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Team Leadership in Extremis: Enschede, Uruzgan, Kathmandu and Beyond

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Leadership in Extreme Situations

Abstract

In this contribution we provide an overview of the existing knowledge on (multinational) teams operating in situations where extreme dangers create, or have created, havoc and disaster. After deciphering the characteristics of extreme conditions, we describe the traditional leadership requirements that are needed to ensure that teams in multiteam-systems operate adequately. Even though the set of leadership traits that are needed in such situations is clear-cut, straightforward and familiar, there is more to say to this. Contemporary insights demonstrate that such leadership characteristics work out positively only within a certain bracket, not in all conditions. The relations between leadership traits and effective team performance are U-shaped rather than linear. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that framing, heedful interrelating and improvising are important characteristics for teams and their members to perform adequately. In this connection, the importance of the development of situational awareness, proper communication and distributed leadership can hardly be exaggerated. The latter may even imply that the actual leader steps back for another team member who has the competencies needed to lead in that particular situation. To make all this happen, training and proper preparation cannot be practiced enough. Overconfidence should be avoided at all costs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An example can be seen in the Europe-wide protests that occurred when the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015 created much more global shock, grief and response than a more or less comparable attack in Beirut just days before the Paris havoc and one in Mali a few days thereafter.

  2. 2.

    In general there is a difference between the objective time that is available to respond and the perceived time to respond. Often there is more time than people in such situations are inclined to think.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Defense Academy, Breda, The Netherlands

    Joseph Soeters & Tom Bijlsma

  2. Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Joseph Soeters

Authors
  1. Joseph Soeters
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  2. Tom Bijlsma
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph Soeters .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Military Academy at ETH Zurich, Birmensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Holenweger

  2. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Military Academy at ETH Zurich, Birmensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Karl Jager

  3. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Military Academy at ETH Zurich, Birmensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland

    Franz Kernic

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Soeters, J., Bijlsma, T. (2017). Team Leadership in Extremis: Enschede, Uruzgan, Kathmandu and Beyond. In: Holenweger, M., Jager, M., Kernic, F. (eds) Leadership in Extreme Situations. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55059-6_4

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