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2/17/22, 1:20 PM Leading in a Crisis: Building High-Performance Teams https://www.govtech.com/analysis/leading-in-a-crisis-building-high-performance-teams.html 5/8 Each team member should be authorized up front to pull the "emergency brake” through vigorous opposition at any time the group or key members slide into a questionable (incomplete, self-serving, catastrophized or outdated) definition of the situation or are leaning toward unworkable or unethical policies. Members with certain professional roles in the team (the lawyer, the virologist, the engineer, the emergency manager, the military or law enforcement officer, the communicator) have a particular responsibility to make sure that the group acts in ways that are legitimate and consistent with good professional practice relevant to the circumstances at hand. Challenge 3: Micropolitics When crisis teams kick into action, "microclimates" develop within them and determine the quality of their performance. Importantly, these climates are partly shaped by the quality of the pre-existing relations between the political, bureaucratic and professional constituencies that team members represent. It may also be shaped by gender divides. Although the prevailing norm is to suspend politicking and unify in order to fight the crisis together, the reality is that under the pressure of a crisis, pre-existing fault lines and protective, competitive instincts may be amplified rather than attenuated. Just because circumstances dictate that individuals join a leadership or coordination "team" does not mean that members cast aside their set identities, situated interests ("where you stand depends on where you sit") and relational baggage. Recommendation: Do not ignore, or try to wish away, this type of micropolitics and let it fester in the shadows. Name it at the outset. Don’t suppress it but find ways to normalize and even harness it in ways that allow the team to make balanced, well-scrutinized decisions that will be understood and accepted by other groups and agencies — from stakeholders who are dependent on group decisions to others who will implement decisions. Adopt a practice of "multiple advocacies" where representatives of different viewpoints on issues of strategic importance are given license to argue their cases during team meetings in a structured process — buffeted by their collective commitment to "fall into line" with decisions once taken. Team leaders act as "magistrates" ensuring the integrity of the process and setting