CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN: Steps To Managing Crisis

Table of Contents Hide

What is Crisis Management?
Crisis Management Process
What is a Crisis Management Plan?
What Is the Purpose of a Crisis Management Plan?
How to Develop a Crisis Management Plan
Examples of a Crisis Management Plan
The Crisis Stages
Teams in Charge of Crisis Management
Conclusion
1. Related Articles
2. References

Every organization, from lodging to wholesale, may experience a crisis and face reputational concerns on social media.
Brands that can return from a crisis with their reputations intact are the most equipped. Learn how having the right information and context can help your organization navigate the choppy waters of social media and respond when things go wrong.
Regardless of your business industry or the size of your organization, this article will help you gain a better grasp of a crisis management plan and best practices to follow.

What is Crisis Management?

Crisis management is the deployment of specialized strategies by a company in response to a sudden and large bad unforeseen incident. This unforeseeable occurrence that has put an organization at risk could be on an internal, industrial, or even societal level.

Crisis Management Process

The crisis management process entails much more than just managing the crisis itself, though this is undoubtedly the most crucial aspect.
Let’s break down the key steps in the crisis management process so that your team and crisis leaders are fully prepared.

#1. Pre-Crisis

The first step in crisis management is to prevent possible crises. This includes developing a crisis management plan (which we’ll discuss next), hiring and training your crisis management team (also discussed later), and conducting practice exercises for implementing your plan.

Another aspect of this stage is preparing any crisis communication messages you may need to relay during a crisis — pre-writing these messages saves time when an emergency situation occurs.

#2. Response and Crisis Management

The second step in the crisis management process is probably what you think of when you think of crisis management – dealing with and responding to the various stages of crisis (which we’ll go through below).

Your crisis management plan is put into action during this phase. First crisis management messages are distributed, employees and stakeholders are informed, and public and company safety is addressed (more than normal).

#3. Post-Crisis

When a crisis passed or subsided, your crisis management task is far from over. It is critical that you stay in touch with your staff, clients, and stakeholders and that you are ready to answer queries. It is also recommended practice to send these parties proactive updates.

Finally, collaborate with your crisis management team to examine and analyze how your crisis management plan performed in a real emergency situation. How did your crisis communications go? Did your audience have any unanswered questions or issues that you didn’t address? For future planning, incorporate whatever lessons you learn into your crisis management approach.
Now, let’s look at the crisis management plan and how to develop one for your business.

What is a Crisis Management Plan?

When faced with a disruptive or unexpected emergency scenario, a business must implement a crisis management plan. Your crisis management plan should be established before crises so that your business is ready to use it to combat and correct any unanticipated circumstances.

What Is the Purpose of a Crisis Management Plan?

If your business confronts a crisis of any type and does not have a crisis management plan outlining how it will address the situation, major and long-term implications are probable. These ramifications could be related to a variety of legal, operational, and public relations difficulties. A crisis situation could potentially knock you out of business, depending on the amount of damage.

Yet, 29% of organizations that experienced a severe crisis between 2014 and 2019 report having no staff committed to crisis preparedness or response. In fact, 28.9% of businesses are unsure whether their crisis management plan is current.

Simply put, all organizations should have a crisis management plan in place to prepare for any unanticipated occurrence and prevent long-term damage. There are four more major reasons why you should have a crisis management plan for your business.

Crisis management plans will help you;

During and after a crisis, assist you in maintaining your excellent reputation with customers, competitors, and industry leaders.
Enhance the safety, health, and well-being of everyone who works for and conducts business with your firm.
Give you peace of mind as an employer and business – you’ll be prepared for any issue that arises.
Boost productivity both during and after a crisis. Throughout a crisis, everyone will understand their job and function, resulting in less downtime, more activity, and a faster conclusion.

How to Develop a Crisis Management Plan

Identify all potential sorts of emergencies.
Assess the impact of each sort of crisis on your business.
Examine the steps required to resolve each sort of crisis.
Determine who will be involved in the actions required in each scenario.
Create a resolution plan for each sort of crisis.
Everyone who has to be aware of your plans should be trained.
Regularly and as needed, review and revise your plans.

Let’s go over the seven steps to developing a crisis management plan.

#1. Identify all potential sorts of emergencies.

The first step in developing a crisis management plan for your business is to identify all possible sorts of crises that could occur in your industry. Consider the many types of crises that businesses are most vulnerable to encountering to assist you in doing so.

