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What does a crisis management plan include

What does a Crisis Management Plan Include?

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Article by: Sara Pantaleo

Crisis management plans are all about minimising the damage, calming nerves and restoring operations as quickly as possible with minimal interruption. The very future of your business could depend on a crisis management plan.

You need an effective and tailored plan to your organisation’s needs to manage a crisis. This article provides the key elements of such plans.

Risk analysis

Risk analysis  

The first step in preparing for any crisis is assessing what could go wrong. Work with members from leadership, your team and other key stakeholders to start listing all possible threats or vulnerabilities that might impact the organisation’s business function and strategic plans.

Once you’ve pinpointed these potential threats, start looking at how to respond effectively to each one to be prepared and find success should they occur!

Triggers for activation     

When people first respond to crises, they often do so with confusion and inaction. Your plan must identify what will trigger the activation of a crisis response plan to ensure as much clarity as possible during a trying time.

Response to crises

Action plans

A solid action plan ensures that your team can follow a plan when an emergency strikes to provide the best possible outcome—having a plan avoids reacting to emotion and stress, which is common in crisis. Your crisis response team will be on standby and ready to take action anytime. They have detailed plans for each person who might need help during a crisis event, which can be activated automatically by the protocols that define them! This means you’ll handle things better—and with more success–because of how prepared they are. Being prepared is your best protection against disasters.

Need help creating a crisis management plan? We coach and mentor business leaders to guide them toward the best plan for their organisation.


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The elements fo a business crisis to be prepared for

The Elements of a Business Crisis to be Prepared for

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Article by: Sara Pantaleo

When a crisis occurs, it’s essential to have an idea of the different elements you’ll face. You need an open mind and be receptive so you can quickly respond with action when required, most during times of surprise and threat!

Managing crises is essential to ensuring that organisations, their stakeholders and the general public are not harmed. A successful response to a suddenly developing situation will help avoid or lessen any negative impacts on these groups that could result from being handled poorly.

Crisis can take many different forms-from natural disasters like floods, a network data breach or even a public relations type crisis due to an ignorant social media post.

A plan to best deal with emergency elements is the key to minimising crisis event severity.

The key elements that make up a crisis are:

Threat to the business    

The first step in preventing damage from occurring to an organisation begins with finding where those risks lie regarding possible future threats. Anticipating threats will help reduce the impact of any threats that may arise. A threat is a critical element of a crisis so dire that it will require swift action to see your business come out the other side in a positive light rather than a negative one.

Emergency

Element of surprise

Despite the best preparation and crisis management planning, it will still take you by surprise when an emergency occurs. Often we think something can’t possibly affect our business until it does. The element of surprise makes responding tricky territory without a plan and often results in a poor public image due to how an incident was handled. A solid crisis management plan ensures a better outcome and often improved loyalty to your brand due to the proactive handling of the situation.

Short decision time

The short decision time that comes with an emergency often causes organisations to slip up when making decisions under such pressure. A crisis management plan ensures you know when to trigger a response and what response is needed. It will ensure no mistakes are made due to responding on the go.

Decision time

As a business coach and mentor, we can help you create a crisis management plan and prepare your business to be prepared.



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Main steps for creating a crisis plan

Main Steps for Creating a Crisis Plan

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Article by: Sara Pantaleo

A crisis management plan is essential for any business, especially dealing with the public. This documents how your company will react to various situations and should be well thought-out to help avoid further damage or loss. An effective, well-crafted crisis plan is the best way to restore operations after a crisis. This may seem like common sense, but it’s essential for any business today, where anything can happen at anytime! A properly designed plan will allow you and your staff members who are knowledgeable about the situation to handle things as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Having a crisis management plan is essential because, without one, stressed people may make poor decisions and unintentionally extend or worsen the situation.

The main steps to create a plan are:

Risk assessment & business impact analysis

You can never be too prepared for anything. Ensure you and your team have identified all possible threats or vulnerabilities that might impact the organisation’s business function and strategic plans.

Think of the worst-case scenario that you think could happen in your organisation. Having this in a more specific sense will guide what steps must be taken next!

Emergency Exit

Response planning

To ensure that your response plan is activated during a crisis, you must identify what will trigger this activation. To be prepared for any emergency, it’s essential to document how your team will act in various scenarios. This includes assigning responsibility for each task and determining who is responsible. You will also want to plan how you communicate during a crisis to avoid any hiccups in the heat of the moment. To avoid a chaotic situation, crisis teams need to establish systems and backup methods of communication. This includes collecting contact information for all team members and anyone they might need to call upon, including outside consultants or subject matter experts, in case something goes wrong during an emergency.

Response team

Review

To stay on top of your plan, you need a structured review process that ensures regular follow-ups and check-ins. Keeping a crisis management plan up to date is essential to running your business. As the environment changes and new risks arise, you’ll need to update this document to reflect any recent developments in risk assessment and how best to prepare for them should something happen.

A business coach can help you with preparing and documenting a Crisis Management Plan. Ask us how.


