This past August marked 20 years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. It became known for its historic landfall as a Category 5 storm impacting residents from Mississippi to Louisiana. Many lost their homes, livelihoods, and loved ones.
Two decades after the hurricane, I watched Tracy A. Curry and Ryan Coogler’s Hurricane Katrina: The Race Against Time (Curry, 2025) and Spike Lee’s Katrina: Come Hell and High Water (Gandbhir et al., 2025). These two docuseries exposed the underlying challenges that preceded and followed the hurricane. Watching the docuseries and hearing from survivors, officials, news reporters, and other individuals with close proximity to the catastrophe left me in deep reflection, bringing back memories of how the public’s perception was shaped regarding the hurricane. I scoured through social media to hear the stories of survivors recounting their experiences living through this crisis. I was left disheartened at the reality that the very systems meant to protect them had failed.
Reflections Looking Back
When Hurricane Katrina struck 20 years ago, I was not yet working as an industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology practitioner. At that time, I lacked the vocabulary of evidence-based practices to lead the workforce through change. What I did know, however, was that how leaders and organizations manage and support their workforce directly shapes how that workforce serves their customers.
As an I-O psychologist, 20 years post-Katrina, I have found myself reflecting on the enormous responsibility placed on organizations, teams, and individuals to deliver aid during an unprecedented crisis. I observed how communication gaps impacted recovery and relief efforts. Even after the hurricane had passed and efforts to rebuild were in motion, New Orleans notably lost a significant amount of their workforce as resident displacements resulted in local professionals rebuilding their lives in other major cities across the United States (Gandbhir et al., 2025). Teachers were especially laid off from their positions and replaced with others who lacked the cultural awareness to effectively serve and reach students (Gandbhir et al., 2025).
The larger issues did not solely result from the storm itself but the lack of preparation and readiness to withstand unprecedented change, especially in its aftermath (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025). The crisis before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina put forth examples of both exceptional and poor leadership, not only from those officially tasked to serve but also from survivors organizing within their communities. This has impacted the workforce across multiple sectors, causing a domino effect on residents even 20 years later.
Unfortunately, similar patterns are reflected in natural disasters, public health crises, financial breaches, and other unprecedented events. They reveal what happens when organizational culture, leadership, and systems are tested under conditions of extreme change.
The Role of I-O Psychology Practitioners in Helping Organizations Navigate Unprecedented Change
The role of I-O psychology practitioners during times of unprecedented change is not confined to corporate human capital strategies or mainstream organizational contexts. Our experience, expertise, and contributions are needed across emergency response agencies, the military, healthcare, education, nonprofit organizations, infrastructure planning, and beyond. Change management depends on several factors, including the organization’s structure, mission, culture, and workforce and operational needs (Erciyes, 2018). This stretches our scope beyond the human resources function, extending our impact into operations, service delivery, and strategic planning.
Unprecedented change, such as that of Hurricane Katrina, underscores the fact that I-O psychologists play a critical role in
- building readiness, which enables organizations to anticipate disruption before it comes. When organizations invest in readiness efforts, employee performance increases, yielding improved service delivery (Alqudah et al., 2022),
- strengthening resilience, helping organizations adapt during times of disruption, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Katrina. I-O psychology practitioners can equip organizations with the necessary tools to build a workforce that can bounce back from periods of extreme change and pressure, and
- driving organizational learning, ensuring errors and failures become lessons, not repeated mistakes (Ferede et al., 2024).
Our skills in understanding human behavior, systems, and data-driven decision making are vital across every corner of an organization. When failures occur, as with Hurricane Katrina or even the COVID-19 pandemic, those failures often trace back to systems and culture, not just individuals.
Lessons on Change Management From Hurricane Katrina
There are five lessons from Hurricane Katrina that I-O psychology practitioners should consider in how we support organizations amid unprecedented change. We are in a unique position to bridge our technical skills in research and data with principles in human capital, operations, leadership, strategic planning, and workforce communication to maximize our impact.
- Readiness goes beyond plans on paper.
Hurricane Katrina revealed that even with formal evacuation and disaster response plans, execution fell short (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025). Although good in theory, disaster response plans turned out to be impractical as communication broke down and timelines collapsed (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025).
Readiness must be tested in practice, with employees being trained, equipped with tools and resources, and empowered to act (Austin et al., 2020). Readiness is about both systems and psychology. Psychological readiness, in this sense, ensures that the workforce can receive and adapt to the change (Quach et al., 2021). Employees must also trust that their leaders are prepared and that their actions and contributions matter.
