QUALITIES OF A CRISIS MANAGER
Good crisis managers are decisive. They can react swiftly but
their great skill is in being able to speed up the decision-making
process. They will not miss out any steps in the standard
problem-solving, decision-making sequence:
■ define the situation;
■ specify objectives;
■ develop hypotheses;
■ gather the facts;
■ analyse the facts;
■ consider possible courses of action;
■ evaluate possible courses of action;
■ decide and implement;
■ monitor implementation.
Effective crisis managers will get through these stages more
quickly, using their own experience and intelligence and that of
their team.
Crisis managers buy time by putting issues on the back burner,
but, like all good managers, they can make things happen fast
when they want to. They are good leaders – providing inspir-
ation to their team, encouraging their efforts and giving them
confidence in the successful outcome of the crisis management
process.
Finally, and most important, they keep cool. They do not
panic, they do not over-react, they do not lose their heads. In fact,
they deliberately slow down the pace, when they can, to give the
impression that everything is under control and it is all going
according to plan.
To sum up, crisis management is no more than good manage-
ment under pressure. The adrenalin may flow faster but this
concentrates the mind wonderfully. Good managers thrive
under pressure and they are the good crisis managers.
164 How to be an Even Better Manager