different-perspectives

[different-perspectives]

Dealing With The Unknown - Personal Lessons From Leading Through Crisis

"In October 2017, I boarded a plane after 'only' two weeks in Bangladesh where I had worked with my small team at the onset of an exhausting and long-lasting crisis response for the Rohingya refugees. After having worked with leading crisis preparedness and response management for many years all over the world, I thought that I had seen most of it, but these 14 days took me completely off guard and took me to my personal limits. My leadership skills and my mental flexibility were put to a test next to none, and it was unlike anything I journey of dealing with the unknown as I had never experienced before. "

In this article I won't refer to the extensive and excellent literature and research on crisis leadership. It is merely a personal account and lessons that I learned from more almost 15 years of working with managing crises, leading crisis teams and training emerging leaders. It is an honest account to the challenges and I will try to put a structure to what helped me to navigate complex, unpredictable and fast-changing contexts and helped me to make decisions in seemingly endless dilemma situations and facing my own limits. I will outline some of the dilemmas in this article without reference to any persons, organizations or revealing the decision. These are not tips or advice as such, though I hope that in the current situation it may be of relevance for the many crisis leaders, managers and everyone who face similar challenges. Dealing and managing the unknown with mental flexibility means dealing with the different elements of the crisis situation.

1. Dealing with Context

"Eight men standing around me trying to explain to me the rules. All were speaking at once, fast and in an English that was close to incomprehensible. I was about meet his highness, the regional governor, who decided over the permission to access the conflicted areas with our emergency response operation. I was told how important it is to behave correctly and show respect, and I became increasingly nervous because everyone else was so agitated and seemed intimidated. Finally, two men come in and a large commotion starts. I get up and greet the first one, introducing myself and telling him what an honour it was to meet his highness and follow him as he walks through the room. All of a sudden, I feel a hand on my shoulder and heard someone saying with a smile: 'So you are from Europe? Where from?'. It was the governor, the second man I had ignored completely."

A core characteristic of crises is that the situation is very dynamic and things change rapidly and are unpredictable. However, in order to be able to handle the crisis effectively I found it to be a key that you can read the situation quickly and identify the new facts, challenges, limitations and opportunities. Wherever I worked, I found it to be essential to understand the context to the extent possible as an outsider, yet reminding myself that I won't ever be able to fully comprehend its complexity, let alone blend in and fully become part of it. It helped me to accept that I am small part of a gigantic system and that I have to learn the rules as quickly as possible in order to be able to play by them and use them to my advantage. I regularly faced what I found to be my own tempting enemy, namely my assumption that I know a context and "figured out how things work". This was hardly ever true and currently this might be more challenging than many of us might realize. The current situation plays out in a, for most of us, extremely familiar context, our countries, cultures and homes. They have turned into something unfamiliar through limitations, restrictions and the effect of the situation on our social interactions. It has adapted many characteristics of a crisis context and each one of us is now challenged to adapt and learn quickly in order to manoeuvre and be able to deal with the context. These points helped me previously:

Taking a bird view no matter how familiar you are with the context in order to be able to keep analyzing the changes and facts.

Do not ever assume that you know and understand the context and know how things work.

Sticking to facts - this is what I know and this is what I do not know - and avoiding to know everything. It won't ever work.

Trying to become part of the context and blend in, but do not get absorbed by it because it will limit your flexibility.

Sometimes being a stranger to the context is an advantage because you can ask the "naive" questions.

2. Dealing with dilemmas

"We were about to leave for the visits to the potential sites for the hospital that was to be the main health care facilities to hundreds of thousands of refugees, when I was informed that the influential senior politician and decision-maker for our hospital, who was joining me in our officially marked car, also was known as the regional drug lord and supposedly involved in human trafficking. He was waiting for me at the car to take him into the refugee camps."

Hold back unused equipment and tools to people in extreme need in order not to risk their safety or hand them out; firing a staff member because coping with a extremely difficult experience got him to break the rules in the highest crisis situation or not; closing a refugee camp, while increasing numbers were arriving for security concerns or not; spending money on insignificant things to not reduce the budget for next years emergency operations or not; deciding whether a car that was illegally on the the road in a war zone at night to return the shorter way back into the fighting zone or continue the all-night drive on the longer path into an area with high risk of kidnappings; approving the illegal import of equipment in order to be able to set up what was developing into one of the biggest humanitarian response operations in history or not; these are just a few of the dilemmas that I faced over many years and where I had to take the final decision.

Working in and with crises is dealing with dilemmas. In crisis situations, I almost constantly had to make decisions that I had insufficient information for and where I hardly ever knew what was right or wrong. In retrospect, there were better options for some of choices I made and yet, I am confident to say that all choices I ever made in crisis situations where the right ones. I made those decisions to the best of my knowledge, conviction and following my set of values as much as the context I was operating in.

