Crisis Leadership

My second session for Sunday was Peter Power’s Crisis Leadership Workshop.

The session provided a very wide ranging summary of ideas and theories around the subject of Leadership. A subject that seems to have many varied definitions and meanings – as became obvious by some group activities later in the session.

Power touched on a  wide range of leadership and motivation theories, offering some limited summary of each while encouraging people to get out and search the things that interested them. A very effective approach to such a wide and diverse subject area.

Here are some of the key models that were discussed, to stimulate your research;

• Situational Leadership, Hersey and Blanchard
• Action Centred Leadership, Adair
• Stages of Group Development, Tuckman

For a quick read on integration of Situational Leadership and stages of group development I suggest taking a look at The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams.

There was also a quick review of motivations theory – Maslow and Herzberg were explained. Normally McGregor rounds out the trinity, but only mentioned in passing today.

Discussing Herzberg’s ideas around Hygenie factors has been a particular area of focus for me recently, as I have proposed (in another context) the idea that we need to identify and address hygiene factors, as well as the enablers of, resilience.

Power offered a number of examples of great leaders from history, the usual suspects to some extent, but his use of Sir Ernest Shackleton as a prime example was very good. It also provided an interesting segway to contrast the difference between leading in the context of a volunteer expedition (where staff are hand picked and prepared for danger and hardship) and the kind of crisis teams we often find ourselves thrust into in the corporate world (not always well skilled or trained and rarely willing volunteers).

This presented the context two discuss two important questions – or perhaps the same issue in two different guises.

• Is leading in a crisis different to leading in normal ‘BAU’?
• What is the difference between Leadership and Management?
  • This was the the task presented for exploration in syndicate groups.

It was interesting to see the diversity of results here, and particularly educational to see that many defined these two things in the context of the level of organisational effort that they addressed (Leadership was strategic, Management was tactical). More than a few identified the routine/non-routine difference – managers facilitate a known procedure.

Leadership is essential for a unique or ‘wicked’ problem. This is why resilience cannot become management process.

Perhaps Leadership is in many ways similar to pornography (as defined by United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart) – I know it when I see it.

Perhaps then leadership is also an emergent property – I only get to see it when I need it?

How do you see leadership?