Crisis Leaders: Born or Made?

Responding to Crises: Are Crisis Managers born or made? Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Emergency Response Conference Kuala Lumpur, 2011

Panelists
Nathaniel L. Forbes
Director
Forbes Calamity Prevention
Jason Kelly
President
Crisis Advisors
David Parsons
Manager, Emergency Management & Security Unit
Sydney Water

Continental Airlines Flight 1404
Scheduled: DEN-IAH
December 20, 2008
115 passengers / crew
Boeing 737-500
Tail number: N18611

Continental Airlines Flight 1404 Accident Site
115 Survivors
38 Injured passengers and crew
Transported to 5 DEN area hospitals
6 Passengers, Captain admitted
3 major spinal surgeries
0 Fatalities

Continental Connection Flight 3407
Scheduled: EWR-BUF
February 12, 2009
49 passengers / crew
Bombardier DHC8-400
Tail number N200WQ
Operated by Colgan Air
As Continental Connection
54 days after CO1404 accident

Continental Connection Flight 3407 Accident Site
Fatalities
44 passengers
4 crew
1 jump seat pilot
1 ground fatality
50 total fatalities
Survivors
2 ground survivors

What makes a Leader?
IQ / mental intelligence
EQ / emotional intelligence
Understanding of the business
Emergency Response Plan
Situational awareness
Ability to assess situations
Decisiveness

Example
Understanding your Emergency Response Plan
Little time to actually read the ERP during an emergency
However, many people will
Ask questions about the ERP
Quote the ERP (correctly & incorrectly)
Ability to explain policies & procedures
To airline executives
Affected family members
Government officials

Crisis Leaders are born
Personality traits
High energy
Exceptional intelligence
Extreme persistence
Self-confidence
Desire to influence other
Handle stress better than others

Crisis Leaders are made
Learning to
Visualize obstacles & success
Set goals
Be accountable
Seek feedback
Find a mentor
Lead when it is most needed
Believe in the cause
Personal past experiences with crises
Learning from other accidents
Understanding Emergency Response best practices

Unique circumstances of an aircraft accident
May occur once in someone’s career
Few employees will have previous experience
Preparation for an accident helps a person better process issues & events
Airline
One chance to make decisions
Difficult to change decisions made
24 hour media cycle
Scrutinize airline decisions

Leadership during a Crisis
Can every leader lead during a crisis?
Why not?
Leadership style
Mental toughness
Working outside of normal business paradigm

Qualities that help during an airline accident
Balance
Between compassionate & being detached from personal tragedy
Ability to
See “the big picture”
Understand small details
Realize
Everything will not go as previously planned

Qualities that help during an airline accident
Political battles
Which are most important to fight
Within the airline, with family members, with the government
Preparing for an airline accident
Ahead of time / training
Commanding authority
Motivating your team

Family Assistance Center
FAC ratio (10:1)
10 family members for each fatality
2 Special Assistance Team member per family
Plus administrative team members
Examples
Embraer ERJ
530 family members
150 Special Assistance Team members onsite
Boeing 737 / Airbus A320
1500 family members

Family Assistance Center
FAC ratio (10:1)
10 family members for each fatality
2 Special Assistance Team member per family
Plus administrative team members
Examples
Boeing 777
3000 family members
Airbus A380
5000 family members

FAC family briefings
Provide structure during chaos
Information updates
Status of
Recovery of human remains
Identification
Investigation
Explanation of
Next day’s activities at FAC
Airline & government processes

Airline spokesperson to families
Qualities
People skills
Honesty
In-depth knowledge of ERP
Authority to make binding decisions
Compassion
Continuity for 2 to 3 weeks
Practicing before an accident
What to say
How to say it

Airline Leadership
New division
Setting up within 2 days
Managing entirely “new” division
Away from HQ
Managing internal airline differences of opinion
Managing vendor personnel, policies, & decisions

Dealing with the unexpected
Changes to the ERP
At the time of the accident
Unique aspect of the accident
Each accident tends to have at least one unique issue the ERP does not address

Dealing with the unexpected
Managing your company’s executives
Can you say “no” to your CEO
Interaction with company executives before an accident
Emergency Response policies
Emergency Response Drills

What does a Leader experience?
Stress
Emotional
Magnitude of the accident
Fatalities
Physical
Long work hours
Sorrow

What does a Leader feel?
Responsibility
For team members
For family members
For airline policies
Concern
Meeting ERP objectives
For those who want to change the ERP at the time of the accident

Best practices of a Leader
Preparation ahead of time
Building the right team
Rehearsing
Emergency Response Drills
Incorporating “lessons learned” into ERP
Learning best practices of other ER managers
Accident experience / debriefing
Incorporating “lessons learned” into ERP

restoration target

restoration target 2 weeks

restoration target 2 weeks 12 days

team 1,200

team 10,800 1,200

Logistics 32,000 meals 610,000 litres fuel

one in all in

can do attitude

empowerment

rule breaking

goal sacrifice

Chesley Burnett Sullenberger lll

US Airways Flight 1549

values & beliefs

surviving adversity Decision Stakes Uncertainty SOPs, Plans Management, adaptive capacity Strategic leadership, relationships, innovation After Funtowicz and Ravetz

It is the quality of the glue that counts

4 points to take away
Your ability to get work done
Amount of work you can complete each day
Will be less than you plan on now
Delegate authority
Train trusted Lieutenants now
Assess each person’s strengths & weaknesses
Learn how to delegate

Expect chaos
Become comfortable with uncertainty
Prepare strategies for how to get the ERP “back on track”

Believe in yourself
Understand your strengths
Ensure you fully understand
The Emergency Response Plan
Emergency Response concepts
Emergency Response best practices
Show your knowledge
During Emergency Response Drills
Working with company executives

Practice motivating others
Participate in smaller emergencies
Inflight turbulence, airplane off runway

Questions

Crisis Leaders: Born or Made?

by Forbes Calamity Prevention on Nov 15, 2011

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Crisis Leaders: Born or Made? — Presentation Transcript