What makes a good leader during a crisis?

Political scientist Arjen Boin, at Leiden University in the Netherlands, has studied the most successful and unsuccessful responses during previous emergencies, and he has co-authored a book, The Politics of Crisis Management, that can help us to understand our leaders’ messages during the current emergency.

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There is, of course, much more to a leader’s responses than his or her speeches. In his research into crises like the 9/11 attacks on the US and Hurricane Katrina, Boin has identified many of the steps necessary for an effective response. Leaders should, for instance, offer a rapid recognition of the danger and, ideally, the necessary infrastructure and procedures should already be in place to quickly gather data once the crisis has hit (the so-called “sense making”).

When it comes to taking action, the leader needs to judge exactly how much they can rely on individual co-operation through persuasion, and when they need to cross over into more rigid “command and control” (a choice that can quickly backfire if it not taken with suitable caution). All of this will determine how you limit the damage of an emergency.

Yet it is often the contents of the leader’s messaging that may ultimately determine the public’s trust, Boin has found. “Effective crisis leadership cannot be brought about by simply doing the right thing’ on the ground,” he writes. Instead, the leaders need to craft a good narrative that helps clarify the problem and unite the population if they are to attain the “permissive consensus” that is essential to be able to make decisions and formulate policies, he says.