Be Prepared

The Boy Scouts have it right. The best way to survive a crisis is to have prepared for it in advance. For our purposes, we define a crisis as:

"An internal or external event - or series of events - that has the potential to negatively affect a company's reputation, financial situation, business operations and/or credibility in the eyes of its employees, customers, clients, vendors, media, investors or the general public."

We're not talking about an incident similar to what occurred on September 11, 2001. We're concerned about situations that occur each and every day to businesses everywhere, no matter what size they are. Examples of these situations include: natural disasters, financial difficulties, quality assurance issues, threats or actual workplace violence, low employee morale, sudden death or serious illness of senior management, lawsuits and litigation or worksite injury by employees or customers.

Being prepared for these and other types of crisis situations is the best way to survive them. Every organization, from a staff of one to thousands of employees, should have a crisis plan. Included in the plan are items such as important phone numbers (employees, insurance carriers, vendors, law enforcement, attorneys, medical facilities, etc.), evacuation plans, information on alternate locations in which to conduct at least the basics of business, media and spokesperson information, and so forth. It is critical that each organization have a crisis response team to take the lead in dealing with any incidents that occur. The key is to rapidly acknowledge and access the situation, manage it as quickly and efficiently as possible, then get back to everyday business.

Finally, as my basketball coach used to say, "Practice, practice, practice." Having a plan and a team won't mean anything if they - and all the employees - don't know what to do in the event of a crisis. Regularly scheduled drills should take place each year, in addition to a few "random" practice sessions. While it's true that no one can be prepared for every situation, it is beneficial to be prepared for the items that can be predicted. That will make it easier to deal with the unpredicted situations. After all, it's not a question of if a crisis will occur, but when. Are you prepared?