Crises are born in uncertain, ambiguous and unpredictable environments. They are significant threatening events that will lead to devastating outcomes unless swift action is taken. Responsible and effective leaders continuously deepen their own crisis leadership skillset and work with those around them to help others do the same. James and Wooten’s work offers an underpinning framework for doing so. The framework outlines: the 6 hallmarks of a crisis; the 5 phases of a crisis; 9 supporting competencies of effective crisis leadership; and 6 effective crisis leadership orientations.
Scholars, researchers and teachers may find the framework a helpful tool in furthering an understanding of why crisis leadership matters.
Trainers and coaches may want to use the framework to ground learning and development planning with people who want to build their crisis leadership skillset.
Leaders, team and organizations can use the James+Wooten crisis leadership framework as a starting point for building a culture that sees opportunity in crises. The framework creates learning and development paths for those who believe that crisis leadership matters.
The James+Wooten: Crisis Leadership Matters Capacity Diagnostic is designed to help individual leaders, teams and organizations establish a baseline for effective crisis leadership capacity. It captures a moment in time and serves as a dialogue tool for reviewing capacity within the context and culture of your situation and organization. In addition to the diagnostic, there is a guide to learning tactics and a worksheet to create an effective crisis leadership learning plan.
Scholars and researchers may be interested in the capacity diagnostic for further research and case study use.
Teachers may want to have students better understand the learning tactics guide.
Trainers and coaches may want to use this robust gap analysis tool. The learning tactics guide and developmental planning worksheet help move people to action.
Leaders, team and organizations can separately or together use the diagnostic to find a crisis leadership capacity baseline. The results can be used as discussion prompts for team learning.
The learning tactics guide and developmental planning worksheet are foundational tools in creating a leadership and team development plan.
Learning is woven into every phase of the James+Wooten crisis leadership framework. This explainer dives more deeply into the 9 supporting competencies of the framework. For each competency, suggested learning and development tactics are offered.
Scholars and researchers may be interested in the competency model of the James+Wooten crisis leadership framework.
Teachers may want to have students experiment with some of the learning and development suggestions offered for each of the 9 competencies.
Trainers and coaches may want to use the competency model and related learning and development suggestions in their leadership development work.
Leaders, team and organizations may want to consider adding the James+Wooten crisis leadership competency list and related developmental suggestions to their leadership and development efforts.
Seeing opportunity before, during and after crisis is the cornerstone of the James+Wooten Crisis Leadership Framework. Part of developing crisis leadership capacity is building a learning culture and becoming practiced in the six crisis leadership orientations which support the opportunities mindset. We see people using this dialogue tool to discuss how to see opportunities before, during and after a crisis. 13 prompts have been provided.
Scholars and researchers may be interested in the 6 effective crisis leadership orientations.
Teachers may find this dialogue tool helpful in generating classroom or small group discussions.
Trainers may find this a helpful tool to use in a workshop setting.
Teams and organizations can use these prompts for group learning sessions.
This action guide offers four checklists to consider in creating an effective crisis leadership team: team composition, first steps to take, team culture, and how the team leader should empower and adapt.
Scholars, researchers and teachers may be interested in real-world application of the James+Wooten crisis leadership framework.
Trainers and coaches may find this a helpful tool when working with teams and team leaders who are building effective crisis leadership skills.
Leaders, teams and organizations can use these checklists to prepare for and build effective crisis teams.
Systems thinking is a holistic way of interpreting the world using structures, relationships, patterns and events. It is a set of five disciplines that can help build crisis leadership competencies. Effective leaders can drive systems change by drawing on the disciplines of systems thinking and the competencies and orientations outlined in the James+Wooten Effective Crisis Leadership framework. This guide offers some topics for discussion about crises and systems change. It includes a checklist of ideas that encourage leaders to build skills to see the system and change the system.
Scholars and researchers may be interested in exploring further the links between systems thinking and effective crisis leadership.
