Leading Through Incidents and Crises with AI

All courses / AI Leader / Module 4 / Chapter 23

Learning objectives

After the lesson the participant can:

• Distinguish an incident from a crisis by the decision rights on either side.
• Identify the positions that must be named before a crisis and the four properties of the stop right.
• Map the reporting clocks that could apply to an event and name who classifies and who signs.
• Specify a crisis decision log and design a drill that tests Name, Explain and Reach without the assistants.

Key concepts

Incident and crisis

An incident is handled by the operating organisation with its own procedures. A crisis threatens the mandate, the licence to operate or the people served and needs decisions no incident procedure may take. The incident commander holds the incident; the crisis leader holds what it cannot.

The stop right

Named before the crisis, with at least one holder reachable out of hours; the mechanism runs outside the platform on which the system acts; holders act without approval; and restart is a separate decision by the owner at a lower level. The leader never holds it alone.

Facts register

A list of statements the organisation holds to be true, each with its source, the time it was established and the person who confirmed it. A draft sentence that has no entry is not released, and the signatory reads every word.

One clock per regime

The case record keeps a clock for each instrument with its own start, limit, owner and state, and opens every clock that could apply at the earlier of the moment a system first flagged the event and the moment a person confirmed it.

Crisis decision log

The leader's own append-only record, time-stamped from a clock no assistant controls and kept outside the assistants' platform. It records reasons and information held at the time, and the AI contribution: which system, which level, what it produced and whether the decider read the source.

Interactive exercises

Do them here and get feedback at once. Choose a card and then where it belongs, or drag it.

Teaching plan

Discussion

1. In Hansa's drill, drafts for three markets arrived in 12 minutes and two carried a restoration estimate with no entry in the facts register. What does that tell you about where AI helps in crisis communication and where the rule must hold?
2. Nordvik divided the crisis staff on purpose: facts and reasons from the administration, political assessment from the chair. What is the equivalent separation in a company, and who holds each voice?
3. A record written afterwards is written by someone who knows how it ended. What would your leadership have to change to keep reasons at the time of the decision during a real crisis?

Written exercise

Self-test

Choose an answer to see whether it is right, or open the answer below each question.

1. Which statement about the stop right is consistent with the chapter?

   1. It is held by the crisis leader alone so that command stays unified
   2. It is exercised through the platform on which the system acts
   3. It requires approval from the management body before each use
   4. It is held by named people outside the platform who act without approval, and restart is a separate decision
   Show the answer

   D. It is held by named people outside the platform who act without approval, and restart is a separate decision
   The right is named in advance, includes a holder reachable out of hours, runs outside the platform so it does not depend on the system's cooperation, and is never held by the leader alone. The owner restarts at a lower level.

2. What ceiling does the chapter set for classifying an incident as significant or major and deciding to notify?

   1. Level 3 Bounded, because the criteria are codified in the instruments
   2. Level 1 for criteria and draft; a named person with reporting authority decides
   3. Level 2 Supervised, with the crisis leader approving each notification before it is sent
   4. Level 4 Autonomous outside office hours when no one is reachable
   Show the answer

   B. Level 1 for criteria and draft; a named person with reporting authority decides
   Classification and notification are decisions assigned by law to the entity and its named officers, so Level 4 is never used. An assistant may apply criteria and prepare a draft; a named person decides.

3. Why is the crisis decision log kept outside the assistants' platform?

   1. So that a platform outage does not take the record with it and the system cannot shape it
   2. So that the assistants cannot read the confidential statements made to supervisors
   3. So that entries can be edited by the crisis leader once the crisis is over
   4. So that the provider of the platform carries no liability for what the log contains about its system
   Show the answer

   A. So that a platform outage does not take the record with it and the system cannot shape it
   The log is append-only, time-stamped from an independent clock and stored elsewhere. It must survive the incident and must not be influenced by the system whose contribution it records.