Financial crisis: When a business sees a decline in demand for whatever it sells, whether it’s a product or a service. They lose value in those assets and are unable to repay their debt.
Personnel crisis: When an employee or someone else affiliated with a business is involved in unethical or unlawful activities or behavior. This misconduct can occur in or out of the office and can be related to the individual’s employment or personal life.
Organizational crisis: When a business has offended its clients by taking activities that have a detrimental impact on them. Examples include manipulating clients or withholding crucial information from customers who have a right to know about a certain topic.
Technological Crisis: When servers fail, software crashes or another technological system fails to work properly. It could cost a business a lot of money, make customers doubt their dependability, or destroy their reputation.
Natural crisis: Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms are all examples of natural crises that can damage or entirely destroy a business’s office space (or any area owned or used by a business). Depending on a company’s location, it may be more vulnerable to numerous natural disasters that occur throughout the year.

#2. Assess the impact of each sort of crisis on your business.

After you’ve explored the crises that could affect your business, you’ll want to consider how each of these occurrences might affect your firm, employees, and consumers. Some examples are:

Sales decline
Consumer discontent
Tarnished reputation
Expenses have risen (to fix the issue at hand)
Customer dissatisfaction with your brand

By quantifying the impact of any crisis on your business, you will be able to grasp every conceivable angle of a threat or disaster and, as a result, plan for it appropriately. This form of review will help you establish the right activities you and your coworkers should take to resolve each situation.

#3. Examine the steps required to resolve each sort of crisis.

Examine the many crisis management techniques you could use to determine the activities you and your business would need to take to work through a crisis scenario. The following are some of the most popular crisis management techniques:

Responsive crisis management: This is when a business has a pre-planned reaction to a specific sort of crisis situation that they can use at any moment. Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) can assist you in developing this reaction strategy so that your business is prepared for any unforeseen event.

For example, a business may have specialized procedures in place for managing an organizational or financial crisis in a timely manner. These plans may also include the process for informing staff about the event and dealing with relevant stakeholders.

Proactive crisis management: This is when a business expects a specific sort of crisis and prepares for it ahead of time. For example, in the event of a natural crisis, a business in Key West, FL might guarantee that the office space is built to withstand hurricanes and severe storms.
Recovery crisis management: This is when a business manages a crisis that came as a complete surprise to them. A technical crisis is an example of this. If a business’s software works wonderfully one minute and then unexpectedly fails the next, it affects both employees and customers who utilize the software.

When you identify any crises to which your company is vulnerable, you may decide to create a business continuity plan at this time. When you work through the rest of your crisis management plan processes, this will assist you to identify all conceivable facets of these crises in great detail.

#4. Determine who will be involved in the actions required in each scenario.

Once you’ve evaluated the consequences of each sort of crisis and the activities you’ll take to resolve them, it’s time to decide who will carry out the appropriate resolution plan and actions. This might include individual employees with experience in various aspects of your business, HR, public relations, and anyone else you feel fit depending on your specific scenario. Depending on the nature of the crisis, you may also require the aid of lawyers, consultants, or first responders.

#5. Create a resolution plan for each sort of crisis.

Working through the four processes outlined above will allow you to design an appropriate crisis resolution plan for each type of crisis. Each resolution plan will be uniquely depending on the circumstances; nevertheless, the following are some basic considerations to consider when designing any form of crisis resolution plan:

How long is it likely that the crisis will last?
What equipment and resources would you require?
How many and which persons have you decided will be involved?
Will you have to speak directly to your customers?
What caused the crisis, and how can you stop it from happening again (or getting worse?)

#6. Everyone who has to be aware of your plans should be trained.

Everyone participating in your crisis management plan should be trained on their responsibilities. You might do this through meetings and presentations, or you could bring in specialists to talk to your employees about how to manage their job tasks during a crisis.

All other employees who may not have a role in resolving a given crisis scenario but will be affected by its occurrence should also be notified of the steps they are expected to take. For example, if your organization is located in an area prone to natural catastrophes, training everyone on safety-related steps to take, such as where to seek shelter, is vital. The last thing you want is for one of your employees to get injured during a crisis due to a lack of planning and training.

#7. Regularly and as needed, review and revise your plans.

As your firm expands, you may hire more people, create offices in different cities (or countries), or alter the structure of your business activities. These are all examples of occasions when you should evaluate and update your crisis management plan to ensure they still apply to and function for your firm.
If your firm does go through a crisis, be sure to assess the results of your management plans to see if they were successful in pulling your company through – you may decide they need to be revised or completely rewritten.