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Critical Elements of a Crisis Management Plan

Critical Elements of a Crisis Management Plan

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Article by: Sara Pantaleo

The world is changing rapidly, and it’s essential to be prepared for anything that may happen at a moment’s notice. Recent global events have shown us just how vulnerable we all are!

An emergency response plan will ensure your business has what they need when faced with an unexpected crisis. Preparing a crisis management plan is essential for any business. It ensures that your team has detailed procedures and knows how to execute them during emergencies.

Having a crisis management plan may help you to avoid a crisis or at least minimise its impacts by identifying risks before they happen and taking action before it becomes too late.

Make a plan

Alignment with all plans & policies  

When counselling on a crisis communications plan, we review all current policies and emergency plans. One critically important reason is that they have to work together!

For example, having an operational notification process but something else entirely when dealing with issues during public relations or press events. This will cause confusion, leading to mistakes due to contradicting plans and policies.

Plans and Policies

Assigned crisis team      

Every crisis communications plan should have the necessary steps and contact information for notifying your team quickly. The key to handling a crisis is being prepared for when it happens. Also, it is essential to identify a backup person if something goes wrong and the first contact cannot be reached. When crisis strikes, the team must have representation from across different departments. This includes leaders in communications and human resources as well as environmental health & safety operations, legal customer service etc… Every function must be represented at all times during an emergency so they can help keep things running smoothly for you!

Crisis training

I can’t emphasise enough how important it will be for you and your team to familiarise themselves with the plan once it has been prepared; training your team to roll out the program is critical to avoid mistakes and problems should a crisis arise.

Team members will be able to identify gaps in their understanding of how the crisis management plan works after being trained on it. If left unchecked, these errors could add another issue, so everyone needs thorough training! Doubly important, you can fix any problems with the plan before ever needing to use it. Come an emergency, you’ll handle things most efficiently at the moment.


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Crisis Management Phases

Crisis Management Phases

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Article by: Sara Pantaleo

The best way to minimise the damage caused by a crisis is by taking steps before, during and after one has occurred. This includes doing your due diligence with security practices and preparing an emergency plan that can be used in emergencies like data breaches or other situations where you may have been compromised. Preparation and vigilance are required to navigate crises and reduce any negative impacts on the organisation. You can never be too careful.

Every company will have its defining moment of crisis. Whether a start-up or an established enterprise, there is always the risk that your brand could be damaged in some way and lose customers’ and investors’ confidence if you don’t handle issues like these properly.

It can happen at any time – when things seem brightest! A crisis management process will ensure the best possible outcome in an emergency.

It’s essential to know your response options and have them outlined on paper so they can be executed quickly when needed!

There are three crucial crisis management phases:

1)  Planning  (before a crisis)

Identify the variables and unknowns in your plan so that you can be prepared for anything. As it turns out – even if things go according to schedule- there might still need some flexibility when they don’t!

Train your team members to understand what is expected from them in the different situations they may find themselves in and ensure they are across the entire plan you have put together. This includes fire drill-style training and identifying a situation room where all available tools can be used for this purpose.

The importance here would be providing clear expectations about how things should go down when anything goes wrong at work so everyone knows their role inside out and can be prepared to go at any moment!

Planning for Crisis

1)  During a crisis

When crisis strikes, it’s important to gather everyone who is part of the crisis activation plan. Process the information and ensure everyone understands their responsibilities so your organisation is streamlined in their response. Your team needs to be ready for anything, so you should exercise caution when it comes time. A crisis may last much longer than a day or two, so it’s essential that you rest during a crisis and maintain emergency strength because, if not, more mistakes than usual are likely to happen. It is easy during a crisis for people not to rest, thinking this will help, but it will have the opposite effect, ensuring everyone is taking time out to recoup; this will ensure you stay at the top of your game responding to any crisis unfolding to lead to the best outcome.

2)  After a crisis

Now is not the time to relax your standards. You’ve been through a lot, but that doesn’t mean you can take it easy on yourself! The crisis will impact how people see and treat your brand in some way–either negatively or positively depending again on what kind of response was used during this challenging period. Once the crisis is over, it is time to review your reply and update your plan to reflect any improvements that could’ve taken place.

Be sure to compile learnings and recognise the stakeholders who supported your brand during this time.

Review and update the plan after a crisis

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What is Crisis Management

What is Crisis Management?

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Article by: Sara Pantaleo

Crisis management is a necessary skill for any business to have. It’s the process of identifying threats and mounting an effective response to prevent further damage or loss.

Businesses that plan to prevent crises from spinning out of control can limit the damage when something goes wrong. This process, known as crisis management, is essential for any company’s survival today, where bad news travels fast online.

Organisation threat

The first step in any company’s risk management plan is to analyse the threats and what may go wrong. This process, called “risk assessment,” looks at the potential adverse events and their likelihood of occurrence so you can make informed decisions about how best to protect yourself from these threats and prepare for the best- and worst-case outcomes.

