A preliminary analysis of high-stakes decision-making for crisis leadership

Abstract

High-stakes decision-making is a critical component of crisis leadership. This study examined the decision-making processes of global, national and local crisis professionals to identify common decision-making process traits, and proposes a useful model to guide crisis leaders’ high-stakes decision-making. Crises have distinct factors: they are time-sensitive, pose significant risks and require consequential decisions. A sample group of 15 national and international expert crisis professionals in leadership positions from national security, law enforcement and government sectors participated in this study. Seven popular decision-making models were deconstructed into 50 individual process traits and converted into a survey. The experts were asked to identify process traits from the survey that they felt best reflected their approach to decisionmaking. The responses of the professionals were analysed, and a new model assembled based on their expertise. The findings identified a pattern of practice across the spectrum of crisis leaders and demonstrated the potential usefulness of a new decision-making model that captures the decision-making process traits of expert crisis leaders. This research provides inexperienced crisis professionals with a model drawn from the experiences of national and global crisis experts. In addition to benefiting the novice crisis professional, the model can be used by organisations to create a personalised company crisis plan.