Examples of a Crisis Management Plan

Although it is impossible to forecast every crisis, you can categorize different sorts of crises and plan accordingly. Some examples of crisis management include:

Financial loss: If your firm has a financial loss, you may be forced to declare bankruptcy or lay off staff. You may plan for this eventuality even if you don’t know what caused the financial crisis to begin with.
Technical failure: A technology breakdown could leave your consumers without access for an extended period of time. This type of crisis has an impact on both your reputation and your financial line, therefore it is critical to plan for it.
Natural disasters: Depending on where you live, you can plan for some natural disasters. For example, if your firm is located in the southeastern United States, you can develop a crisis plan for hurricanes that includes evacuations, customer communication, disaster recovery, and other measures.
Operational changes: While it may not appear to be a traditional crisis, you should have a plan in place to prepare for an unexpected substantial shift in leadership. Furthermore, if you have to lay off a large number of people, your operations process may be hampered, and the public may want notification.
Organizational blunder: There’s always the possibility that your organization may be accused of misconduct or wrongdoing, and in this crisis circumstance, you’ll need a plan for how to respond. This crisis plan may include issuing a public apology and determining how to recover.

The Crisis Stages

Together with developing your crisis management plan, it is critical to understand and be aware of the many stages of a crisis. These stages occur during a crisis and might assist you in determining how to respond to the situation at various points in time.
(Note: Before working through the stages of a crisis in a real circumstance, make sure you have all of your crisis management plans in place.)

#1. Warning

Although you cannot always forecast the timing or appearance of a crisis, there are typically warning indicators you may watch for. These warning indicators can be attributed to a variety of variables, including employee behavior, weather trends, and firm economics.

#2. Risk Evaluation

The risk assessment stage begins as soon as a crisis begins to manifest. It is at this point that the major players in your firm begin to examine the impact the scenario may have on their business, employees, and consumers.

The probable consequences of the crisis, possible damages, and subsequent problems are discussed during this stage. This way, everyone is prepared for the worst-case scenario.

#3. Response

You and your team will be able to determine which crisis management plan to adopt after reviewing the level of risk connected with the crisis. The problem can then be communicated to everyone concerned, including your staff, customers, and emergency response personnel (if necessary).

The reaction stage entails a great deal of communication in order to both notify everyone about the crisis and to initiate the many measures that will be performed to manage and reduce the disaster.

#4. Management

The management phase follows. This is when everyone involved in resolving the crisis comes forward to work on managing the chosen resolution plan, the immediate impacts of the event, and any new or worsening effects that develop.

This stage entails the same open communication as the reaction phase to ensure that all employees, customers, and stakeholders are up to date on the status of the business.

#5. Resolution

By this phase, everyone involved in the crisis resolution should have completed (or nearly completed) their assigned duties. At this point, the crisis should be under control. It is also the time when all of the essential strategies and procedures to return your business to normalcy are launched.

#6. Recovery

Once you exit the resolution phase and enter the recovery phase, your resolution plans are well along and your business is resuming normal operations. This stage entails reintroducing all staff into their daily operations and ensuring that clients are once again set up for success with your items.

During the recovery phase, it is critical to examine the results of your crisis management plan. This allows you to assess how you believe the problem was handled and how you plan to avoid a similar situation in the future.
You may decide that hiring or working with a crisis management team is the best option for your firm to help you go through your crisis management plan as well as the stages of a crisis.

Teams in Charge of Crisis Management

Crisis management teams are formed to defend your business from the negative consequences of any crisis situation or occurrence. They also assist in keeping your business and staff prepared for any hazards that may arise.
A crisis management team’s primary responsibilities include:

Identifying warning signals that a crisis is on the way.
Working with personnel to prepare for and carry out a crisis management plan.
Keeping your company’s reputation positive throughout (and after) any crisis situation.
Assisting your business in preparing for any potential crisis circumstances.

Your organization may hire one of three types of crisis management teams to assist it in managing a situation. These teams include regional emergency management teams, site emergency response teams, and business support teams.

#1. Regional emergency management teams

Throughout a crisis, regional emergency management teams provide assistance to local residents. This team will manage the region-specific repercussions of a crisis, depending on the size of your business and the number of office locations you have (if you have them). This type of team is often made up of people who already live and work in the area.

#2. Site Emergency Response Teams

When called upon, site emergency response teams proceed promptly to the location of a crisis (assuming they are not already there when the incident arises). On-site staff, first responders, and municipal officials make up this type of team.

#3. Business Support Teams

The impact a crisis has on a business as a whole is managed by business support teams. It is a team of personnel that ensures that all management strategies to remedy the crisis are carried out. Employees from several locations and/or offices may be included in business support teams.

Conclusion

Making sure your business is prepared for any number of potential crises will allow you to maintain a positive and professional reputation with your customers, competitors, and staff.

By designing a crisis management plan, examining the various stages of a crisis, and assembling a team of people to assist you through any unforeseen occurrence or tragedy, you may protect your organization from long-term, negative consequences.

Begin working on your management plan and making contact with the people you’ll need help from along the way to prepare your business for any form of crisis.