Crisis management

Types of crises

Whether it be financial consequences like losing customers due to their fear over finances; or emotional implications such as anger towards employees who caused panic among coworkers because they didn’t know what was happening at work resulting from misinformation spread by people with vested interests within those narratives (this could lead them into dangerous situations); tangible ones where assets fall apart without enough staff on hand- all this contributes towards decreased productivity which can ultimately fail business strategy.

The key types are:

  • Financial Crisis.
  • Personnel Crisis.
  • Organizational Crisis.
  • Crisis of Malevolence.
  • Technological Crisis.
  • Natural Crisis.
  • Confrontation Crisis.
  • Workplace Violence Crisis.
Limiting negative impacts

Having a crisis management plan in place means you can prepare for the worst outcomes should a threat come to fruition. For example, destroying a company’s computer systems would be disastrous. It would mean a loss not only on current projects but also on customer and supplier data!

When you know what you are dealing with regarding possible risks and impacts, your plan will include a backup mitigation plan to minimise negative impacts. For example, you might create a backup system for all computer systems. This way, their data and work processes will still be saved in case anything happens to any particular machine or network connection!


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why small business fail

Why Small Businesses Fail

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Studies have shown a high percentage of small businesses fail in their first year and up to 50% by year five.  70% of small businesses don’t make it past ten years.

Some Reasons why small businesses fail

1) Lack of leadership – No vision and purpose

Setting a clear vision and purpose gives you a guiding light and clear road from who you are and where you want to go.

When you don’t have a clear vision, creating the path to success is challenging, like not having a rudder.

2) Market research and niche –  do not know who the ideal client is

Not knowing who your ideal client means that you will try to attract and serve everyone.  This is like using a fishing rod to catch a shark, and you will not catch anything.  The clearer you are about your ideal client, the higher the chance of reaching the people you want to serve.

3) Poor management and planning

Setting clear strategic goals and business plans aligned with your vision will ensure you can develop precise financial forecasts around your ideal client.

Your plan sets out where you are, where you want to go and how to get there.  Ensure your goal is realistic and executable with the resources you have.

small business failure

4) Marketing

You need a clear marketing plan identifying how you are going to attract your prospective client. You should also have a marketing budget and track the return on investment for each channel to know what is working and what is not.

5) Lack of making decisions or no action

You have to get things done. But, don’t get so caught up in the process and become unable to make decisions.

Anything that prevents you from executing will lead to failure. At some point, you have to decide and move on. It’s better to make a decision and not get it perfect than not acting.

6) No commitment to innovation and continuous development

Successful business owners are constantly looking for new and better ways to serve clients and develop new opportunities.

They research and become aware of the latest trends. As a result, they are continuously innovating and finding new ways to be more efficient and increase productivity and stay abreast of changing consumer behaviour in their industry.

7) Knowing how to sell and follow-up

Lack of follow-up is a definite way to lose clients and not get referred to new ones.

Have a clear process on how you will be attracting new clients and the following up—making phone calls, responding to e-mails, or delivering a product or service.

Make sure that you track that you are delivering on time. Creating long-term customer relationships and building trust comes with knowing when to follow up.

 

why mall business fail

8) Poor governance and consistency

Setting up structure, systems and processes, areas of accountability are critical to achieving your strategic goals.  Some of the governance in business is to comply with laws in your industry, but small businesses in a partnership should consider strong shareholders agreements. If in a family business, a family business charter.  Other considerations are separation of duties and authority to mitigate risks and being prepared—good crisis planning to anticipate the impact of external factors, such as regulations or global trends.

Consistency is also essential. Many years ago, I learned that giving an excellent experience sometimes and a poor one sometimes creates doubt in the customers’ minds.  So, it is better to provide a great experience all the time and commit to consistency.

It takes time to attract and nurture customers to build your business. So, it is best if you were committed to tracking and acting consistently to deliver the experience that will make and keep customers.

9) Do not understand or track financial performance

Setting budgets, cashflow forecasts and financial metrics and measuring your performance is vital to know where you are so that you can make solid and informed business decisions

A small business must set sales targets and understand the reasons when you do not achieve them.

As well as revenue and profit, you should know what is happening to cash flow and forecast according to peaks and trough cycles and understand the gap between paying suppliers and receiving funds from your customers.

Other critical financial metrics are the cost of goods, employee costs, operational expenses, debtor payment days and creditor payment days.

You must work with your accountant to set these up correctly and be consistent on how and when you measure so that you can see trends developing and you can act quickly.

small business success

How can small businesses succeed

So, success in small business is not by accident, but it is by planning and design. If you are starting, ensure that you do your research, plan, set your financial and non-financial goals and what success looks like if you achieve them.  Start with good governance from the beginning.

So, if you are a successful small business, make sure you celebrate your successes and review your strategy, vision and purpose regularly to check that it resonates with the right here and now and into the future.

At the moment, one of the most significant focuses in society is climate change.  Will your small business be ready?  What research and analysis have you made in your business to ensure that you are planning for the future changes that deal with the impact of climate?

Showing leadership, setting a clear vision and strategy, strong governance and tracking performance, taking action and executing leads to small business success.  The key is not to stand still and continuously evolve in line with your business growth to meet your customer’s needs of the day.

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