Crisis situations develop suddenly in life throwing everything out of gear and even well-run businesses are not exempted from such situations that may threaten the very existence of the firm.
Thus, it is necessary to have a plan to deal with any type of emergencies so that a fast recovery is possible with minimum damage to the company assets or reputation.
The plan should take into account the role to be played by each employee in a crisis. The response to every type of crisis, ranging from financial difficulties, natural disasters, misrepresentation, loss of public trust and issues with partners, clients or shareholders should be well-thought out in advance.
Depending on specific needs of the company, it should have inputs from experts that include the firm’s leadership team, employees, customers, communications experts, investment bankers, exit planners, lawyers or financial managers.
The plan should take into account the role to be played by each employee in a crisis. The response to every type of crisis, ranging from financial difficulties, natural disasters, misrepresentation, loss of public trust and issues with partners, clients or shareholders should be well-thought out in advance.
The employees should be assigned specific roles and duties that extends to even those tasked with answering telephone calls. Apart from the media, a lot of the stakeholders would want to know the exact situation and steps being taken to resolve the crisis. In the absence of clear-cut replies, people would interpret in their own way and play it up, especially in the social media.
It is also important to reach out to the stakeholders at the earliest and inform them about the situation before the media or others get to them. At every stage, it is important to be honest and transparent and ensure that authentic information reaches everyone, failing which ill-informed comments and rumours would complicate the situation and project a negative image.
Frequent updates in the form of statements and action plans and other developments are necessary in the age of 24X7 media networks.
Vital information and resources needed in an emergency should be kept at a safe place other than the office as in some situations like a natural calamity or riots and strikes it would be difficult to access them.
If needed, a crisis communications manager or consultant could be hired. Such personnel are trained to stay calm and think strategically at such times. They could also be asked to help out with media relations and external and internal communications. It needs to be ensured that the company speaks with one voice and delivers a clear consistent message.
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They could bring out material such as letters explaining the crisis, giving details of steps being taken and how the situation would affect the employees.
Mock drills and crisis management tests could be held periodically and based on the feedback, the loop holes or short comings in the plan could be rectified. For MBA graduates, the various skills learnt at the business school would prove to be more than useful in such situations. (Image Courtesy : www.flickr.com)