What could possibly go wrong in a crisis?

2020 has been a shocking year for the world. We have been plunged into a global crisis that has shown many organizations that they are ill prepared to cope when things go wrong. Worse, it has become clear that one crisis badly handled can trigger a series of crises, some of which we have yet to realize.

Organizations must now re-think their standard operating procedures so that when a new crisis occurs they have policies and procedures in place to handle them. 

A global pandemic is one thing, but there are many other natural disasters and human actions that could affect the safety of senior executives, employees, customers and business operations. Knowing what you mean by a crisis can help you to react when one happens.

Many organizations engage external consultants to assist them in the development of a crisis management plan. It makes good sense to bring in experts when an organization doesn’t have the internal capability to deal with a major crisis. Additionally, many organizations do not have a Crisis Management Team or an internal Incident Command Centre (ICC) to ensure business continuity in the event of a crisis. This may be because senior executives don’t realise the far-reaching effects of a slow or inadequate response to a crisis: everything from interruptions to business to a lawsuit for negligence. Whatever the reason, now is a good time to take stock and decide what actually constitutes a crisis in an organization and how to respond to it.

What is a Crisis?

Everyone has their own definition of a crisis because we all have different perspectives. Some useful ways of thinking about a crisis are:

• A disruptive and damaging situation that impacts on critical functions 
• A period of intense challenge and potential harm
• A crucial point in a situation that requires effective decision-making and action

From a business perspective, a crisis is any situation that runs the risk of:

• Escalating in intensity
• Falling under media or government scrutiny
• Interfering with operation of business
• Jeopardizing public image
• Damaging the bottom line

So, a crisis can be any number of things, depending on your perspective but a crisis is most commonly identified as one of the following:

• Medical emergencies and evacuations
• Fire/arson
• Flood
• Bomb threat or activation
• Attack on visitors and VIPs 
• Attack on member of staff (by other staff or known persons)
• Physical threats to people, 
• Crisis Response Notification Sequence
• Attack on sensitive areas
• Industrial/labour disputes
• Threatening phone calls, messages, emails
• Power failure or deliberate interruption of supply
• Personal injury to individuals and groups
• Threats to facilities and assets 
• Accidental death
• Environmental disasters (natural or human)
• Media Relations
• Acts of terrorism, domestic and global
• Active shooter (s)
• Hostage taking or kidnapping
• Extortion Attempts
• Internal/external theft
• Industrial sabotage
• Telecommunication interference
• Cyber breach (deliberate hacks or accidental loss of data)

That’s quite a list and there will always be more to add as our world changes. But a crisis doesn’t stand alone: it is a stage of a sequence of events and, as such, can be predicted. Crises do not come out of the blue, not even a global pandemic. Crisis situations can be predicted even if their exact nature is unclear. So the best way to handle a crisis is to:

• Predict the possible scenarios (the ‘what ifs’)
• Assume that a crisis will happen at some point
• Plan for a full range of crises but be ready to adapt as soon as one becomes a reality

In order to do this, you need to have a Crisis Management Plan and team in place to implement it and that means understanding your priorities.

Crisis priorities

It may sound obvious, but you need to be clear about the priorities in a crisis, respond to them consistently and be clear about what is happening to everyone affected. In short, you need to:

• Protect life
• End the crisis 
• Protect the organization, employees and customers
• Act responsibly
• Communicate constantly

The priorities cannot change and none of them should be ignored, no matter how difficult the decisions are that you may need to make. Throughout a crisis, an organization will be observed and judged on how quickly, successfully and ethically it responds. Organizations need to be sure-footed and robust in their approach because observers will include: 

• Government bodies
• The public
• Employees
• Other corporations
• Shareholders
• Media
• Joint Venture Partners

Defining, recognizing and preparing for a crisis will give you a head start but thinks will change quickly as soon as you engage with the situation. Being aware of common errors can help you to avoid them.

Typical errors in a crisis

A crisis, by its very nature, means something has gone wrong. The organizational response will be the difference between managing a bad situation to achieve an acceptable outcome and making things a whole lot worse. 

There are several common errors of thinking and behaviour in relation to planning for and responding to a crisis:

• Denial or a feeling that a complex crisis could never really happen
• Underestimating the potential or actual damage
• Underestimating reaction time and resources needed
• Failure to conduct Risk Analysis and rehearsal of Crisis Management Plans
• Weak communication, internal and external
• Failure to detect or heed warnings
• Panic overrides planning 
• One crisis badly handled creates another crisis

Even though a crisis is disruptive, clarity of planning and implementation of agreed protocols can significantly minimize the damage caused by a crisis. So, when you’re dealing with a crisis, don’t make it worse.

Effective Crisis Management

Think about the countries and organizations that have been most successful at minimizing the impact of Covid-19. They’ve followed these steps:

• Identify the crisis quickly
• Isolate the crisis quickly
• Manage the crisis quickly

Sounds easy but it only works if you have already prepared and planned thoroughly so that when the crisis happens you aren’t running around trying to work who is in charge. 

Those successful countries and organizations then did some crucial people management because they:

• Communicated clearly, consistently and frequently
• Built trust
• Showed leadership

In a crisis, people need to feel as safe as possible and need to trust the decisions of others. That’s the only way to ensure that crisis management plans are implemented effectively and cohesively. If one person breaks the social distancing instructions and they’re an asymptomatic carrier of Covid-19, hundreds of people can be infected in days. Similarly, if one person ignores the instruction to stay in a secure location during a terrorist attack, they could walk directly into the line of fire, both terrorist and friendly. 

However you define and respond to a crisis, one thing is clear: crises happen and your response will frame how you are perceived as an organization. Things go wrong and crises happen. Your ability to act effectively and responsibly will be the difference between containing a crisis and creating a catastrophe. 

www.globerisk.com

Alan W. Bell is the President of Globe Risk International Inc. providing world renowned security expertise in leadership, crisis planning and crisis intervention.