I-O psychology practitioners, in this case, play a critical role in evaluating and supporting the organization’s readiness for change. We can take data-driven approaches to understanding and advising on the organization’s resources, workflows, and culture that directly impact organizational readiness for unprecedented change (Erciyes, 2018). Staffing capacity, training reports, attrition, budget allocations and flexibilities, inventory levels, standard operating procedures, performance metrics, and compliance audits are all valuable data points that I-O psychology practitioners may find valuable in supporting an organization’s readiness for change.
- Organizational learning prevents repeated failures.
The levee breaches post-Katrina were not a surprise to experts and local residents because issues had been raised for years (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025). The absence of psychological safety for experts (engineers, planners, local officials) to speak up contributed to the catastrophe (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025). Residents who survived Hurricane Betsy in 1965 recalled how levee breaches led to significant impacts on vulnerable communities (Gandbhir et al., 2025). When post-Katrina reforms were made, later crises like Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017, revealed similar infrastructure challenges (Frederick & Novoa, 2018).
Change management requires strategic knowledge management and a learning culture in which organizations can learn and grow from previous experiences (Ferede et al., 2024). This includes establishing feedback loops and after-action review, addressing cultural gaps, and fostering continuous improvement (Ferede et al., 2024).
As internal consultants, I-O psychology practitioners are equipped with expertise in leveraging both qualitative and quantitative data to identify and address gaps and foster organizational cultures of learning and continuous improvement. Findings from quality assurance reports, maintenance logs, and workforce climate assessments (e.g., focus groups and employee experience data) are valuable sources that can be used to proactively mitigate challenges and risks before they become a crisis while demonstrating that the organization is responding to and learning from mistakes.
- Leadership shapes collective resilience.
Katrina gave us examples of both breakdowns and breakthroughs in leadership. Visible, decisive leaders restored morale, and absent or self-serving leaders deepened mistrust (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025). Strategic leadership becomes critical in setting a vision on how the workforce will respond to change, making effective and timely decisions, and remaining flexible in adapting to change (Ferede et al., 2024). Although some leaders did not heed the critical nature of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath and impact on their workforce, General Russel Honore demonstrated the ability to think quickly and provide the necessary guidance that first responders needed to execute evacuation efforts for New Orleans residents (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025). Jabbar Gibson, a 20-year-old local at the time, safely transported about 50 of his neighbors, along with stranded residents encountered on his way, to the Astrodome in Texas with an abandoned school bus (Daley, 2022). He demonstrated leadership through his strategic thinking and flexibility.
Leaders set the tone for the organization’s capacity for change based on the culture they establish (Kiran & Tripathi, 2018). When crisis and change eventually arise, employees will look to their leaders to balance authority with compassion, clarity, trust, and humility (Kiran & Tripathi, 2018). I-O psychology practitioners skilled in executive coaching and leadership development play a vital role in emphasizing decision making, communication, collaboration, strategic thinking, and inclusion as key competencies, preparing them to lead their teams and staff during times of unprecedented change (Kiran & Tripathi, 2018). We advise on performance metrics that ensure leaders are equipped and ready to deliver. We must ensure that we can communicate the leaders’ critical role, serving as fuel for the workforce’s resilience.
- Communication builds or erodes trust.
Conflicting reports about levee breaches and rescue operations sowed chaos, especially because the hurricane had disrupted traditionally used forms of communication (Curry, 2025; Gandbhir et al., 2025). During organizational change, inconsistent or opaque messaging undermines trust and slows adaptation among the workforce (Austin et al., 2020). Communication and information exchange between leadership and their frontline workforce, as well as across functions, are critical to ensuring that response and recovery plans can be quickly and efficiently implemented (Quach et al., 2021). Employees must feel empowered and experience the psychological safety needed to offer feedback and recommendations before, during, and after the change, which strengthens organizational readiness and capacity for change (Kiran & Tripathi, 2018).
I-O psychology practitioners can support organizations in creating communication playbooks that emphasize clarity, transparency, and two-way dialogue. Practitioners skilled in employee engagement play a role in fostering mutual understanding, collaboration, and trust between employees at all levels of the organization. This includes cross-functional and interorganizational interactions, ensuring that everyone understands the value they have in supporting the organization as they manage change. It empowers the organization’s proactive mitigation of potential threats (Kiran & Tripathi, 2018) and eventual impact on their customers or recipients of their services.
- Equity must be central to change management.
Disaster and evacuation plans did not account for underserved populations who lacked the resources to evacuate. Harmful narratives painted survivors from underserved communities or minoritized groups as “looters,” which in turn delayed aid and caused harm to local residents (Curry, 2025). Vulnerable groups among those impacted, such as the elderly and those with disabilities, in many cases, died as a result (Gandbhir et al., 2025). Even post-hurricane efforts excluded the workforce that was pivotal in sustaining the community (Gandbhir et al., 2025).
