# How to Manage a Team Member Who Always Disappears in a Crisis

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-manager-s-hour-with-fexingo-people-management-team-building-and-leadership-skills-7871622/how-to-manage-a-team-member-who-always-disappears-in-a-crisis
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-manager-s-hour-with-fexingo-people-management-team-building-and-leadership-skills-7871622/how-to-manage-a-team-member-who-always-disappears-in-a-crisis.md
Podcast: [The Manager's Hour with Fexingo: People Management, Team Building, and Leadership Skills](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-manager-s-hour-with-fexingo-people-management-team-building-and-leadership-skills-7871622)
Published: 2026-06-21T04:31:07+00:00
Episode link: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-managers-hour/episode-0065.mp3
Audio file: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-managers-hour/episode-0065.mp3
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Duration seconds: 447

## Resource

When the pressure spikes, one of your most capable people suddenly goes quiet or vanishes. In this episode of The Manager's Hour, Lucas and Luna dig into the phenomenon of the 'crisis-avoider' — the team member who is fully engaged during normal operations but becomes unreachable or passive when deadlines tighten and stakes rise. Drawing on organizational behavior research and real workplace examples, they explore why some people freeze in high-stakes moments, how to distinguish intentional avoidance from anxiety-driven shutdown, and what managers can do proactively to build crisis-readiness into their teams. Lucas shares a specific framework — the three-question pre-mortem — that one product team used to cut crisis avoidance by half. Luna pushes back on whether this is really a manager's problem to solve or a deeper hiring issue. They also discuss the difference between a protective pause and a disappearing act, and how to rebuild trust after a team member fails to show up under fire. A practical, grounded conversation for any manager who has ever felt abandoned in the middle of a fire drill. #CrisisManagement #TeamBehavior #AvoidancePatterns #ManagerialCourage #LeadershipSkills #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TheManagersHour #PeopleManagement #OrganizationalBehavior #TrustOnTeams #AnxietyAtWork #PreMortem #TeamAccountability #DifficultConversations #PsychologicalSafety #ManagerTraining Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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