What can Wisconsin business executives learn about leadership from Hurricane Katrina?
As it turns out, plenty. U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Bruce Jones will lead of 31 free business seminars at the Small Business Times Business & Technology Expo May 2- 3.
His seminar, titled, “Coast Guard Response to Hurricane Katrina: How a Carefully Cultivated Leadership and Organizational Culture Ensured Success in a Crisis,” will discuss how Jones, who was then commanding officer of the Coast Guard Air Station in New Orleans, led the first wave of rescue helicopters to arrive over the flooded city shortly after the hurricane struck.
Jones oversaw the rescue of more than 33,000 people from Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard was the one emergency agency that was effective in helping people during the crisis.
Jones has since been transferred to Milwaukee, where he is commander of the Coast Guard’s Lake Michigan Sector.
According to Jones, the Coast Guard has a system of empowerment in its ranks. After all, life-and-death decisions are made on the fly.
"Essentially, the Coast Guard operates through a serious of operation principles," Jones says.
Some of the most important of those principles are flexibility, a decentralized commanding control and on-scene initiative.
"Often, junior people are best-positioned to make a decision rather than having a boss always there, or going back up the chain waiting for a response," Jones says. "Because we deal with life and death decisions everyday … and Coast Guard people are faced with (these decisions), they must make them on scene, very quickly."
The philosophy is documented in the Coast Guard’s operational doctrine.
"We succeed by delegating down to the lowest possible level to get the job done," Jones says. "We give them the tools, training, equipment, doctrine and experience that enables them to effectively use that power that was delegated to them."
The Coast Guard has clear objectives, and once those objectives are defined and the big picture goals understood, it’s the on-scene personnel that make the "how to accomplish those objectives" decisions.
Once Coast Guard staffers are on-scene, if the plan they have doesn’t adequately address a situation, they don’t freeze up or lose momentum. Rather, they make quick decisions about to best proceed and accomplish their goals, Jones says.
The Coast Guard functioned during the New Orleans disaster, even though the city’s communications and transportation infrastructure was destroyed.
"We practice as a risk-tolerant organization," Jones says. "We understand we have to exercise judgment on-scene with the best intentions and thought processes. If it doesn’t work out, it’s not about blame."
Businesses can benefit from similar systems of empowerment, Jones says.
"We build this organizational culture where junior people are not only empowered to speak up but expected to speak up," Jones said. "They don’t have any problem speaking up, because they’re comfortable taking a risk, being forward leaning and making decisions on the spot.
"The problem with the word accountable is that some people twist it to be negative," he says. "You become risk-adverse versus risk-tolerant and youl find yourself with a real problem."
A disaster, such as the explosion at the Falk Corp. plant in Milwaukee, can happen anytime to any company, Jones says.
"Your workforce or supply chain might be decimated," Jones says. "My belief is that the same coping skills, preparation skills and factors that are critical to put in your organizational culture apply equally to any private or public organization."
Bradley Wooten is the editorial intern at Small Business Times. Readers of the BizTimes Daily are invited to hear Jones speak at his seminar at the Wisconsin Business & Technoogy Expo. For free advance registration at the Expo, visit www.biztimes.com/expo, which also includes a seminar speaker schedule.
