Most organizations will be familiar with a manager who continually “saves” projects at the eleventh hour. They jump into firefights in the middle of the night, drive people hard towards deadlines, escalate fiercely, and come out the other side appearing irreplaceable. While such behavior may look like effective crisis management from an executive perspective, organizational behavior researchers suggest the repetitive nature might mean something quite different: it reflects a culture where being the person who saves the day is valued more highly than being someone who prevents the need for a rescue in the first place.
The problem is not that all crisis leadership behavior is bad; crises do happen, and there are leaders who excel in challenging times. However, it becomes an issue when crises cease becoming less frequent and instead start to form part of regular operations.
