Crisis-Ready Teams: Data-Driven Lessons from Aviation, Nuclear Power, Emergency Medicine, and Mine Rescue

Prepare any team for peak performance when crisis comes.

Crisis-Ready Teams explains how any team, and any team leader, in any industry or sector, can prepare in advance to manage crises that suddenly pull people together to address high-magnitude events that could seriously harm their organizations. The book is based on extensive, unprecedented research on crisis team dynamics, key success behaviors, and why some teams perform so much better than others. Leading scholars Mary J. Waller and Seth A. Kaplan recorded and statistically analyzed audio and video recordings of hundreds of hours of crisis simulations involving flight crews, nuclear power plant control rooms, mine rescues, emergency room doctors and nurses, etc. Based on this empirical research, and other academic literature on how teams perform in crises, the authors show how crisis teams and leaders can cement crucial behaviors through attention to team composition and communication, especially in the first few minutes of a crisis.

The book provides a valuable framework and research data for scholars studying crises and teams in organizations. It is also appropriate for MBA or executive education instruction on crisis management and leadership.

Mary Waller is Senior Research Scholar at the College of Business at Colorado State University. Prior to completing her Ph.D., she worked in petroleum, aviation, and software development. Seth Kaplan is Associate Professor of Psychology at George Mason University. His research explores individual and team performance in high-reliability contexts.