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Steffan's Rules of Crisis
May. 26th, 2009 02:09 pmI've been living daily with crisis for many many years.
I think I qualify by now as an expert. I've been noting and jotting down some "rules of crisis" on my various whiteboards forever, and I thought I'd share my refined list:
1) Crisis is sometimes not a crisis.
Try not to let other people define your crisis. Whether it's chicken little, the boy who cried wolf, or just Somebody Else's Problem, sometimes people blow things out of proportion and they just are not correct in their assessment of the issues.
2) Crisis manifests at the narrow end of the funnel.
Like an iceberg, 2/3rds of any crisis is submerged. The point of pressure isn't the point where things are going wrong. Examine the whole process!
3) Unresolved crisis expands to fill any available resources.
Crisis abhors a resource. It eats time and people. Furthermore, you can't usually staff your way out of a crisis. Unresolved issues and bad policy are not eliminated by more players or more time in the game. This only results in more people doing it wrong longer.
4) Crisis does not resolve itself.
If you had a crisis and it's gone, find out who fixed it. If no one fixed it, then it's probably still a crisis.
5) Sometimes you are the crisis.
Through ignorance, negligence, or sheer stubbornness, you could be part of the problem. Ask yourself; "Can this be resolved by removing me from the process?"
I think I qualify by now as an expert. I've been noting and jotting down some "rules of crisis" on my various whiteboards forever, and I thought I'd share my refined list:
1) Crisis is sometimes not a crisis.
Try not to let other people define your crisis. Whether it's chicken little, the boy who cried wolf, or just Somebody Else's Problem, sometimes people blow things out of proportion and they just are not correct in their assessment of the issues.
2) Crisis manifests at the narrow end of the funnel.
Like an iceberg, 2/3rds of any crisis is submerged. The point of pressure isn't the point where things are going wrong. Examine the whole process!
3) Unresolved crisis expands to fill any available resources.
Crisis abhors a resource. It eats time and people. Furthermore, you can't usually staff your way out of a crisis. Unresolved issues and bad policy are not eliminated by more players or more time in the game. This only results in more people doing it wrong longer.
4) Crisis does not resolve itself.
If you had a crisis and it's gone, find out who fixed it. If no one fixed it, then it's probably still a crisis.
5) Sometimes you are the crisis.
Through ignorance, negligence, or sheer stubbornness, you could be part of the problem. Ask yourself; "Can this be resolved by removing me from the process?"
