How Do You Control a Crisis?

1. Know what you don't know

Barney down the pub, Jan at slimming group, and Kayleigh, your 13yr old, may think it's "obvious" how to resolve a particular crisis, but the age and treachery which will overcome youth and inexperience knows that, the more 'obvious' the problem seems, the more aspects of it you have underestimated, ignored, or simply never been aware of.

2. Accept your limitations
You cannot solve the crisis.
YOU. CANNOT. SOLVE. THE. CRISIS.

Loud enough for you? 
You can't solve the crisis. Your team can't solve the crisis. Your organisation can't solve the crisis.

What you can do - what you have to do - is to realise that every 'crisis' is simply a series of smaller problems.

You can solve problems.
Your team can solve problems.
Your business can solve problems.

You can't solve the crisis.  You can solve the problems that comprise it.

3. Don't micromanage crisis
Crises are frightening. They upset people. People get triggered, they get stressed, they lash out, they disappear inside themselves. 

Management, and particularly crisis management, centres around identifying the smaller problems your people and teams can work on, which will keep their minds busy, and give them small wins that keep their momentum up.

But remember - everyone is stressed. Everyone is anxious. Identify the best people for each problem.

This is where we get into a little bit of 'crisis psychology', and how it lines up to solving the smaller problems that make up any crisis.

. The Manic Pixie Dreamer
Their Theme Song: 'Three Little Birds', Bob Marley and the Wailers ("every little thing/gonna be alright...")
Catchphrase: "Crisis? What crisis?"
The Manic Pixie Dreamer is relentlessly positive. They're the colleague who bounces into the office on Monday morning, swigging their smoothie, waving their quinoa box lunch, and enthusing about what an 'amazing' weekend they had - even if they didn't go anywhere, the Manic Pixie Dreamer will have seen a 'life-altering' sunrise, or had a near-mystical experience with a sunbathing cat. They often bring magazines.

The Manic Pixie Dreamer doesn't believe there really is a crisis - you're all just overreacting, something that will come along, it's just in the 'messy middle' right now, but it will all fall out smooth.

Manic Pixie Dreamer Problems: Give your Manic Pixie Dreamers the task of maintaining other peoples' motivation. Get them involved with the PR (most crises involve problems around communication.) Let them have an input into your social media response plan. Point that positivity at the onlookers, so the rest of you can focus.

. The Neg
Their Theme Song: "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", Joy Division ("I was looking for a job/and then I found a job/And heaven knows I'm miserable now.")
Their Catchprase: "It'll never work"
Your Neg sees the worst in everything, and desperately wants it to happen.  They tend to mock everyone else's idea, and exaggerate the potential impacts of the crisis.

Negs, however, thrive in disaster planning. Ask them to create a presentation around the worst-case scenario, if the crisis grows legs, or you find more problems than you'd ever imagined. They'll be in their element, and they won't be in everyone else's ears.

. The Dedicated
Their Theme Song: "I Believe in You", Don Williams
Their Catchprase: "We'll make it work."
The Dedicated will go the extra mile for you. They turn up to every meeting asking what they can do, what do you need from them. They passionately believe in bringing 'solutions, not problems.' Crises unsettle them a bit, because they start to see their colleagues at their worst, and they feel a little bit overwhelmed at the thought of everything they could do.

Direct your Dedicated. Give them no more than 3 actions each, and be clear about your expectations. This will keep their minds off the crisis, and reassure them that they can help make things better.

. The Exhausted
Their Theme Song: "Here I Go Again", Whitesnake

Their Catchprase: "Does anyone want another coffee?"
The Exhausted may have been with the company for many years, and seen it lurch from one crisis to another. They may be people who are dealing with a lot in their personal lives, and see the current 'crisis' as a bit trivial in comparison.  

They are not necessarily old, but they are tired, and they definitely feel they don't get paid enough for this.

The Exhausted should be tasked with the 'administrative hassle' problems - booking meeting rooms, cancelling stock orders, answering phone calls, filtering emails for the Manic Pixie Dreamers to respond to.  The Exhausted see 'admin cr*p' as the price they pay for not having trust funds, and they're often very good at it.  Crises bring a lot of admin.

You don't control a crisis - you control where the energy of your crisis team goes.

Need crisis management support? Email theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com to book the start of your solution.