Leadership Following a Disaster - Lessons Learned

Back in 2006, I was talking with Dr. Lawrence Ponoroff, Dean of Tulane University about how Hurricane Katrina threatened Tulane's very survival.   Hurricane Katrina redefined disaster preparedness and demonstrated to businesses and educational institutions alike of the need for preparedness and business continuity plans that adequately addressed what might be called the three phases of a crisis:  survival, recovery and renewal.  In the days following Katrina, Tulane had no IT redundancy, no way to locate a community that was dispersed and anxious.  They were largely a tuition driven school and were concerned whether or not the students would return.  

For those who run businesses and find themselves on this Monday tired from tending to the crisis of last week's flood and who are wondering how they are going to resume their business from its waterlogged stall, this blog focuses upon leadership.  Specifically, highlighting the the leadership one will need to embody during this long road of recovery.  Drawing upon my own insights about leadership in times of disaster and those of Dr. Ponoroff, here are some lessons learned.  It is my hope that they might be helpful to you during these three phases of survival, recovery, and renewal.  Yes, there can be renewal.  

1. Planning is important at any time, but particularly important during the survival phase!  Refer to my blog entry from last Monday, May 3rd about organizing employees into small teams.  Think "What do we have to get done today?" The highest priority is given to those areas of your business which are mission critical.  For instance, order or request critical supplies and equipment needed to support the mission critical work.
2. Greatest challenge is preventing client loss.  Direct your teams to communicate with your customers about your degraded services.  Determine what date you can be up and running and communicate this with your clients. Determine what priority clients you need to personally manage the relationship.  Communication is key internally and externally.  Business leaders have to give this their top priority.  Mayor Karl Dean and his administration understand this and they have given us an exemplary example to follow.
3. The leadership style you need for disaster recovery is different from the leadership style during normal business operations.  If  you operated from a consensus building perspective during normal operations, during this time of survival and recovery, the approach is more of command and control where there are clear and concise roles and responsibilities and objectives issued. See my blog on May 3rd where I discuss the importance of and the how-tos of an Incident Action Plan.
4. Your leadership is "guided by the heart."  This may be contradictory to what I said above. Dealing with matters of the heart are important and at the end of the day what will be remembered is how you treated people.  Employees might have had homes that were damaged.  Resuming a business at the present location or relocated can cause a great deal of stress.  Examine what supports need to be created to support them whether it might frequent "town hall" meetings or flex time for people to get their home re-established.
5. Leadership following a disaster is both a runner's sprint and a marathon.  Last week, it was more like a sprint as you raced against rising flood waters and were busy with response and beginning recovery operations.  As more time elapses, the stamina of a marathoner will be needed.  Be sure to take care of yourself.   Examine what you will need to see you through this disaster recovery and return to the "new normal": a trusted adviser; your faith community; a regiment of exercise.
6. Leadership in the aftermath of a disaster looks for the opportunities that exist in every crisis.  This lesson calls to mind the renewal phase that is possible in any disaster. Dr. Ponoroff of Tulane spoke to me about using the disaster to leverage long term plans.  This involved engaging people with power and influence in helping to re-build the university.  It involved re-vamping a curriculum that engaged the students in the re-building efforts of New Orleans.  Such leadership keeps an eye turned beyond the immediate. Examine what possibilities  - new products, changed organizational culture - exist for you in light of this crisis.