How to deal with a BP-sized problem.

• Author: Hiam, Alex
• Position: British Petroleum's initial response to the offshore oil rig explosion - Business & Finance

DECISIONMAKING is challenging, even under routine conditions---and it becomes exponentially more difficult when faced with a highly complex, shifting, and growing dilemma. Many of our first instincts are counterproductive because we find it hard to open ourselves to creative solutions when faced with scary scenarios.

British Petroleum's initial response after the April 20, 2010, oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico was a classic counterproductive one: closing the doors of the executive suite and minimizing communication while a handful of insiders tried to get the situation under control. However, lifts situation demonstrated quickly that defensive decisionmaking--which lacked clarity about the cause, scope, nature, and potential impact of the unfolding disaster--was not the proper response.

The cause--the physical failure of the well--was understood poorly. The scope of the subsequent leakage was underestimated, as it was extremely difficult to get to the source of the 5,000-foot-deep problem. As oil began to appear in shrimping and fishing grounds and come ashore, the situation's severity burgeoned. For instance, in late July, the Coast Guard indicated that its cleanup efforts would extend at least two or three years.

Many decisionmakers face problems that arise unexpectedly, are poorly understood, and expand far beyond their initial definition or parameters. Few are as huge in scale as the BP spill, but many have similarly frustrating qualities. Such difficulties do not come with how-to solution guides. There is no Cleaning Up a Major Oil Spill for Dummies. It is a one-off event with unique characteristics. While decisionmakers and problem-solvers can--and should--look to historical events for insight, there are no simple three-step solutions.

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Innovation is the hidden theme throughout the entire spill response because, as you may have noticed, the term seldom has been used in association with the spill. Individuals involved directly with the response, as well as those reporting on and watching it, appeared not to be fully aware that any--and good--solutions to the numerous problems and subproblems of the spill required creative processes.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen described the situation this way on May 1, the day he was appointed National Incident Commander: "As the complexity and the asymmetry and anomalous nature of this event continue to reveal itself, we continue to adapt and make sure that we are...