Change management initiatives that ignore equity risk exacerbate the disproportionate harm that unprecedented change and crises have on marginalized groups (Goralnick et al., 2021; Lillywhite & Wolbring, 2022). Unfortunately, efforts often ignore, dismiss, or exclude historically marginalized groups, leading to underestimated insights on the extent to which they are impacted (Lillywhite & Wolbring, 2022). This was also evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which historically marginalized communities and vulnerable groups were disproportionately impacted (Goralnick et al., 2021).
Self-reflection, cultural competence, and humility are critical for I-O practitioners supporting organizations in preparing for, navigating, or reflecting on how they manage unprecedented change. We must advocate for equity-informed planning to be integrated in systems, operations, and processes, and elevate underserved voices in readiness and resilience efforts (Goralnick et al., 2021; Marjadi et al., 2025). This includes establishing partnerships with local community organizations that have the expertise and knowledge on how best to serve these groups (García & Chandrasekhar, 2020). It also requires exploring research and insights from practitioners with close proximity to these groups (Marjadi et al., 2025) who are equipped to advise on change management strategies that yield the least amount of harm.
Looking Ahead
Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, we are reminded that crises are inevitable. Whether through natural disasters, pandemics, financial disruptions, or technological upheavals, organizations will face unprecedented change.
I-O psychology practitioners play a pivotal role in building change-ready organizations. Our work in change management is not limited to implementing new systems or policies internally. It extends to safeguarding organizations and the populations they serve against external disruptions. Organizational readiness and resilience require that I-O psychology practitioners are part of the conversation.
I want to close by honoring those who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina and similar crises and carry the weight of trauma, displacement, or injustice. To those who lost loved ones and those whose lives were forever changed, your stories remind us that the work of I-O psychologists, human capital practitioners, and organizational leaders in fostering organizational readiness and resilience is not abstract. It is about real lives, real families, and real futures.
References
Alqudah, I. H. A., Carballo-Penela, A., & Ruzo-Sanmartín, E. (2022). High-performance human resource management practices and readiness for change: An integrative model including affective commitment, employees’ performance, and the moderating role of hierarchy culture. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 28(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2021.100177
Austin, T., Chreim, S., & Grudniewicz, A. (2020). Examining health care providers’ and middle-level managers’ readiness for change: A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-4897-0
Curry, T. A. (Director). (2025). Hurricane Katrina: The race against time [TV documentary series]. Proximity Media; Lightbox.
Daley, T. (2022, February 7). A legacy of survival and selflessness. Team Rubicon. https://teamrubiconusa.org/news-and-stories/a-legacy-of-survival-and-selflessness/
Erciyes, E. (2018). A new change management approach for a law enforcement organization. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 20(1), 52–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461355718756411
Ferede, W. L., Endawoke, Y., & Tessema, G. (2024). Effects of strategic leadership on change management: Examining the mediating roles of accountability, knowledge management, and organizational culture in public organizations: A study in Central Gondar, Ethiopia. Cogent Business & Management, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2416613
Frederick, R., & Novoa, C. (2018, March 20). Echoes of Katrina: Post-Hurricane Maria public health threats and trauma. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/echoes-katrina-post-hurricane-maria-public-health-threats-trauma/
Gandbhir, G., Knowles, S., & Lee, S. (Directors). (2025). Katrina: Come hell or high water [Documentary film]. Filmworks; Message Pictures.
García, I., & Chandrasekhar, D. (2020). Impact of Hurricane María to the civic sector: A profile of non-profits in Puerto Rico. Centro Journal, 32(3), 67–88.
Goralnick, E., Serino, R., & Clark, C. R. (2021). Equity and disasters: Reframing incident command systems. American Journal of Public Health, 111(5), 844–848.
Kiran, C. S., & Tripathi, P. (2018). Leadership development through change management: A neuroscience perspective. NHRD Network Journal, 11(4), 42–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631454118800850
Lillywhite, B., & Wolbring, G. (2022). Emergency and disaster management, preparedness, and planning (EDMPP) and the ‘social’: A scoping review. Sustainability, 14(20), 13519. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013519
Marjadi, M. N., Smith, R. A., Tu, H. F., Ajmani, A. M., Addie, R. H., Lopez, B. E., Morelli, T. L., & Bradley, B. A. (2025). Centering voices of scientists from marginalized backgrounds to understand experiences in climate adaptation science and inform action. PLoS One, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318438
Quach, E. D., Kazis, L. E., Zhao, S., Ni, P., Clark, V. A., McDannold, S. E., & Hartmann, C. W. (2021). Organizational readiness to change as a leverage point for improving safety: A national nursing home survey. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06772-y
