As part of our Crisis management role at www.caminusconsulting.com, here’s the second article – covering the importance of not just having, but knowing and rehearsing a system.

Years after my experience with the Cronulla riots, I was deployed with the executive team of a peacekeeping mission in a low-lying island chain. As we transitioned into a peacebuilding phase, we experienced a few incidents of unrest; however, overall, we were working towards a routine, with training and development programs rolling out and staff deployed across the country.

Then an earthquake hit.

And with it came the possibility of a tsunami.

The executive offices, including the nominal command centre, were located directly on the waterfront — no more than two metres above sea level. The nearest high ground was kilometres away.

What should’ve happened next was clear:
A coordinated evacuation of the command post, a comms plan for managing wider team safety, and deployment of key functions under the Incident Command System — what would now be ICCS+.

Instead?
There was a plan, but it hadn’t been practised regularly. And with regular staff rotations, at many levels, no one held some of the defined roles.
This meant that, apart from the overall commander, many individuals lacked clear authority to lead specific parts of the response.
Make no mistake, people were experienced. Mostly Capable. Calm.
But not cohesive.

We were lucky that day — the tsunami never arrived.
But if it had, the outcome could have been catastrophic — not because of the natural disaster, but because of the leadership vacuum that surrounded it.

This wasn’t about personal failure. Everyone in the room had years of training and operational experience. But we didn’t have the structure ready to go at a moment’s notice.

There was no active use of ICCS+. No briefed functions. No shared situational picture. No rhythm for making decisions or communicating them.

That experience taught me that crisis leadership can’t be improvised at the executive level.

We spend years training frontline teams — tactical responders — to act under pressure. In this situation, they were probably the most effective in terms of both time and space. But the people expected to lead them? They need just as much structure.

If we don’t regularly train and exercise leaders (especially when they change roles) in systems like ICCS+ or BCPs, and if we don’t rehearse the muscle memory of shared functions and authority, then when a crisis hits, we rely on instinct — and instinct alone isn’t enough.

That day changed the way I prepare for leadership in uncertain environments.
– I no longer assume calm equals clarity.
– I no longer trust that experience alone will surface a plan.
– And I never enter a role without reviewing how ICCS+ and BCP functions will work before the crisis comes.

Crisis leadership isn’t about being the most intelligent person in the room.
It’s about creating a room that functions, even if you’re not in it.