A crisis can hit an organization at any time, often when least expected. Recent corporate history is littered with examples of how high-profile organizations were rocked, not only by the crisis itself but perhaps more by how poorly had they responded to it.
In spite of all the resources and expertise available, the media training, and highly-paid public relations consultants, some organizations seem to become overwhelmed by the scale and pace of a crisis.
Yet, even smaller scale crises can be damaging for organizations; you do not have to be pumping oil into the Gulf of Mexico to face the potential need for a crisis management response at some point. Failure to cope effectively with crises usually stems from lack of preparation, slow and uncoordinated responses and poor internal and external communications.
Some general guidelines relevant here include:
- Prevent Prevention is always better than cure so, as far as is possible, ensure that you have defined processes in place for risk analysis and that, as an organisation, you are proactive in mitigating those risks. Eradicating or minimising risks is the first step in crisis management.
- Prepare: It is not possible to prepare in advance for a crisis; were that the case, it would not be a crisis. However, you can prepare by creating appropriate systems, teams and contingency plans that can be spurred quickly into action regardless of the specific nature of any crisis that may arise – this is your responsibility as a leader.
- Respond: The best laid plans and preparations only go so far in helping to improve the state of readiness; when a crisis unfolds, strong leadership is everything. It is critical that the response is swift and effective, based on clear problem definition and geared towards immediate and long term components of the solution. Many failures in crisis management have been linked to a failure of leadership.
- Communicate: Any significant crisis attracts media and public attention; therefore, it is critical that the flow of information is managed pro-actively, not re-actively. Losing the public relations battle, even if the crisis is effectively managed, still can lead to reputational damage.
- Learn: An important activity, once the crisis has passed, is to identify the lessons learned, highlight successes and shortcomings and integrate that learning into future preparations.
