Go4th National Missions Conference
26 May 2011
WORKSHOP ON
CRISIS AND CONTINGENCY
PLANNING
Objective
To help missions pastors and leadership
of local churches plan and prepare for
unexpected crises or contingencies that
may occur with their missionaries and
missions teams in the field.
 Primary focus will be on short-term
teams that many churches are sending out
directly.

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Programme

Introduction
◦ Ken Springsteen (NTM)

Crisis Management Policies
◦ Tony Chan (Wycliffe)

Risk Assessment
◦ Lim Yew Kheong & Ong Bee Cheng (WEC).

Crisis Management Team
◦ Terence Loke (OM)

Q&A.
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Go4th National Missions Conference
26 May 2011
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
POLICIES
Tony Chan, Wycliffe Singapore
Crisis Management Policies
Model Policy Recommendations from
Crisis Consulting International
www.CriCon.org
 Think ahead, not when faced with crisis
 Policy describes what you do, not how
your do it
 Compliance - no ad-hoc changes

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Many types of Crises
Natural disaster
 Criminal events
 Political events
 Civil unrest
 Terrorism
 War

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Crisis Management Policies
4
Major Policy Areas
◦ Kidnapping, hostage-taking, extortion
◦ Contingency preparation
◦ Crisis response
◦ Evacuation
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Kidnapping, Hostage-Taking &
Extortion
 Major
Issues:
◦ Different types of events
◦ Different types of demands
◦ Available options and consequences
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Kidnapping, Hostage-Taking &
Extortion

Payment of ransom or extortion
◦ Safety of members uppermost, take all
reasonable steps to secure safe release
◦ Payment will be seen as success by the
perpetrators
◦ Many agencies have no ransom clause
◦ Recommendation: no payment/concession if
likely to cause/encourage future events
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Kidnapping, Hostage-Taking &
Extortion

Negotiation
◦ Negotiation is not making concessions or
payment
◦ Preferred strategy for safe release of hostage
◦ Negotiation is potentially dangerous, use
specialised help
◦ Recommendation: First strategy of choice, but
seek assistance from professionals.
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Kidnapping, Hostage-Taking &
Extortion

Government involvement
◦ Kidnapping and extortion are criminal
offences and the local government has
jurisdiction
◦ Government values and methods may differ
and conflict with our values.
◦ Recommendation: Cooperate with legitimate
government agencies. CMT to decide when
and how to notify the authorities.
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Kidnapping, Hostage-Taking &
Extortion

Family involvement
◦ Family members will want to be informed and
involved
◦ Involvement of family can be a distraction to
negotiations
◦ Family will need care and support
◦ Recommendation: Appoint single point of
contact to inform and support family
members
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Risk Assessment


Understanding of the risk forms the
foundation for planning for crisis
management
Ongoing process of as situations are
dynamic
◦ Tactical risk – current situation
◦ Strategic risk – forecast of future risks

Recommendation: Tactical RA whilst team is
on the field; Strategic RA when planning
future teams
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Crisis Management
Risk Assessment
Go4th 2011
NATIONAL MISSIONS CONFERENCE
26 May 2011
Ong Bee Cheng
Crisis Management System
Risk Assessment
Contingency Planning
26 May 2011
Crisis Management Team
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Risk Assessment
The foundation of staff safety and mission
protection
 The basis for security decision-making
 Prioritize prevention and mitigation

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Risk Assessment

Anytime you are not in a crisis, you are in
a pre-crisis mode
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Two types of Risk Assessment:
Tactical assessment – analyzes the present
situation (by those on the field)
 Strategic risk assessment – forecasts
future risks (before sending out teams)
 Both types of risk assessment are
necessary

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Risk Assessment
The frequency of both tactical and
strategic risk assessment are to be
increased if:
 Significant environmental change (war,
change of government, significant political
shift, civil unrest, natural disaster
 An increased to the level of threat/risk

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The foundation of all Risk Assessment

Information – source: formal, personal
relationship; reliable, untested, false or
inaccurate

Multiple sources:
 More is better
 Diverse is better
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Risk Assessment

Share personal experience of risk
assessment on the field

Kidnapping, suicide bombing,
demonstration, earthquake tremors
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5 major elements of risk assessment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Assets – personnel, property, equipment, reputation,
money, services/operation
Threats – Terrorists, Governments and agents,
Beneficiaries, Environment
Vulnerabilities - Any weakness that can be exploited
by an adversary to gain access to an asset:
Probability - Probability is simply the chance or
odds, of a particular event occurring (history, trends,
warnings)
Impact - The effect, results or consequences of an
event on an organization (on organization, not
individuals)
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Risk Assessment Chart
Low
Impact
sickness
theft
riot
flood
war
High Impact
High Probability
kidnapping
Low
Probability
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Discussion

Group 1 – Planning for a short term
mission trip to Bangkok, Thailand

Group 2 – Planning for a short term
mission trip to Mindanao, Philippines
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Questions
What kind of risk assessment will you
make before you send the team?
 What kind of information do you need?
 Make a risk assessment chart
 How do you prepare for the probability
and minimize negative impact?


Clues: politics, religion, prone to natural
disaster?, security …
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Contingency Plans
 Issues:
◦ Must be based on risk assessment
◦ Consistent with policies
◦ Mandated
◦ Updated
◦ Used
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Contingency Plans
The Contingency plan provide a step-bystep guideline for actions on the field in
managing a crisis
 Recommendation: A contingency plan
should be prepared that includes:

◦ Evacuation plans
◦ Establishment and operations of a CMT
◦ Information management
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Training
Training provides the most effective
management in the event of a crisis.
 Policies and plans must be documented
and communicated to all
 Level of training commensurate with level
risks and individual’s responsibilities
 Recommendation: All persons should be
trained in at least Policies, Evacuation
procedure, personal security and safety

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Crisis Management Team
In the event of a crisis, a crisis
management team (CMT) should be
formed immediately
 Recommendation: The CMT will have
authority to manage the crisis – all
suggestions and information should be
referred to it; all actions and information
release should be authorised by it.

