Tactics, command, leadership

before a concrete assistance need arises. This also means that the
various phases within the perspective of the Civil Protection Act –
before, during, after – become all the more interwoven.
Unforeseeable events occur sometimes and for various reasons
in connection with emergency response operations. These come
as somewhat of an operative surprise. No matter how well pre-
pared one is, one should always be aware that some thing totally
unexpected can happen. In such situations it is easy to adopt ex-
pressions such as ‘a very special situation’, ‘unbelievable’ or ‘we
were not equipped to cope with a situation like this’. Nevertheless,
incidents that are unbelievable or at least could not be anticipated
occur. Even if an organisation in itself is not in terms of resources
dimensioned for a particular type of incident, it can be benefi-
cial to occasionally mentally prepare oneself for such surprises.
It could be good to go over ways of approaching and dealing with
an un usual situation irrespective of its character. Human beings
are equipped with a defence mechanism to help us cope with ap-
parently unreasonable external stimuli. It can be necessary to
compensate for these natural patterns by forming different pro-
cedures in an organisation. It could be advantageous, for example,
in some cases to set someone the task of broadening their horizons
and thinking in different terms – a form of constructive test. A staff
member could, for example, be set such a task. A higher command
level always has the responsibility of testing the system.
A commander needs to be anticipative and able to deal with al-
ternative courses of events. This involves, among other things, be-
ing able to lengthen the time horizon of command work. In addi-
tion it is necessary to be able to reflect over alternative methods at
the same time as activities are following a particular course. And
these alternative methods for forwarding the operation must be
considered while managing the current course of events. A form
of action preparedness may also be required to redirect an opera-
tion or apply an alternative method of tackling the situation.
In this context we can talk of conclusive action. The term con-
clusive implies the fulfilment of the assistance need in a specific
situation – to bring it to a conclusion. For example, to gain and
maintain control are elements of a conclusion. From the perspec-
tive of system command, conclusion concerns gaining and main-
taining control of the destructive sequence and forming well ba-
lanced and phased emergency preparedness management for the
current risk situation and the sign ificance of that which is under
threat.