Do you ever freeze up during a crisis?
I read a fascinating article yesterday in Time Magazine entitled “How To Get Out Alive.” The article discusses(based on events from 9/11) how our instincts in crisis can be our undoing because our brains often somewhat shut down and choose intense disbelief in these stressful situations.
Large groups of people facing death act in surprising ways. Most of us become incredibly docile. We panic only under certain rare conditions. Usually, we form groups and move slowly, as if sleepwalking in a nightmare.I’ve seen this happen to good leaders over the years. There’s crisis level things happening in their church or organization in which they’re well equipped to do something about, but they don’t. Like a deer caught in the headlights they just freeze.
That neurological process might explain, in part, the urge to stay put in crises. “Most people go their entire lives without a disaster,” says Michael Lindell, a professor at the Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center at Texas A&M University. “So, the most reasonable reaction when something bad happens is to say, This can’t possibly be happening to me.” Lindell sees the same tendency, which disaster researchers call normalcy bias, when entire populations are asked to evacuate.
When people are told to leave in anticipation of a hurricane or flood, most of them check with four or more sources–family, newscasters and officials, among others–before deciding what to do, according to a 2001 study by sociologist Thomas Drabek. That process of checking in, known to experts as milling, is common in disasters.
I get it. I’ve been there many times. When there’s a crisis that you know is going to be tough to navigate you want to pretend it doesn’t exist. As the Time article states it’s almost like your “normalcy bias” kicks in and you start sleep walking through the tragedy.
I’ve pretended I didn’t really need to fire certain people.
I’ve pretended I didn’t need to have certain difficult conversations with a church member.
I’ve pretended I didn’t need to address a financial downturn.
It’s predictable, and maybe even somewhat natural, to want to run, hide and or ignore the hard decisions, but leaders you’ve got to lead.
Maybe you didn’t ask for it. Maybe you don’t want it. But if you’re the leader you’ve got to lead.
Do YOU ever freeze up?
