Crisis Management Introduction: • Crisis management is a business plan of action that is implemented quickly when a negative situation occurs. The Institute for Crisis Management defines a crisis as a problem that: 1) Disrupts the way an organization conducts business, and 2) Attracts significant new media coverage and/or public scrutiny. Typically, these crises have the capacity to visit negative financial, legal, political, or governmental repercussions on the company, especially if they are not dealt with in a prompt and effective manner. • The other vital component of crisis management preparation is the creation of an intelligent and forceful strategy for dealing with various crises if they do occur. For many executives, a crisis is something that happens to someone else. It is a distant thought that can quickly be relegated to the back of the mind, replaced by concern for profit and productivity.“ • But business owners and managers who choose to put off assembling a Crisis Management Plan (CMP) do so at significant risk. Indeed, the hours and days immediately following the eruption of a crisis are often the most important in shaping public perception of the event. Elements of Crisis Management: • The crisis management system is based on five separate principles Elements. 1. Build a plan 2. Get to safety 3. Get help 4. Manage the crisis 5. Improve the system • Although each element is separate, they will share some basic features. Once you have all 5 parts moving smooth, you should have a useful crisis management tool. 1. Build a plan: The first step towards creating a crisis management system to have a solid well-thought out plan. Plan preparation is the key in the crises management and it is the most important thing to remember when building your plan is to keep it simple. Only include the things that you need. There are three main elements of a good crisis plan. They are: a. Awareness b. Guidance c. Support a) Awareness: This is the probably the single most important crisis skill to equate awareness mean two things. The first is become aware of the signs of an upcoming crisis in your internal and external environment. The second meaning of the awareness is to keep track of safe errors and escape routes when you enter unfamiliar buildings of errors. It is easy to train yourself to become aware by using a memory tracks • B) Guidance: The second part of a good plan is guidance. If you are having difficulty in managing crisis so you must call the experts as they can teach you thing about Crisis management. • c ) Support: Try to arrange a “support relationship. Once you have figured out your plan, set it all written in own language, Remember to keep it simple. 2. Get to safety: When a crisis occurs your first priority should be to make sure that you are safe. The main objective of setting safety is that you can approach and manage the crisis easily. • 3. Get help: To set help is a general skip of the crisis management. At any time for during a crisis, please do not be afraid and ask to the help. So there is no asking for help if you feel things slipping out of your control. • 4. Managing crisis: It is the time to manage the crisis. If you have a plan,complete help and safety fro the others. To manage the crisis following elements must be considered. Go slow when you are ready to begin dealing with the crisis. • The first rule is to take things slowly, unless the crisis is life or death. • The second thing to manage the crisis is to look at the problem that is causing the crisis and trying to break it down and set priorities. . Finally the key to crisis management is simplicity. Focus on the problems that need to be fixed, not on the “emotional effects" such as. • 5. Improving the system: After you have managed the errors it is time to work on improving your system, so that it works even better for the next crisis. Basic Principles of Crisis Management Crisis management is not a formulaic process. Every crisis situation is unique must be managed accordingly. Any set of rules tailored too narrowly for a hypothetical crisis scenario would be too confining to be of practical value in genuine crisis. Rather, appropriate tactics is developed based on certain core principles that underlie successful crisis management. This preparation enables an organization's leadership to remain focused and effective as crises unfold, which they usually do with blistering • Once a company's management is grounded in the core principles and methodologies, core principles can help companies respond effectively to a wide range of distinct crises. Anticipating the types of crises that a company is likely to encounter can help develop useful frameworks. Further, management can hone the skills needed for a crisis response by simulating a realistic crisis situation. Seven basic principles underlay an appropriate and effective response to a crisis. They include: 1. Understand media interest in your story: The media are the prime driver of most crises although they are often alerted by Wall Street events. They are very much accustomed to the crisis environment in a way that executives are not. In fact, many reporters delight in the crisis environment in a way that executives do not. It is important to understand the media, much the way you understand your customers and competitors. Never rely exclusively on the media to deliver your message. 