Managing Crisis And Complexity
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The unique combination of my work in human systems and mass communications has proved beneficial throughout my career during times of uncertainty or crisis. Crises I have managed or help to manage on behalf of employers or clients include:
Policy issues: litigation; potential trade agreement withdrawal/renegotiation; tariff/tariff retaliation issues.
Regulatory and reputational issues: adulterated pet food implicating the product represented by my association; unauthorized genetically modified material found in public.
Personnel issues: unexpected executive departure; unexpected CEO long-term absence; employee deaths.
Handling these high-stakes situations well requires having (or quickly creating!) solid response and communication plans. Now, I support clients in this area through 1:1 coaching and advising; facilitated group planning sessions; and special projects aimed at creating capacity to process information, make decisions and react quickly.
A quick definition of crisis:
a happening that acutely threatens the entity or its mission (requiring an actively-managed, coordinated response)
Four questions to answer today to be more prepared:
Four questions to answer today to be more prepared:
Who does what?
How do they talk to each other?
What’s the process for making a plan and carrying it out?
What do you need to know or do to prepare now?
Three resources that might help make sense of what's happening:
Three resources that might help make sense of what's happening:
Cynefin Framework: simple, complicated, complex, chaotic
Polarity Thinking: the idea that not everything is a problem to be solved
Bridges Transitions Model: beginnings, middles and ends
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