Telling stats on crisis preparedness
A new study from Ignyte points toward worrisome trends among UK organizations. The survey polled 500 managers working across eight different sectors throughout the UK. Among the findings were that…
- 39% of managers say their higher management team were most likely to cause a crisis
- 17% of managers said their company doesn’t have any sort of crisis management in place
- 24% of managers admitted that, while their company has a strategy in place, they do not understand it
One would hope that upper management, with the training, experience, and at least perception of gravitas that comes with such a position, would be among the least likely to create a crisis. Not so. And, we share the same issue here in the States. A quick glance at the headlines on any given day will reveal that upper management on both sides of the pond are quite likely to be the source of trouble for their organization.
The second items reveals that a full 85 organizations out of that 500 have not even the most basic of crisis management plans. While this number is significantly lower than you would have seen even a few years ago, expand that number across the whole of the UK and you have a massive number who are going to spend precious time spinning their wheels once a crisis breaks rather than jumping straight in to begin mitigating damage.
Last we have a stat which is little discussed, and one we believe is far more widespread than this single study indicates. Simply put, people are not prepared to execute the crisis management plans at their disposal. In many cases it’s a result of having plans prepared, then allowing them to gather dust on a shelf somewhere. It’s something we’ve seen time and time again, and the result is often incurring far more damage and monetary expense than necessary when a crisis does hit. Remember, without education and training your crisis plan is nothing more than a fancy paperweight or a file floating somewhere in the company network.
The BCM Blogging Team
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com