In an earlier post we talked about the need to manage the process by which crisis decisions are taken and talked about the OODA Loop (read Decision Making or Analysis Paralysis). In this post we going to present some concepts around how to speed up the OODA Loop. If you can get your decision making processes to happen faster than the crisis is unfolding then your decisions stand to be more effective. On top of that, making a larger number of quicker decisions, each one correcting the errors of the previous one, is likely to help you reach an optimum solution faster than if you wait for total clarity. So what to do?
CRIP: Establish and maintain a full understanding of the situation. This is sometimes referred to as the Common Recognised Information Picture. It is built up of all available validated information. It is not a chronological list but a contextualised picture that can inform decisions. Date/Time stamp it and keep it up to date, even when the decision makers are not meeting. Use information pull (gathering information in) and information push (people and organisations knowing instinctively to forward information) to achieve this.
Strategic Aims: Make sure the Crisis Management Team establish the Strategic Aims for managing the crisis early on. These may even be drafted in a plan for confirmation or adjustment on the day. They won’t change very often but they set the tone for the response, driving information management and response. If the top aim is ‘safety and staff welfare’ this will determine that things progress differently for any given situation than if it were ‘corporate client entertainment events’. Sounds obvious and simple but it is often overlooked.
