THE FAST TRACK Effective leadership is about acting quickly and decisively, rather than waiting until you have all the answers, explains Peter Baines , who draws on lessons from his background in international humanitarian response effort s T rue leaders are identified by their actions and reactions. It is not the position that we hold that matters most but rather the actions that we take, particularly in the most challenging of environments and circumstances. It is leadership without authority.
As I mentioned, I have worked in crisis and disaster situations both in Indonesia, following the 2002 bombings and in Thailand, where I led Australian and international teams in the aftermath of 2004’s Boxing Day tsunami. I was also in Saudi Arabia after the deadly floods in Jeddah in 2009 and in Japan, following the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Regardless of where a disaster or crisis occurs, or whether it is a humanitarian response or response to an act of terrorism, the leadership challenges and opportunities remain the same. Acting with alacrity If we wait until we have all the answers to all the possible questions that a situation presents, we delay action and create an opportunity for someone else to act before us. In doing so, they can lay claim to a leading position in the market. Clarity will come with action – the more we do, the clearer a situation will become. In Thailand, 450 forensic sta from 36 countries were deployed in response to 2004’s humanitarian disaster. Those who assumed leadership positions at that time didn’t possess any
Organisations will always want to prepare and plan for potential disruptions to business or their supply chain. As such, they will run scenario testing and simulation exercises to road test their leaders, but what happens when the challenge or opportunity is well beyond anything previously planned for? My background as a forensic specialist enabled me to be involved in work taking place at the scenes of major crimes and incidents. The scale of an incident was not measured by property or economic loss, but in contributing to the identification of those who died following the Bali bombings of 2002, I told a colleague, “This was the biggest job we will ever be involved in.” Just over two years later, I was standing in the grounds of the Wat Yan Yao temple in Thailand where there were 3,500 decomposing bodies from those who died as a result of the Indian Ocean tsunami. It was at this point that I truly appreciated how much leadership matters. the number of people who died. That was the job that I did. Sitting in the departure lounge of Denpasar Airport after Focus on the results The challenge for leaders is to find a way not to avoid risk, but rather to embrace it and overcome the challenge, as that is often where the rewards lie. It is the role of the courageous leader to make significant decisions when we genuinely don’t know what the outcome will be. It is focusing on the results and not the excuses. There will always be those around us who will o er excuses by saying, “It’s too big, it’s not achievable, there is very little di erence we can make and it’s not our job to do this.” Let others focus on the excuses; leaders focus on the results. If we do nothing, then nothing will change.
“It is the role of the courageous leader to make signi icant decisions when we genuinely don’t know what the outcome will be”
36 | Ambition OCTOBER 2023
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