Team leadership in extremis: Enschede, Uruzgan, Kathmandu and beyond

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