 +0000

What great advice! Thanks.

I learned my crisis management skills at an extremely early age, but it’s always good to be reminded of the crucial steps. I’ve found that I sometimes ignore the environmental niceties in a crisis, which usually just makes the crisis worse for everyone involved. Support functions like making sure everyone involved is getting breaks, food, and enough rest really truly help the whole situation get better!

By: Surviving as a Leader When Things Go Horribly Wrong. | Rich Gee Group

Surviving as a Leader When Things Go Horribly Wrong. | Rich Gee Group — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:07:05 +0000

[...] By Art Petty at Management Excellence. [...]

By: Jennifer Mizzi

Jennifer Mizzi — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:15:25 +0000

Great post! I think the suggestion on how it is important to realize that your team mirrors your approach to the situation is key. In a crisis situation a team is automatically going to look at the leadership positions to get cues on how to proceed. If you can’t get a hold of the situation, you can’t expect those you lead to do any better.

By: Elaine Hirt

Elaine Hirt — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:29:29 +0000

I just finished reading “Joker One.” The platoon leader exhibited each one of these steps that you outlined above, Art. When they were faced with having to figure something out and the platoon leader hesitated, one of his squad leaders would take action. The platoon leader trusted his team of squad leaders to assess and take the necessary course of action without being micromanaged. They were allowed that kind of freedom, even in non-life & death situations.

Thank you for summing it all up. It all relates–even on the battle field.

Elaine

By: Steve Bent

Steve Bent — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:32:54 +0000

Great post!

I fall down at steps 2 & 5.

BUT now I know!

THANKS!

By: Paul McConaughy (@MiNutrition

Paul McConaughy (@MiNutrition — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:28:37 +0000

I agree. Great post Art. Your recommendations are solid and I wish I’d had them and used them a number of times. I think it is especially important that you have identified the seemingly contradictory roles of trust and decision making. Sometimes it is amazing how much progress is made simply because everyone was waiting for someone to make a decision. Once you make the decision everyone surges ahead.

By: Peg Rowe

Peg Rowe — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:18:58 +0000

Art, really thorough set of guidelines and Wally’s additions are right on as well. I appreciate that you point out some of the paradoxes leaders must grapple with quickly – trust your team AND give essential orders, both are required to navigate through a crisis.

On giving orders, I think of it as the need to command attention and get everyone out of the building when there’s a fire. That’s the time to exert “power over” and take charge.

There’s a place for collaboration and a place for exerting control. The effective leader knows when to step into each mode.

By: Art Petty

Art Petty — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:10:23 +0000

Wally, fantastic additions to this important topic. Great point on the secrecy issue. And you bet, scenario planning of any sort can truly be valuable. Thanks for sharing your wisdom! -Art

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:06:45 +0000

Great post, Art. As someone who’s been a leadership position as the wheels not only came off the cart but went spinning merrily down the hill, I sure wish I’d had advice like this in advance.

One thing I’ll add for this connected world. Assume that everyone will find out everything. It may be sooner or it may be later, but everyone will know. So act like that’s going to happen avoid a secrecy strategy.

You can also plan for a significant number of the kinds of disasters you will face. These don’t have to be complex, formal plans. Just play “What if?” a lot and think about how you’ll respond in various situations. Do it with your staff, too.