A friend of mine once described his supervisor to me by saying "He is a great crisis manager, if there isn't a crisis he'll create one". As humorous as that may be, often times managers evolve into constant crisis managers. They don't intend for that to happen, yet time and time again it seems that their department or company is constantly on the brink. Take a look at the workload and responsibility in front of you right now. To some degree aren't we all in crisis management mode all of the time?
It may be helpful to define what exactly crisis management is. Encarta defines a crisis as "a situation or period in which things are very uncertain, difficult, or painful, especially a time when action must be taken to avoid complete disaster or breakdown."
If we carry that definition into business we can define crisis management as "a situation or period in which the future success and profitability of the business and the livelihood of its' employees are at risk and immediate action must be taken to prevent eminent company collapse and closure." Now that sounds much more serious doesn't it? Are you in crisis management mode and there is no crisis based on our definition? If you are there are some pretty serious consequences likely to come your way.
While crisis management certainly grabs the attention of your employees and coworkers and may assist in short term increased productivity, over the course of time your employees will become burned out, and when a true crisis comes along they may not able to respond, or think that this is just another one of your crisis modes and not feel the urgency of the situation. (Remember the boy he cried wolf?) More importantly, how is crisis management affecting you? Chances are you are taking work home with you, it is affecting your mood and behavior around your family and friends, you may not enjoy coming to work as much as you used to or may even dread it!
It is not too late. Like any rut you find yourself in life you can escape it. The first step is to stop, take a deep breathe, and structure every day. Don't try to fix 10 things at once, all you will do is put a band-aid on a leaky pipe, it is bound to start leaking again soon. Prioritize the issues that need your attention and fix one problem (completely) at a time. Dedicate all of your attention to fixing the problem and do not stray your attention from it. Stay away from your PDA, let your calls go into voice mail, close the door to the office. Those questions and problems will be there for you to address when you are done. Watch a dog chase it's tail, that is what your life is like if you are in constant crisis management mode.
You will find rescue in structure. You will be more efficient. Your employees and coworkers will look up to you and you will go home every day with a feeling of accomplishment for each problem you completely solve.
A real crisis will be less likely to occur and when one does you will have an army of dedicated soldiers ready to help you battle it.
