Are You Ready to Handle a Crisis?

Companies that fail to recover from a major crisis exhibit certain signs before and during the crisis. Some of them are as follows:

• Warnings get ignored- they fall through the cracks
• Executives are overwhelmed or don’t know what to do
• Management is slow in forming a crisis management team
• Who makes decisions? No one knows
• There are no communication protocols in place
• Paralysis starts to set in-some managers are in denial
• Management doesn’t realize that standard corporate processes or procedures don’t work during a crisis
• Legal may be overwhelmed too- it may not grasp all the regulations that are involved, nor know how to report to the government, nor understand its role
• Management has a poor grasp on what steps to take
• The Board may not know what to do or is uncertain as to its role

A crisis is not the time for a company to finally understand what regulations it must follow or what insurance coverage it has or doesn’t have.  A crisis is not the time to come up with a communications plan or a legal analysis of corporate governance responsibilities.   A full blown crisis must be met head on with a crisis management plan that covers operational, legal and communication issues.  It is where the rubber meets the road.  To manage a crisis a plan needs to be in place that addresses all aspects of a crisis. Is your company ready for a crisis?  Can it handle one? Do you have a plan?

On July 7 in Seoul, Korea the KBLA is sponsoring its first Crisis Management Seminar covering all aspects of crisis management.   For those interested, please go to the following link:    http://kbla.info/index.php/crisis