Currently, countries choose different approaches to deal with covid19, and while it might not seem obvious, these choices are dilemma decisions: are we willing to sacrifice lives in the short run to secure the countries stability on the long run or are we trying to save everyone we can and collectively take the consequences? We do not yet know what is the "right" approach. However, this is important to remember also later. That when the decision was made, there was not right or wrong, it was dealing with a dilemma. Here are some things that I remind myself when facing dilemmas:

Accept that you have limited information, but try to identify the facts. Avoid making assumptions, or using rumours or unconfirmed information as decisive elements for decision-making.

Do not look at decisions as right or wrong but good or better. You might not know until long after, if ever, whether the decision was the best possible.

Once your decision is taken, let go and move on. Do not doubt decisions because it will influence your communication and stop you from moving on to the next one with a clear mind. In crisis situations I experienced that one might sometimes get a second chance to reconsider because the context changes so quickly .

With a few exceptions, most decisions I had to take were not to be taken in seconds. Even if under pressure, take a breath, zoom out and reflect over the information before you decide.

Consider how and what you communicate. Less is more and stick to facts. Keep your explanations short and focus on reasons that led to the decision.

Learn how to use time-pressure to your advantage. I often observed in leaders and myself that under stress the brain naturally reduces our decision-making to considering only the most important factors for us and our core values.

Do not hesitate to get others’ perspectives and do not ever think you have to solve situations alone. However, remind yourself that the final decision is with you, and that you have to stand for it.

Know your core values and make sure that you use them as core decisive factors when deciding over dilemmas.

3. Dealing with myself

"Three little children, maybe 5, or 6 years old came up to me, no shoes and wearing just t-shirts. It was -8 degrees and had snowed over night. It was the same children that we saw a week before and that led us to distributing warm clothes to their families. The parents did not give it to their children. I was warned that they wouldn't because it would stop the children from earning money when they were sent out to beg. I should have been angry, furious, shocked, compassionate, in disbelief...I wasn't, instead I was numb, I felt nothing."

I participated and facilitated a lot of trainings for crisis preparedness, high security awareness and critical incident management, and I do think that there are things you can train and prepare for. However, one thing you cannot prepare for is how you will react when you are confronted with a crisis for the first time. The funny thing, though, is that no crisis is like the other just as no reaction is like the other. In a way every time is the first time. One of the biggest dangers that I have seen and experienced many times over the years is assuming you know how you will react when you are faced with a crisis situation because you have been in one many times before. I saw people starting to inexplicably laugh hysterically without being able to stop when pointed a gun at. I saw people getting very calm, while others talk non-stop. I saw people hide and people running to the where a bomb went off minutes before and I saw many times that leaders emerge, who nobody would have ever thought to be a leader. Whether we are leaders or not, we are all human and have human reactions and this is crucial to keep in mind.

Another important thing are your own triggers. Knowing yourself is a key element to being successful in leading through crisis. I faced many of my own demons and triggers, like in the example above, where I was confronted with suffering children and my system simply was overwhelmed.

I personally learned the hard way to accept that part of getting through a crisis is dealing with myself:

Shift your focus to totally unrelated and banal things, even joke, from time to time to find breaks and time to debrief and get head space in order to sort your thoughts.

Consider the priorities when taking decisions. Do not apply the time management rule, that you do first what can be done quickly. In crisis situations, it is the opposite because the difficult decisions will simply pile up.

Accept your reactions, even when you have reactions that might be opposite to what you experienced previously and do not try overcome them.

Accept your limitations and try to set personal indicators for when it gets too much. Remember that no emotional reaction/numbness is most likely a warning sign. You should talk to someone, if either occurs.

Do not neglect basic needs such as food, water and sleep.

Fear, insecurity, pressure and stress etc. are absolutely normal feelings in crises. However, also accept, that you might actually like to work in and with crises because of the adrenaline, the kick and the positive feeling of achievement and pride, when you make it through it.

4. Dealing with expectations

"We handed out water to the approximately 50 villagers that had walked for more than an hour to meet under the «talking-tree» that provided shade from the brutal heat at 40 degrees celsius. After I had introduced myself and informed them that we are here to get to know each other and listen to each others concerns, as I was informed was expected of me by the team that organized the meeting, elders jumped up and started throwing things and shouting at each other. Their expectations was to be informed by me about when the bore holes were drilled that were part of their peace agreement with each other after 20 years of violent conflict, and who would get which. They knew each other far too well and knew what they wanted, only I didn't."

Leading through crisis is also about handling expectations. Expectations that might not be visible, clear and outspoken, yet they are omnipresent. Whenever I went out to challenging situations and contexts, I leave with expectations to myself. This is often premature as I might not have even seen the situation, know the crisis and understand my role in it. But there are always expectations around us, like in the current situation, whether it is our children, families, colleagues, managers or people suffering. They look up to us, need support, want us to ensure that things are going to be fine. They want safety and security and/or look for someone to give them a direction. Combined with the context and my own expectations, I found this at times an unbearable weight. It often seemed like there were a million things that needed follow up and each person around me wanted something from me. I often thought that I was not capable of handling the situation and would fail everyone around me. Over the years, I learned to see this a bit more relaxed. Sometimes all it takes is recognition or a small action that does not require much to deal with expectations:

Try to identify what is really expected from you and do no act on your own assumptions. Distinguish between expectation (nice to have) and need (must have).

