Every organization faces crises at some point and lawyers will typically form part of the team charged with managing the situation and minimising the damage to the corporation. As an aspiring lawyer leader, how should you think about these situations and find the essential composure required to succeed? Aviation turbulence management procedures provide an interesting source of inspiration.
There are lots of materials out there on this subject (IATA issued Guidance on Turbulence Management for example) but one that stimulates thinking about the key steps for corporations was issued by Airbus (Managing Severe Turbulence https://mms-safetyfirst.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/pdf/safety+first/managing-severe-turbulence.pdf). Three particularly transferable points for the non-aviation context relate to planning, communication and analysis.
Planning
Anticipation and planning are key to turbulence management as they are to any potential corporate crisis. Accordingly, the Airbus guidance first asks: “What causes Turbulence and How to Avoid It?” Leaders ask similar questions about their own organisations: what are the corporate equivalents of convective weather and how can you predict such events? How can you avoid storms? What is your corporate equivalent of on-board weather radar? In the corporate context building in a likelihood assessment is important for resource management.
Communications
The Airbus guidance emphasizes the importance of clear, unambiguous communications in stressful situations:
“Turbulence is classified into three categories. To ease identification, each category is based on the impact to the aircraft’s trajectory and the effects felt in the cabin. Using common terminology ensures that the flight crew and the cabin crew share the same understanding of the level of turbulence expected. This enables the cabin crew to perform the appropriate duties in order to effectively manage the cabin during turbulence.”
The following Turbulence Scale facilitates clarity:
“Light turbulence momentarily causes slight, rapid, and rhythmic bumpiness without noticeable changes in aircraft altitude or attitude.
Moderate turbulence causes rapid bumps or jolts
Severe turbulence causes large abrupt changes in aircraft altitude and attitude with large variations in airspeed.”
How would you classify levels of crisis turbulence relevant to your industry in order to promote clarity in communications and pre-defined management actions? What are the necessary management actions associated with each category? How will you communicate those actions to the "crew"? What does training look like?
Event Analysis
An indispensable part of crisis management planning is event analysis which is about understanding what happened, the causes of the event, how it was managed and the lessons that can be learned for the future. Has your organisation built thorough event analysis into the crisis management process? Not doing so risks more than spilt in-flight drinks.
One closing thought: remember, turbulence is not engine failure and being able to distinguish between the two is vital to composed and effective lawyer leadership.
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