Common Errors Leaders Make during Crises

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Common Errors Leaders Make during Crises

Hirsch (2014) did research on crisis management and examined the most common errors top managers make in times of crisis. He found an interesting pattern of problematic behaviors among senior leaders in crises:
1. Passivity: In the early stages of crises, leaders are very inactive. They hope and believe that the crisis will pass without serious consequences for their organization. Leaders should have a more open and objective view and be aware of the possible negative consequences of the crisis. Besides, they should actively respond to those consequences rather than just hoping that the crisis will fade away.
2. Narrow Vision: This refers to the inability of leaders to look beyond the existing dangers and risks to their organization. It results from omitting to put themselves in the role of the victims/outsiders that are involved in the crisis. A more open view is needed so as to understand and effectively react to their followers’ and other victims.
3. False Hope: Leaders often keep believing that the most positive outcomes will prevail, even if evidence shows the opposite. Rather than dealing with worst-case scenarios, these leaders keep changing the possible ramifications that will occur. Although it is understandable why leaders rather do not deal with worst-case scenarios, leaders need to plan for them.
4. Announcing the End of the Crisis: Leaders often have a strong desire to announce that the crisis has ended, so as to reassure their employees. This will only work out positively if the end of the crisis indeed occured. If not, the credibility of leaders is damaged. A more effective approach is to constantly announce and adapt to changing information so that credibility will be maintained.
5. Searching for a Scapegoat: A common reaction of leaders in crisis time is searching for a victim in order to protect themselves. However, blaming others only leads to a passive attitude towards the possible consequences of the crisis. Leaders should not focus on blaming others, but rather on searching for effective ways to master the crisis.
Source: Hirsch, P.B. (2014) “Taming the Amygdale: New Tools for Crisis Management” Journal of Business Strategy Vol.35 No. 1 pp. 52-55

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		6 Adrian Horodniceanu CEO, Israel
	Common Errors Leaders Make During Crises The above errors can have objective reasons (at least the first 3 or 4). 1. At the top there is a lot of noise. You never know what will become a real crisis and what is just background noise. People usually use their experience, concentrate on main targets and try to ignore background noise. 2. It is easier to deal with the known than to unknown. 3. We do this all the time also in personal life. Leaders are human too:) 4. It is an ego question. They really believe that their word makes miracles, even outside their organization. Most of us suffer of it from the first managerial job. 5. This is a real problem. Here is difference between a real leader and a bureaucrat. The accountability. A good leader in an organization will define a kind of risk identification team from the key persons in the organization which will be able to identify real crisis when it is small and react to it in time and with the proper tools. He will be the head of this team.

		7 Miguel Sacramento Business Consultant, Brazil
	Another Common Error During Crises: Not Learning from it Another usual error besides the 5 already mentioned is: 6. Not capturing nor disseminating any learned lesson developed from the crisis. On the opposite, as soon as the crisis ends it becomes part of the past, a history to be forgotten.

		2 Raj Mohan Management Consultant, India
	On Crisis Management Error #1: Being Too Passive In many cases the CEO does not realize or gets the real picture of the problem. Sometimes they do not come down from their strategic position asking the people on the work floor what went wrong. As Tom Peters mentioned, managing by wandering around would often help the CEO come out of a crisis and build a strong growth path.

		2 Seelig, Netherlands
	Looks Like Standard Reactions on a Traumatic Experience The passivity, denial, false hope and anger seem like basic human emotions/reactions on a traumatic experience.

		5 Niraj Kumbhat Manager, India
	Many in Senior Positions are not Capable to Handle a Crisis In addition to above mentioned problematic behaviours listed, there could be many more. A few are: 7. Decision-making in haste, short term focused. 8. Feeling insecure about the company and self. 9. Too much occupied in routine. But the past may not always repeat. 10. Failing to take bold/right decisions.

		-1 Stephen van der Merwe, South Africa
	Leadership EQ - Giving Emotional Stability in Times of Stress Point 4 is a typical reaction that exists because our human ego is our worst enemy. I agree here with @Raj Mohan. Sometimes we wonder where are the leaders when the crisis is on? We need to get back to the basics that built companies. 'Walking the floor' is fundamental to show support to the persons affected the most. The staff members who live there day to day. The ones who cannot afford to not have a job. Their emotional stability is vital to handling a crisis and giving the employees a comfortable feeling - although it may be tough then - that they can work to resolve the issues releaves the organisation of stress.

		1 Manager HR Consultant, United States
	Leadership Behavior to Avoid in the Event of a Crisis There are even more reasons why so many top people at any organisation fail in crisis and in my opinion at the top of the list are: 11. Failing assessment of root causes. Not being able to identify what went wrong? In other words, what is the heart of the crisis, because as top person in the organisation you need to solve the crisis from the root - not only cut some leaves or branches of the tree. 12. Not asking for help, and not listening to front line staff. 13. Not being calm when you deal with any crisis. It's not easy to be calm and act in a logical, planned way in the event of a crisis.

		1 JOSEPH SOLA ONIFADE Manager, Nigeria
	Common Leadership Errors during Crises Leaders always forget that they are chief servants of the people. This is why they never learn from crises that confront them in the process of leading the people. Issues arising from crises are never...

		0 Goodsir Professor, New Zealand
	Common Crisis Reactions by Leaders and Human Emotional Reactions @Seelig: Your comparison of crisis responses to basic human emotions provides an interesting insight....

		0 Sunday ELKANA (koachkonsult) Manager, Nigeria
	Common Errors Leaders Make During Crises Searching for a scapegoat seems to be the order of the day in crises management by leaders of organizations. But this, in my opinion, is a lazy way out of a crisis. Going to press to announce an end ...

