Main Body
Leading During a Crisis
Kara Colvell
Introduction
In this chapter we will be going over how to handle a crisis as a leader before, during, and particularly after a disaster. In the Miriam Webster dictionary, a crisis is defined as “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially: one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome” (Webster, 2018). When in a leadership position, being in crisis is the norm, though the scale can drastically change. The reassuring view that this current crisis is simply a phase that will pass is true, but it will continue into another high-stakes gambit for the continuance of the company or community. If we were to break a crisis apart, there would be a total of four stages: signal detection, acute stage crisis, chronic crisis, and learning (Rowitz, 2014).
1. Signal detection. This is a pre-crisis stage. There are usually warning signs before a disaster, and the objective at this stage, barring averting the disaster, is to acknowledge the signs and get a head start on disaster resolution.
2. Acute stage crisis. This can be the most demanding stage; the crisis is in full swing. As a group, individuals can either respond frantically or thoughtfully. If some warning signs were noted and heeded, the added time can ensure responding to the crisis a cumulative and deliberate effort. This phase can also be called the “emergency development phase.” During this time, the leaders job is to stabilize and plan out the crisis.
3. Chronic crisis. The crisis is still in effect but action has taken place to reduce the effect; this development is also known as the adaptive occurrence. Here is where the underlying cause of the crisis is unfolded and the direction the leader will take is determined, which is to either lead in such a way as to ensure the avoidance of a similar situation or embrace the new direction and determine how to thrive. (Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky, 2011)
4. Crisis resolution. The goal in any crisis is that at the end things return to normalcy. This is generally the case but situations never revert back to exactly how they were before the crisis. A new sort of normal is the result of the catastrophe.
I am going to apply management and leadership practices and theories to the Flint Water Crisis in this chapter which will include an investigation and application of: crisis management, adaptive leadership, distributed leadership, reform, crisis communication, and the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT).
Background to the Flint Michigan Water Crisis
The water crisis in Flint could be called one of the most severe public health catastrophes in the last decade. What makes this tragedy so devastating is that if regulations had been followed the entire situation would have been avoided. Events leading up to the disaster can be traced back to 1897 when the city instituted a policy that all pipes connected to the main water supply were