Be prepared before a crisis hits
The worst time to test your crisis plan is in the midst of an actual crisis. Best practices call for anticipating every conceivable crisis that might threaten your organization, assembling your senior line managers and simulating how they respond in real time. We’ve worked with clients in multiple industries to simulate (and evaluate) their teamwork and effectiveness in addressing everything from a product recall and a cyber hacking to a hostage incident, and a CEO kidnapping.
The result? Senior managers now know who’s responsible for what, how best to monitor an unfolding crisis and, critically, how to constantly upgrade their response system after the fact.
This quote, from an Inc. article by Steve Cody, explains perfectly the process of crisis simulation for better preparedness. For anyone who’s ever played sports competitively, imagine running a new play for the first time in the middle of a game. Good for a laugh, but running around bumping into each other isn’t going to get the W. Same goes for crisis management. You’ve got to have pre-assigned roles, and the people in those roles must work smoothly with each other to conquer any problems that arise.
Going a bit further, we would very much recommend that you take crisis simulations beyond the boardroom. Just as with senior management, every plant worker, receptionist, salesperson, etc. needs to be on the ball when it’s time for crisis management.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/