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Crisis Management Team

Major issues:
◦ A pre-planned response is necessary
◦ Establishment of the Crisis Management Team
(CMT) is the standard approach
◦ Select appropriate personnel
◦ Authority and accountability issues need to be
resolved
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Patrick E. Beaver
OM Crisis Management Consultant
Used by permission of CCI
Presented by Terence Loke OM Singapore
CRISIS
MANAGEMENT
TEAM
Objectives
Understand how to form and staff a
Crisis Management Team
 CMT Responsibilities
 Composite of CMT
 Criteria of CMT

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The C M T Model
Convening Authority
Crisis Manager
Operations
Communication
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Support
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C M T Responsibilities
Contain the crisis
 Security/safety of all personnel
 Assessment of the crisis
 Plan the response
 Resolve the crisis
 Public information releases
 Historical record

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Crisis Management Team
Characteristics

Fewest members possible
◦ Efficiency
◦ Simplicity

Temporary task force
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Crisis Management Team
Characteristics

Diversity of members
◦
◦
◦
◦
Approaches
Strategy
Culturally aware
Trained
Members present a unified “front”
 The Only part of the organisation
“working” on the crisis

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Crisis Management Team
 Staffing
◦ Identify functional areas
◦ Combining functional areas
◦ Appropriate personnel
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Convening Authority
 That
individual who has the
organisational power to:
◦ Officially recognise a crisis
◦ Appoint a Crisis Management Team
◦ Empower the team to resolve the crisis
◦ Assign resources to properly equip the
CMT
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Crisis Manager
Ultimately responsible for decisions and
actions
 Leads and directs the CMT

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Operations

Assigned specifically to “work the
problem”, to come up with solution
scenarios and plans to resolve the crisis
and it’s components
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Support/ Logistics

Responsible for major support areas
◦ Travel, meals
◦ Communications
- (hardware and facilities)
◦ Lodging, equipment/supplies,
etc.

Volume of work may require division of
labor
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Support/ Logistics
 Finances
◦ Obtains, secures and disburses funds
◦ Maintains accurate financial records
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Support/ Logistics
 Documentation
◦ Record keeping
◦ Organized and systematic
◦ Able to handle large volumes of data
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Information Management
aka: Communications

Internal communications
◦ Multiple internal constituencies
◦ “Need to know” vs. “Want to know”

External communications
◦ Multiple external constituencies
◦ Media
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Combining Functional Areas

May be appropriate:
◦ Documentation
◦ Financial
◦ Logistical

Probably inappropriate:
◦ Media
◦ Crisis Manager
◦ Negotiator
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Crisis Management Team
 Selection
criteria:
◦ Skills, knowledge, expertise, gifts
◦ Maturity, stability, support system
◦ Prior experience
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Crisis Management Team
 Selection
criteria (continued):
◦ Team member
◦ “Tough” decision maker
◦ Availability
◦ Willingness
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Crisis Management Team
 Don’t
assign just because of:
◦ Current “title” or “job description”
◦ “Popularity”
◦ “Appearances”
◦ Longevity
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Crisis Management Team
 Disqualifiers
◦ CEO
◦ Related to victim
◦ Personal disagreement
◦ Illness, stress, other
personal considerations
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The most common pitfalls in CM

Delayed or inadequate initial response
◦ Failure in recognition, acknowledgement,
containment

Too many people involved
◦ Failure to isolate

Flawed decision making
◦ Too fast
◦ “bad” information

Failure to recognize the secondary crisis
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More pitfalls
Secondary crisis mismanaged
 Information mismanagement
 Media mismanagement
 Inappropriate hostage negotiations
 Demanding “no-risk” or “low-risk” plans
 CMT burnout

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Paralysis of Analysis

“We do not have the luxury of collecting
information indefinitely… the key is not to
make quick decisions, but to make timely
decisions. I have a timing formula, P= 40 to
70. P stands for the probability of success
and the numbers indicate the percentage of
information acquired. I don’t act if I have only
enough information to give me less than a
40% chance of being right. And I don’t wait
until I have enough facts to be 100% sure of
being right, because by then it is almost always
too late.” General Colin Powell
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Questions?
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Information Management
 Issues:
◦ Many aspects: family, friends, members,
government, media
◦ In a crisis this is part of crisis
management
◦ Culture works against control or
restraint
◦ But control is vital
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Information Management
Family, press and others will want
information on the situation
 Outgoing information should be
monitored and managed
 Recommendation: All information
intelligence, suggestions should be direct
to the CMT; only the CMT should be
authorised to make statements to family,
home church, media and government
authorities

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Member Care
Individuals who undergo traumatic events
and others associated with it can suffer
emotionally.
 Recommendation: Confidential evaluation
and treatment should be provided to such
individuals, their family members and the
CMT, referring to professionals as needed.

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Evacuation
Who has authority to decide?
 Best available information maybe at the
field or elsewhere
 Decision should be supported wherever
made
 Recommendation: Authority to Decide
maybe at the individual, field leadership or
home office leadership depending on
which has best accessible information

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Evacuation

Decision Criteria: under what
circumstances should evacuation take
place
◦ Evacuation Plans should be prepared in
advance and disseminated

Recommendation: Plans should include
decision authority, communications
channels and transportation procedures
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Questions ?
Thank you
For more information:
wwwFOMOS.org.sg
www.CriCon.org