Crisis Management

I had the opportunity recently to take a training course at work on crisis management, and it struck me how similar preparing a manufacturing concern for a crisis (disaster) is to the steps I have taken to prepare my family. There are lessons we can take form this course, even if we are not preparing for plant fires, emissions of toxic chemicals, union strikes, employee violence, etc.

In the training seminar, they broke the crisis management process into three steps:

Step 1: Pre-crisis. This entails everything you do today, before a crisis occurs. It includes predicting likely scenarios and preparing for and taking steps to prevent these scenarios. In corporate crisis management, as in personal survival, this preparation stage is the most important. If you can prevent a crisis or a disaster, your have successfully managed the crisis.

Step 2: The response stage. Here, companies are interested in stopping the problem, notifying the appropriate authorities, evacuating the surrounding areas, etc. This is the time for assessing the situation and implementing damage control. Companies are reacting to and attempting to minimize the damage caused by the situation, much as survivalists react to a situation by deciding whether to evacuate or stay home and batten down the hatches.

Step 3: Recovery. Companies want to move to the recovery stage as quickly as possible (don't we all). They will then investigate the crisis to identify its cause and recommend steps to prevent a recurrence. Once the crisis itself is over, they clean up, stand down, reassure themselves, their employees and their neighbors that everything is getting back to normal.

If there is a single lesson to take from this, it is the importance of planning. I guess they didn't come up with the phrase Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance by chance.

So take a minute and rethink your plan. If you haven't done so lately, go back to Captain Dave's Survival Guide and review the possible scenarios. Then identify steps you can take to prevent the scenario from occurring or — when that is not possible — minimize the damage.

Re-evaluate your survival plan in light of the PEST principle. Pest stands for political, economic, social and technical. Maybe you need to change your plan as a result of a recent election or in light of a new piece of legislation. Maybe your economic situation has changed enough you can afford to buy a couple of cases of MREs and half a dozen pails of grain. Maybe technology has changed, and you can buy a solar powered radio for much less than before, or perhaps you have traded the sports car in for a Dodge Ram pickup. Each of these examples would mandate a change in your plan.

Remember, survival is not something you do once in a while, or on weekends only. You must always think survival. So be in condition yellow, and be ready.