2. Define the real problem and determine your strategy accordingly: An organization must first make certain that it is addressing the core problem and not a vexing but ultimately tangential side issue. Once management has defined the problem, they can best determine the goals of the crisis management process and the strategy to drive it. The chosen strategy must be flexible and tailored to the problem management is trying to solve rather than be an artificially imposed standard of "good" or "bad" crisis management. 3. Ensure legal/regulatory compliance: The appropriate response to a crisis is likely driven by rules and/or guidelines set by other regulatory bodies. Securing in-house or external expertise on legal/regulatory parameters is essential prior to a crisis response. 4. Manage the flow of information: The media often spread panic, deliberately or not. Such information can flow back unchecked to internal audiences and distort internal audiences and distort internal perceptions and proper corporate decision-making. Therefore, aggressively managing the full flow of information is critically important in a crisis situation. 5. Assume the situation will escalate and get worse: Start with the understanding that the situation is likely to get worse become better. Be careful not to be overly optimistic or make categorical statements early on in a crisis. 6. Remember all your constituencies: • Employ the best technology you have at your disposal to communicate directly and effectively to all constituencies. Caught in the pressure of a real crisis, companies often overlook direct communications to affected constituencies, such as employees and advisory boards. This is a key area where advance preparation can help. 7. Measure results in real time: Crises evolve. It is imperative that you continually measure the effectiveness of your crisis management tactics to evaluate the overall impact of your crisis management strategy. For large companies, group surveys, select polling and focus groups can quickly generate useful data regarding the public perception of the problem even within the least amount of time. For smaller companies, a few quick check-in phone calls with key constituents can provide appropriate feedback • How to manage the crisis (important skills to have during the crisis) • It has identified that there are six key skills that survivors used in their life or death crises. These skills are appropriate for almost any type of crisis you might face. 1. Remain calm: It's essential to stay calm during a crisis. Of course, the very nature of a crisis makes this difficult to do. However, it is important to stay calm and not panic. When you panic, it's hard to think clearly about what's happened and what you need to do. On the other hand, remaining calm allows you to consider your options before you make decisions, even if decisions need to made quickly. • 2. Be persistent: Surviving a crisis means you need to keep moving forward. Be willing to tackle each obstacle in your way, one at a time. The idea is crawl if you can't walk and walk if you can't run, but whatever you do, keep moving and do not give up. Even when you can't see it, chances are you are making progress. 3. Use what's available. It's important to use anything and everything that might help you. Look around and consider what's available to you and how you can use For example, supportive people, places in your community offering help, or advice from others who survived a similar crisis. If you take the time to use existing resources, you can get out of your crisis faster. 4. Be flexible. You may encounter unexpected roadblocks as you move through your crisis. If this happens, and it is likely, remember. Stop, be creative, get comfortable with the new circumstances and decide what you need to do next. Flexibility keeps you on your toes so that you are always ready to move around any roadblocks that get in your way. 5. Stay positive. This is sometimes the toughest thing to do in a crisis. You have to keep believing there really is a light at the end of tunnel and you will get there. Think about what's helped you in the past to deal with tough situations and use whatever works to keep you hopeful. For example, consider affirmations, prayers, humor, a vision of what it will be like when you get there, and the support from family and friends. 6. Be patient. A crisis can feel like you're walking through an area filled with land mines. While the tendency is to run, this makes you more likely to step on a mine. However, by moving slowly and carefully, you can dodge them. So, keep your focus on where you're going and be patient as this increases your odds that you will make it through. • Very few of us go through life without encountering crises. Whether your crisis is big or small, you have a choice about how you handle it. While panic is a choice, the better option is to take a deep breath and remember the six skills. Using them will help you manage your crisis more effectively. Once the crisis is over, you'll be back on solid ground. Just like the people on "I Survived," you will be a resilient and relieved survivor!
