Responding to Crisis. Are You Prepared for Extreme Circumstance?

I was asked about responding to crises a couple weeks ago. The question posed was: “How do you respond in a crisis?” I see the term from two different angles.

I was forced to do some thinking on this one. Personally, I think I’m amazing in a crisis, but I have to admit my experience in REAL crises is somewhat limited. We all deal with the day-to-day crises at work. A poor plan fails, execution is inadequate, or unexpected requirements emerge from nowhere.

Generally speaking I tend to let training and knowledge take over in times of crisis. Relying on what I “know” helps me get through situations in a controlled way and positively impact the outcome of the event. I think I’m pretty good at applying what I know to a variety of situations which helps me gain control and move forward. I’m good at making quick assessments, identifying “a way” of dealing with situations, and executing without overthinking.

The negative side of that, is that maybe I don’t take enough time to fully understand a situation before responding. I also tend to take over efforts and jump into leading the response in team efforts which isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes, it isn’t my crisis and I don’t have any business getting into it, or others may feel as though I stole their opportunity to excel. 

The other type of crisis we may be forced to deal with are more extreme situations. A flat tire or dead battery can sometimes feel like a crisis and certainly put strain on our daily lives, but those situations will never compare to what the people of New York endured on September 11th, 2001. Few of us, we all hope, will experience an active shooter situation.

These types of extreme crises are very different and immediately trigger the “fight or flight” response. An autonomic physiological response to a stimulus we assess as dangerous. I’ve experienced this response while deployed overseas and a few other times. Many of us have felt the associated responses when experiencing a car accident or another extremely frightening circumstance. 

I don’t believe most people understand how they respond in extreme crises because we rarely focus on the effects of the stimuli. Through training however, we can actually get accustomed to and learn to use the autonomic response to enhance our responses. Understanding the impact as adrenaline flows through our bodies provides us a very real opportunity to think through different situations and how to best respond in crisis. 

I challenge you to find a way to train in a way that elicits that adrenal response. Combat training in Martial Arts, a 5k race, any form of competition will commonly evoke the response to some degree. Nothing will ever replicate a life-or-death situation, but closely replicating those conditions and paying attention to how our bodies and minds respond will help us better prepare to respond in a crisis.