		1 Tom Boren Business Consultant
	Crisis Management must Become Another Competency of Effective Change Agents An old adage tells us that whatever can be imagined can be planned for; is it hubris for leaders/managers to ignore or deny the potential for crisis? Especially today, in such a climate of volatile so...

		1 kvssiyer Consultant, India
	A Crisis is Like a Tsunami: The Pressure for it Develops over the Years Many crises are the consequences of errors traceable to innocence or even intention or complacence. It is not necessarily traceable to lack of or absence of competence by leaders. It may be traceable ...

		0 C.L. Kappagomtula Professor, Malaysia
	The Article is on a Hypothetical 'Myth' Rather than Reality Anneke Zwart's article on the common mistakes of leaders, though makes an interesting reading, is nothing buy a myth in reality. Taking these discussed mistakes individually, one will wonder, whether ...

		0 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Crisis Management and Effectiveness of Surrendering In a crisis situation if a leader 'surrenders' to the existing situation and devotedly searches for a solution with a belief that within the existing boundary conditions there exists a solution, then ...

		0 Andrew Blaine Business Consultant, South Africa
	Leadership and Management The original study was of senior management, which does not necessarily imply leadership ability. Managers are appointed, generally on their ability to complete a task, leaders are made, with a more g...

		0 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Leaders or Top Managers or Top Excutives @Andrew Blaine: thanks for bringing this up. We are discussing the common errors made by those people that are in charge in a crisis make when they're faced with such situations. They can be labelled...

		2 Borje Vickberg, Sweden
	Common Errors Leaders Make During Crisis Many wise comments on JP Hirsch´s research. I would like to add two aspects. The Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s ‘theory-induced blindness‘ suggests that our theories of how the world works, bli...

		1 Augustine Ngmentomo Beakana, Ghana
	Attitudes of Leaders During Crisis Management: Impatience I agree with all the various views expressed expressed so far. A variant of #7 that I have also noticed is the Impatience leaders sometimes exhibit during crises management....

		0 Tran le Phuong Teacher, Mongolia
	On Common Errors of Leader in Crises #5: Mistrust Thank you so much for bringing this up. Through my observation one more thing to be added is that leaders tend to pass the mistake to others and mistrusts their subordinates....

		2 Pros Yiga Uganda
	On #12. Common Error of Leaders in Crises: Not Opening up and Involving Others I agree to other views already aired. I also believe leaders should open up to the rest of the team. Work together as a team, engage the team to plan on the way forward. This makes the crisis become ...

		2 Alhaji Jabbi Student (MBA), Gambia
	Leader Errors before a Crisis Occurs: Not being Sensitive to Warning Signals All views mentioned can be useful. In addition to @kvssiyer, I suggest 14. Insensitivity for Early Warning Signals. Leaders need to be sensitive to events (signals) in the external environment ...

		1 Seelig, Netherlands
	Culture Differences also Play a Role in How Crises should be Dealt with @Borje Vickberg: I agree Thinking Fast and Slow is an excellent book; it explains very well how human brains can be manipulated (think about priming). The book "Cultures and Organizations Software of...

		2 Friday O. Ngbodi Student (MBA), Nigeria
	Not all Kind of Leaders Make these Common Errors The points by other contributors are valid to the extent of the culture and communal settings prevalent. The type of organization, PLC, Ltd., Govt., establishment and where the organization’s power re...

		2 Fernando Ochoa Manager, Mexico
	Frequent Mistakes by Leaders during a Crisis A related factor to #12 is: 15. Rely on the people close to the leader only. (Ed: see Core Group Theory). After all, there are normally several layers of professionals that can provide really g...

		0 Zahid asghar Consultant
	Another Common Error of Leaders During a Crisis 16. Not staying accessible, keeping communications open, staying involved with the team and supporting them, winning them emotionally. While taking the end responsibility and helping to find sol...

		1 Manager HR Consultant, United States
	Frequent Mistake by Leaders During Crisis: Not Involving Lower Echelons @Fernando Ochoa: indeed it's worth talking and listening to them, all people in any organization, not only the top people can make changes. So why when the crisis hits the organization you don't lis...

		2 ANUJ KUMAR SHRIVASTAVA Manager, India
	Leaders Need to Be Open and Clear I completely agree to all 16 points mentioned so far. Also many a times leaders 17. Fear of coming up with the truth. For example, when a company merges with or acquires another or is being acquired ...

		1 Ali Wagfi Professor
	More Common Errors Leaders Make During Crises I think following errors may happens during crises: 18. Centralization in passing orders and instructions. One might also say: Lack of delegation of authorities. 19. Lack of coordination...

		1 Ayele Abdata Manager, Ethiopia
	On #1: Indecision is Worse Than Bad Decision During Crises Most leaders and managers are indifferent and during a crisis in their organizations they simply look on, even when vandals and robbers destroy their organizations or their country. Why do leaders an...

		0 kvssiyer Consultant, India
	On Crisis Management Error #12 Potential crises are better diagnosed and prevented in group settings wherein participants bring out the possible crises in the prevailing circumstances giving time for eradication of the factors lead...

		2 Quentin HR Consultant, United Arab Emirates
	Crisis Management Error #20: Interfere At Operational Level One of my observations from own experience (Business Continuity Management training) within our company is the temptation from senior management to meddle when they are not directly involved in the cr...

		0 Andrew Blaine Business Consultant, South Africa
	Bad Decisions versus no Decision @Ayele Abdata: I agree with your commentary. See my view under "Bad Decision Versus No Decision....

		3 Michael Norris Director, United States
	The Incident Commander May not Be the CEO @Niraj Kumbhat: I agree that senior executives are not necessarily the best people to see an organization through crisis. Public safety agencies used to operate on this principle – the higher ranking ...