Welcome to Day 3

Day 3: Leading the team Aim: To work through practical approaches to solving the management and leadership challenges when leading a team in a humanitarian response

Session Decision-making and prioritising in emergency response operations

Session 1.3.1: Objectives Learning objectives At the end of this session, participants will be able to: Explain how to assess the important and urgent nature of tasks to prioritise actions and make appropriate and timely decisions Discuss the importance of effective decision- making in humanitarian leadership

The emergency context You are in the country of Kelsonore – three weeks after a massive earthquake 28,000 confirmed dead; 52,000 injured; hundreds of thousands homeless Tent camps for 35,000 disaster-displaced in North City Increasing efforts by agencies to project response into affected mountain areas While ceasefire has held in some areas, outbreaks of conflict are reported in some mountainous zones You are based in Central City. Some team members have deployed to North City

Decision-making challenge You are an emergency team working on the earthquake response in a fictitious country (Kelsonore) You have many decisions to make. Today you have 10 s waiting for you to make a decision As a team, review the s and make the decisions needed You may: Approve, Reject, Delegate, Postpone Record your decisions on the decision sheet You have 40 minutes

CARE ELMP2.1.7 Key factors in prioritising Importance of the decision Urgency Level of need for acceptance

You must weigh degree of urgency and importance of decisions importance High Low urgency High Low Preparing some reports Agreeing to last-minute visits by celebrities sent by HQ Responding to major disease outbreak Evacuation staff from certain hostile zones Painting office walls white or yellow Replacing the office furniture Preparing for future disasters Building government partner assessment capacity Source: CARE ELMP/Jeff Klenk

Leader must also weigh need for acceptance by team and importance of decisions Problems solvable by tossing a coin Problems for group decisions Problems needing skilful leadership importance High Low need for acceptance Low Problems needing experts or leaders High Source: CARE ELMP/Jeff Klenk

The challenge: weighing all three: urgency and acceptance and importance importance high low need for acceptance high low urgency low high Source: CARE ELMP/Jeff Klenk

The decision-making process 1.Create a constructive environment 2.Generate good alternatives 3.Explore these alternatives 4.Choose the best alternative 5.Check your decision 6.Communicate your decision, and take action

CARE ELMP Decision #8 Please decide whether or not we should go ahead and move the food distribution centres closer to the frontlines of the northern conflict zone. Clearly our outreach capacity will be increased – but the insecurity of our distribution partner staff could increase as well. Do you approve or reject moving the centres closer? Importance: High? Low? Acceptance:High? Low? Urgency: High? Low?

CARE ELMP Decision # 14 Several team members have complained about your practice of working till the end of the day (often 21:00 – 23:00) without stopping to eat in the evening. They haven’t brought it to your attention out of fear that you would consider them unable to “keep up.” They would like you to consider changing the current practice. They have proposed stopping for dinner and then returning to the office afterwards to work. You should know that a couple of key staff have quietly indicated they could leave unless you do so. Do you approve – or reject – the request to change current work practice? Importance: High? Low? Acceptance:High? Low? Urgency: High? Low?

CARE ELMP Decision # 17 The Toyota rep called and wants a decision whether or not to include CD players in the two Land Cruisers ordered for the North City sub- office. He has two cars on-hand right now but they don’t have CD players and says that if we need cars with CD players, then we may have to wait for another two weeks for the new Land Cruisers to arrive in Care City. With customs clearance, it could be a month before those new cars arrive in the north. (The team members do like to listen to music when on mission.) Do you approve – or reject – the option of buying the cars that are available in-country (i.e. that have no CD players)? Importance: High? Low? Acceptance:High? Low? Urgency: High? Low?