Being able to work successfully through a crisis is crucial to being a good operations person. For some it is a personality trait, but it can certainly be learned and is almost a requirement for many employers.
A very important skill to learn is the ability to remain calm in the face of disaster. It’s not always easy, especially with a client on the phone, but panicking will only make a situation worse. Yes, the most critical server in the infrastructure may have just completely failed without a backup. Instead of focusing on what will happen as a result of the crisis, focus on what needs to be done to bring the system back up. Deal with the results later, after fixing the immediate failure. The fallout of the crisis might be terrible, but it will almost certainly be worse if the immediate problem isn’t fixed. A calm mind can carefully analyze a situation to determine the best solution. Panic responses do not benefit from the same calculating rationality.
Different people will adapt to handling crisis situations in different ways. Some will adopt the detached, analytical calm of a surgeon. Others will take a few deep breaths to calm themselves before digging in to analyze the problem. The ability to stay calm in the face of disaster is more important than the method by which calm is achieved. It will take practice to reach the point of reacting to a disaster calmly.
Avoid placing blame. It doesn’t accomplish anything beyond creating animosity and tension when a team most needs cohesion and efficiency. While a good practice in general, it is even more important to resist the urge to point fingers during a crisis. It doesn’t assist in solving the problem, which is the top priority. Everything else is secondary.