Crisis Plan
A crisis plan is a response to a critical situation that would negatively impact an organization, itțs profit, personal or name.
CMPs are made and used by business continuity teams, emergency management teams, crisis management teams, etc. These teams are qualified to minimize or repair the damage and provide new directions for resources.
The crisis management process can be categorised in 3 main stages, the pre-crisis, the management and response stage itself and the post-crisis.
According to Everbridge, a crisis unfolds itself in 6 stages. In a real case scenario, you won’t be able to go through all these stages without a crisis management plan in place.
Crises stages
The crisis management process can be categorised in 3 main stages, the pre-crisis, the management and response stage itself and the post-crisis.
A crisis unfolds itself in 6 stages. In a real case scenario, you won’t be able to go through all these stages without a crisis management plan in place.
Warning stage -
First you have the warning phase. The crisis did not happen yet, but there are warning signs about it. For example, you might hear at the news that a hurricane is about to strike.
Acting as soon as possible can help you greatly reduce the damage produced by the crisis.
Unfortunately, you can’t always predict when a crisis will happen, but there are almost always signs that it will, whether they are in the company’s financial records or in past or recent employee behaviour.
Risk assessment stage - The risk assessment stage begins once the crisis starts to unfold. This is when you’ll sit down with your team to analyse what exactly is happening, what are the risks and estimate the damage and how the crisis will impact the business, it’s employees and it’s customers.
This stage involves a lot of communication with your team.
Response stage - Once the risks have been assessed, it’s time to decide which plan to implement. Once everyone has been notified about the decision, you start putting the plan in action. This stage involves open communication with your team so it’s a good idea to have a detailed business communications strategy.
Management stage - This is the stage in which you actually execute the plan, with the intent to reduce immediate effects of the crisis and possible future issues that may arise.
This stage also involves a lot of communication to ensure that everyone is on the same page, from employees, to stakeholders and, ultimately, clients.
Resolution stage - At this stage, everyone has fulfilled their duty and hopefully, the crisis is over or nearly over and everything is under control. It’s at this point when you’ll start to discuss how to recover from the crisis.
If you’ve planned well ahead, you’ll know exactly what steps to take.
Recovery stage - Finally, once the crisis has passed, your recovery plans are already in action and everything starts to get better and hopefully back to normal. Employees return to their daily activities, sales start to go up again and finances start to recover.
Important steps in crisis plans
Assess your risks
Identify potential crises that would damage the business by any means, work with members of the leadership, the crisis response team, and other key people in the company to create plans for preventing or repairing future damage and improve after the crisis is gone.
List all vulnerabilities and how these can impact the company and try to find the best solution to minimize the damage.
Determinate the business impact
A business impact analysis (BIA) quantifies the potential impact of a business-disrupting crisis.
- Variety of potential effects, including:
- Customer dissatisfaction or attrition
- A damaged reputation in the public eye
- Lost or delayed sales or income
- Increased expenses
- Regulatory fines
Identify contingencies
Think about the steps required to resolve a given crisis, what resources would be necessary, and how employees can help.
Digital team for media platforms
Customer service team for calls
It and logistics to fix digital and system problems.
Build the plan
Key employees, such as department heads, can provide insight into available resources and potential hurdles. For specific crisis scenarios, you may also need input from outside parties, such as contractors and partners that work closely with your business.
Familiarize users
All employees must understand their roles during a crisis.
Ensure that your stakeholders have the information they need.
Be sure to train stakeholders on your crisis management plan frequently. Regular tests and rehearsals are essential to ensure that every individual is familiar with the project.
Revisit the plan frequently
Once your plan is written and approved and has been tested, be sure to revisit it frequently. It’s vital to keep the program up to date, especially as employees join or leave the company.
External Links
https://www.rockdovesolutions.com/blog/6-steps-to-create-a-crisis-management-plan https://brandmentions.com/blog/crisis-management-plan/