Debriefing and Crisis Psychological Coaching

During and after an organizational crisis, many challenging and potentially distressing situations arise for both employees and leaders. Often, impartial external support is needed to manage these situations. At LEAD, we offer both crisis psychological coaching and psychological debriefing.

Contact us here

Debriefing and Crisis Psychological Coaching

Crisis psychological coaching is a specialized form of support that helps leaders navigate crises and other difficult periods within organizations. This coaching method focuses on equipping leaders with the mental, emotional, and behavioral tools necessary to handle pressure in critical moments.

Crises can range from acute emergencies to prolonged states of disruption. Crisis psychological coaching helps leaders understand and regulate their own reactions and decision-making processes in these situations. It often involves developing stress management strategies, building emotional intelligence, and improving the ability to make decisions under pressure. This type of coaching is especially relevant while the crisis is ongoing.

Once the crisis has passed and needs processing, psychological debriefing can be beneficial. Debriefing is a process where employees or leaders gather after a stressful event to share experiences, thoughts, and feelings in a structured, supportive group setting. The goal is to provide a platform for processing and managing the emotional impact of the event.

Psychological debriefing allows for open conversations where participants can express their reactions and receive support from colleagues or leaders. It can help alleviate stress, anxiety, and trauma resulting from an organizational crisis. Debriefing also makes it easier for management to assess how the crisis was handled—and how future responses can be improved.

Benefits of Crisis Psychological Coaching and Debriefing

Coaching is a well-known development tool in the workplace for employees and leaders alike. In crisis situations, however, a very particular form of coaching is required.

When an internal crisis occurs, it’s often the leader who needs assistance and sparring—whether they are at the center of the crisis or responsible for managing it. Whether it’s fraud, sexism, or misconduct, attention naturally turns to leadership—especially if work environment issues or inappropriate leadership styles are involved.

Such pressure activates a leader’s crisis response system—leading to rapid, sometimes unhelpful actions that can worsen rather than resolve the situation. In these scenarios, urgent help may be needed.

The need for psychological debriefing can arise acutely during a crisis—when employees are struggling with distress—or afterward when returning to normal proves difficult. In both cases, debriefing helps by enabling people to process what happened. The benefits are many: it strengthens cohesion; everyone can express what was difficult; negative consequences are contained; tough experiences are processed; and focus returns to core tasks.

LEAD’s Approach to Crisis Psychological Coaching & Debriefing

Whether it’s coaching or debriefing, we combine crisis management research with our experience in crisis psychology when supporting you. We provide confidential support throughout the crisis. In our advisory sessions we work with leaders on three areas:

  • Self-care: In high-pressure situations, regulating your own system is crucial—for making sound decisions and avoiding harm.

  • Prioritization: We help identify the most urgent needs/threats so you can focus on what matters most.

  • Action: Once self-care/prioritization are in place, we guide you toward making the right decisions and acting effectively in the coming days/weeks.

These steps may seem simple but are hard to prioritize when journalists are pressing for answers, employees expect action, leadership teams are divided, or trust is uncertain.

Psychological debriefing takes place as group sessions—bringing employees/leaders together in a calm setting to discuss experiences. These may be followed by individual conversations for those most affected (e.g., those threatened by media or exposed to harassment).

How we can help you

We offer leadership/organizational sparring, research-based education, presentations on crisis psychological coaching/debriefing—and training programs focused on developing general leadership competencies in your organization. 

See examples of our services here:

Presentations

Inspirational research-based presentations on crisis psychological coaching & debriefing for all levels within your organization.

Sparring

Advisory support related to your strategy development or key initiatives.

Workshops

Facilitation of active workshops focused on competence development at management or executive level.

Meet the consulting team

Anika Mergen Hee

Leadership Consultant

Anne Kirstine Bach Kristensen

Leadership Consultant

Betina Hansen

Chief Consultant

Cecilie Pedersen

Chief Consultant

Laust Pedersen

Chief Consultant

Maja Bjerrehus

Chief Consultant

Would you like to learn more about what we can do for your organization?

Are you facing organizational change? Do you need strategic advice or a leadership development program?

Contact us so we can tailor a program that develops exactly those competencies and structures needed to strengthen and future-proof your organization.

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

Managing Director & Partner

Master of Law

Mobile: +45 22 42 18 11
Email: aba@lead.eu