[MTE Executive Summary] Challenges and Preparation for Managing Leadership During A Crisis

Challenges and Preparation for Managing Leadership During A Crisis

Synopsis of Presentation

Navigating leadership challenges during a crisis demands unwavering adaptability, clear communication, and strategic decision-making. This synopsis delves into the key hurdles leaders face when crisis strikes, emphasizing the importance of proactive preparation. It explores strategies for maintaining composure, inspiring teams, and making informed choices to lead organizations successfully through turbulent times, ensuring resilience and recovery.

This is a summary of the presentation by Danny Chan, International Security Risk Professional of Mastercard, at the Meet-the-Expert Webinar on 9 March 2023.

Meet-the-Expert Webinar 9 March 2023

The presentation's theme is "Challenges and Preparation for Managing Leadership During A Crisis."

Introduction

In this webinar, the speaker outlines their plan for sharing good practices on crisis management. They intend to cover four key areas: 

• What happens before a crisis
• What to do during a crisis
• what to do after a crisis, and
• personal reflections as a professional

The speaker acknowledges the importance of addressing questions from the audience and ensuring clarity in their explanations.  BCM Institute had consolidated the questions from all of the audience before the start of the webinar.
The first part of the discussion focuses on pre-crisis preparation.

Transiting from Pre-, Dur- and Post-Crisis

The speaker emphasises the importance of transitioning from reactive to proactive crisis management. They stress the need to stay informed about the latest trends in crisis management and recommend reliable sources like The Economist and Harvard Business Review.

Additionally, he highlights the significance of effective communication, tailoring messages to different stakeholders' preferences, such as their focus on the big picture or details, procedures, or processes.

Preparing Leadership for Crisis

The second part delves into preparing leadership for crises. The speaker emphasises building rapport with key stakeholders before a crisis occurs, noting that personal relationships can significantly impact how a crisis manager is perceived.

They suggest understanding stakeholders' communication preferences and calibrating messages accordingly. The speaker also encourages spending time with senior leadership outside formal settings, like going for meals or coffee, to strengthen relationships and garner support for crisis management efforts.

Pre-crisis Preparation

The speaker provided some advice on responding rationally when faced with a new crisis. It emphasises the importance of real-life crisis preparation through hands-on tabletop exercises involving various scenarios and actors, such as distraught family members and hostile media. This approach helps stakeholders and crisis managers mentally, emotionally, and physically prepare for handling a crisis.

Another critical point is managing a leadership team that prefers a different direction during a crisis. The speaker highlights the need for humility and the importance of seeking advice from peers and experienced leaders in similar situations. They emphasise the value of open and candid discussions with senior leaders, even without a definitive playbook, and the need to be flexible and adaptable in crisis management.

External Versus In-house Crisis Resources

Lastly, the questions are about hiring a professional crisis manager, arguing that external crisis managers may not understand the organisation's context, relationships, and proprietary information.

Instead, it suggests that organisations should rely on their internal crisis management team and work to build the necessary expertise and relationships to handle crises effectively. In summary, the speaker emphasises the importance of practical crisis preparedness, open communication within the leadership team, and the potential limitations of external crisis management consultants. It encourages organisations to take a proactive approach to crisis management by fostering a culture of preparedness and collaboration.

During Crisis

The speaker emphasises the importance of crisis management in the face of various threats, particularly cybersecurity incidents and physical security threats. It underscores no one-size-fits-all approach for crisis management and that each organisation needs to tailor its response plans to the specific risks it faces. The speaker highlights the need for flexibility and the ability to adapt to new and unforeseen challenges.

Managing Cyber Threats

In addition, the speaker raises questions about the readiness of organisations to deal with ransomware attacks, data exfiltration, and other cyber incidents, emphasising the critical importance of having a playbook in place to respond effectively.

Furthermore, the speaker delves into the challenges of ransomware attacks and the difficulty of resolving them, especially when dealing with solid encryption. It highlights the urgency of having a well-defined playbook to address ransomware incidents.

Additionally, it touches upon the complexities of managing data exfiltration, mainly when operating across different countries with varying regulations and expectations. The speaker stresses the need for robust strategies and resources to handle these challenges effectively.

Lastly, during a crisis, the speaker addresses the significance of recognising and managing cybersecurity risks when adopting new technology. It mentions third-party risk management (TPRM) as a crucial aspect of assessing and mitigating risks associated with new technologies and vendors.

The importance of tailoring risk management efforts to the industry, organisation size, and risk profile is emphasised. The script encourages organisations to conduct comprehensive risk assessments before embracing new technology to ensure a proactive and well-informed approach to cybersecurity.

The speaker underscores the need for adaptable crisis management plans, addressing ransomware and data exfiltration incidents, and recognising and managing cybersecurity risks when adopting new technology. It emphasises that a tailored and proactive approach to risk management is essential in today's complex threat landscape.

Post Crisis

The speaker discusses the importance of comprehensive crisis management that goes beyond traditional divisions between physical and digital security. It suggests that organisations should adopt an all-hazard approach, combining various security and crisis response aspects.

All Hazard Approach

This approach helps prevent confusion and overlapping responsibilities when dealing with crises with physical and cyber components. The speaker also emphasises the need to shift from a reactive to a proactive crisis management model by analysing past incidents, developing recovery plans, and ensuring staff are trained in crisis response and basic first aid.

Furthermore, the speaker highlights the ongoing challenges in today's complex and uncertain environment, such as geopolitical conflicts, natural disasters, and economic volatility. It emphasises the need for resilience and adaptability in navigating these crises. The speaker suggests that organisations and individuals must be comfortable operating in uncomfortable and uncertain conditions for extended periods.

It also notes the shift from the traditional VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) model to a more fragile and anxious operating environment, where events in distant parts of the world can have far-reaching impacts on daily life.

In conclusion, the speaker underscores the importance of continuous improvement and adaptation in crisis management programs. It encourages organisations to embrace an all-hazard approach, train their staff in crisis response, and develop proactive strategies to protect their brand reputation and minimise damage during crises. It also acknowledges the need for resilience and flexibility in an increasingly uncertain world.

Dr Goh Moh Heng moderated and recorded the session.

More Information About CM Blended Learning

 

BCM Institute offers three levels of Crisis Management courses BL-CM-3 Blended Learning Crisis Management Implementer, CM-4 Crisis Management Manager and the CM-5 Crisis Management Expert Implementer.

 

Please feel free to send us a note if you have any questions.