Be honest and explicit in your communication about what people can expect from you and do not ever pretend or and promise things.

Be clear about what you expect from others and make it explicit to avoid negative reactions, when they are unknowingly not met.

Avoid trying to fix everything and find ways to support people around you in solving their situations. Put your energy where you can make the most impact.

Be aware of what is influenced by previous experience and what is influenced by the actual situation.

5. Dealing with assumptions

"After intense days of negotiations and finally agreeing on the lease terms, I took a picture of the signed lease agreement for the land that would allow us to set up a hospital that would provide large scale health services for the population in need. I sent it, with the message: "Finally, we did it, you can inform the Secretary General!" I was so relieved, exhausted and proud of the team who supported me and was scheduled to fly home two days later. The door knocked. I opened, and a man stood outside and introduced himself. My colleague translated: «This is the man who owns the land where the hospital will be.» I looked at him, then at the man. It was not the man who signed my the lease agreement.

Assumptions are the mother of all f*@% ups. I learned that this statement is 100% accurate. Not being aware over your own assumptions and acting based on these are some of the most dangerous things in crisis situations. As outlined above in dealing with all the different components include avoiding assumptions. In crisis situations, assumptions can cause a lot of delay, work against you and might cost a lot of additional energy. Whether as a leader with your team, a parent or partner with your family or a friend, not making thoughts, assumptions about feelings, considerations and views explicit can lead to misunderstandings and can affect the common approach to deal with the crisis. Dealing with a crisis is always dealing with assumptions:

Do not ever assume you have the situation under control until you know you do.

Never assume everybody else sees, feels, experiences the situation the same as you do. Do not draw conclusions what others thing based on your own thoughts.

Do not assume you know what is going to happen next.

Do not assume you know or understanding everything.

Avoid thinking that you have the perfect solution.

Keep asking yourself whether you 'know' or you 'think'.

6. Dealing with the consequences

"I got a phone call from a nurse who had just been to an Ebola operation. She had worked tirelessly to fight the virus in West-Africa and was now in the 21-day mandatory quarantine to observe the development of potential symptoms. She was angry at me and in tears. She shouted at me that I didn't tell her that she would be an outcast in her hometown, that nobody wanted to see her and that her children would not be allowed to go to school because of the fear they would infect people. We talked for a while before I asked her, whether knowing what she knew now what she would face after her return, would she go again? She was silent for a few seconds before she answered:"In the blink of eye."

Whether you remove yourself or the situation changed, another crisis overtook or the situation calmed down and turned into opportunities, every crisis eventually ends. The time after a crisis is, as naive and dull as it might sound, the time before another crisis. I found it essential to find a way to digest the previous one, learn from it and prepare for the next one that will definitely come. I often felt tired, both physically and emotionally, after working with a crisis and I often struggled to function and to readjust and I got sick, every time. In my early years and after my first experiences with crisis situations, I just moved on and did not take a breather or a break to just work through things. It cost me personally friendships and it cost me a lot of energy. I did this to avoid facing the consequences and to not have to reflect of whether I met my own expectations, if I did what I could and if I took all the right decisions - I knew the answer was no. I also avoided it because I wasn't sure, if I could justify for myself being in the so-called 'normality' again, when the crisis was still going on - of course I couldn't. I certainly didn't want to talk about it because nobody could even remotely relate to what I was going through, or so I thought. And yet, worst of all, I could not wait to go back to my familiar crisis setting. It was a very hard and long road, which I learned is never over, to learn when it comes to dealing with the consequences:

Take a break and be honest about what you feel, think and went through. Find a way to express it, it will serve you as a mirror and reminder and share your vulnerability.

Ask yourself why you want to work in crisis and what it means to you. Establish a purpose.

Listen to your body and accept the signals it gives. Do not try to cover up your health issues with adrenaline.

Do not expect that people who do not know your situation and view of crisis, understand. Do not judge them when they cannot relate or do not show your expected reaction, compassion or understanding. Also do not judge them for having seemingly more «banal» problems than the ones you had to work with.

Accept that you can only do your best, when you are at your best.

Nurture social relationships and use the familiarity as a source for energy and to shift your focus from the crisis mindset by talking about other things.

Do not fill the emptiness after what might have felt as a rewarding and meaningful experience with another kick, another crisis.

Do not judge yourself for potential negative consequences that decisions you made might have had.

When boarding that plane back in Bangladesh, I thought of that in my years of working with and in crises I learned that we have many tools, skills and potential to face these situations and successfully dealing with the unknown. I also learned that being human is what makes handling crises the most difficult, yet it can also be our biggest asset. Right now, we are facing a situation that is a different crisis for everyone and brings completely unknown situations right to our doorstep. Yet, once we look beyond the fear, the complexity, the uncertainties, there are many opportunities and we have more than enough skills to deal with this crisis that concerns each and every one of us.

[different-perspectives]

Eyes open...

and ready to find moments, situations and other things that dominate our everyday live and try to see, if there is another perspective to it that we don’t know or think about. looking forward, sounds like fun!