Teachers may find this discussion guide helpful in working with students to better understand sudden, smoldering and strategic crises and the opportunities to change systems as a result of crises.
Trainers and coaches may find this discussion guide helpful in working with leaders who want to be more strategic and leaders who are transitioning from a functional focus to a cross-functional or systems focus.
Leaders who are developing their strategy skills or who are transitioning to a broader organizational role may find this guide of interest.
Teams and organizations can benefit from a discussion about sudden, smoldering and strategic crises using this guide.
The checklist encourages leaders, teams, and organizations to see and understand the systems in which we live and work and to choose to act on the opportunities for systemic change that can result from crises.
Today leadership landscape means that no executive, and no organization, is immune from challenge and disruption. Glass cliff opportunities are risky and are not for the faint of heart, but if offered a glass cliff opportunity, you may find this diagnostic worksheet helpful in considering your options.
Scholars and researchers may be interested in seeing the glass cliff theory presented as career opportunity.
Teachers may find this discussion guide and diagnostic helpful in working with students to better understand how to navigate risky job opportunities.
Trainers and coaches may want to use this diagnostic worksheet with executives considering glass cliff job opportunities.
Leaders may want to use the diagnostic worksheet to consider job opportunities.
Teams and organizations may want to use the discussion guide to better understand the glass cliff theory and how crises can lead to career opportunities.
Resiliency is the ability to recover quickly from disruption or change. Resilient people express optimism and a sense of forward progress even after hardship, crisis or difficulty. Being curious, having multiple and broad perspectives, and being learning-oriented contribute to a person or a team’s ability to be resilient. Resiliency helps people navigate crises where they need to handle rapidly changing circumstances, stress and pressure. Promoting resilience is one of the 9 supporting competencies of the James+Wooten crisis leadership framework. This tool includes a 20-question diagnostic and some suggestions for how to develop resiliency.
Scholars and researchers may be interested in collecting data from the diagnostic to see how leaders assess their resiliency.
Teachers may find this discussion guide helpful in working with students to better understand and develop resilience.
Trainers and coaches may find this discussion guide helpful in working with leaders who want to be more resilient.
The diagnostic tool may outline some developmental challenges to work on via coaching.
Leaders, team and organizations may want to use the diagnostic tool to find developmental gaps.
The learning tools can be helpful in building a developmental plan for resiliency skills.
Teams and organizations may also want to use this tool to prompt dialogue about how to promote resiliency and create a culture supportive of building resilient leaders.
This discussion guide offers a quick overview of project management and offers some ideas for how project management perspectives can be useful to crisis leaders and crisis leadership teams.
Teachers may want to use this discussion guide to help students understand how to apply project management to the real-world challenges of a crisis.
Trainers and coaches may find this discussion guide helpful in introducing project management concepts to people who want to build effective crisis leadership skills and perspectives.
Leaders, team and organizations may want to think about project management as a skillset to add to learning and development plans.
It may be helpful to use this guide when thinking about crisis team composition and who might have helpful project management skills.
DISCUSSION & LEARNING GUIDE: When Social Media, Data Analytics and Technology Platforms Intersect with Crisis
This discussion guide offers some perspectives on how social media, data analytics and technology platforms offer opportunities and challenges to crisis situations. In addition, we’ve provided some thoughts about learning before, during and after crisis for each of the 9 crisis leadership competencies of the James+Wooten framework.
Scholars and researchers may be interested in further work at the intersection of social media, data analytics and technology platforms.
Teachers may want to use this discussion guide to help students understand the real-world challenges during a crisis where social media, data analytics and technology platforms meet.
Students may find the learning and development guides helpful.
Trainers and coaches may find this discussion guide and competency outline helpful in working with leaders who want to build effective crisis leadership skills and perspectives.
Leaders, team and organizations may want to use the competency outline and discussion questions to find developmental gaps that they can address to be better prepared for the social media, data and technology elements of future crises.