Dear Sirs, Dear Madams,
From our point of view, in the current situation it is a very good decision of the future German government to establish a crisis team in the Federal Chancellery and to place it under the leadership of an experienced major general. The essential task of crisis management is to get “ahead of the situation” in an uncertain and threatening situation by taking appropriate measures. Unfortunately, there could be no talk of this in the “crisis management” driven by politics so far. The pandemic is a classic crisis situation that can no longer be controlled by the “normal organization”. This requires a very clear competence for the method of “leadership in crisis”. However, this is not a prerequisite for working in politics, e.g. as a member of the Bundestag, or in a leading position in administration.
The core of crisis management is strategic decision-making. One of the biggest challenges in staff work is the decision-making process. The importance of decision making is often underestimated. Poor decision making exacerbates an already difficult situation. The meaning of this quote from the new ISO has become painfully clear to all of us in recent months.
A new standard on crisis management is currently being developed in the ISO committees. At the beginning of November, a text on this project was submitted as a Draft International Standard. The national bodies in Germany (DIN), Switzerland (SNV) and Austria (A.S.I.) participate in the ISO consultations in the Working Group ISO / TC 292 on this topic. As a “designated expert” of the SNV, I participate in the consultations. The text of the draft for the new standard can be obtained from the ISO pages https://www.iso.org/standard/50267.html.
Key points of the new standard are the very clear presentation of the leadership rhythm and the highlighting of the requirements for the skills of the members of the crisis team. The draft is very clear that the strategic decision-making process is about making a good response in a highly escalated situation based on the best available information, thereby controlling the event and minimizing the impact.
Today we would like to inform you about the availability of ISO DIS 22361 and thereby give you the opportunity to comment. To this end, I would like to ask you to review the text that is now available and to provide us with any comments in writing.
On Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.,we will host another webinar on the “Basic Structure of the New ISO DIS 22361 on Crisis Management.” I cordially invite you to this webinar, via teams. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have on this subject.
We wish all of you a peaceful Advent season, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2022. Stay healthy all of you.
Klaus Bockslaff and Mathias Götsch