An immediate reaction to a crisis could be to tense up, freeze, loose your cool or do nothing. The Business Dictionary defines a crisis as a “Critical event or point of decision which, if not handled in an appropriate and timely manner (or if not handled at all), may turn into a disaster or catastrophe.”
Most business owners are ill prepared to handle a major crisis. They fail to consider the “the what if” crisis scenarios, which invariably happens at the worst time. A crisis could occur during the middle of an important board meeting, when your child has a baseball tournament, when you are impressing the new hire for your company, or worse yet in the middle of a performance review with you manager.
Crisis management may seem like a buzzword, but has real tentacles with critical assessments, approaches, and solutions. Let me explain. If an organization has to craft a response to a problem or issue within less than two hours, that could count as a crisis for some business owners. In addition, the crisis could be temporary but continue to cause a disruption in the daily workflow.
To manage an expected situation here are six ways to approach a crisis or difficult issue.
Identify and Isolate the Issue: This allows one to step back and access the situation.
React Quickly – Communicate Often: Timing is critical. No one wants to wait for information in the 24-hour news world we live in.
Take Control and Set the Agenda: In other words, tell your own story. Be the first to set the record straight.
Hire a Professional: The issue won’t simply go away — enough said.
Make Changes, Communicate What They Are: If changes are made such as an improvement in product design, new rules or employee changes — talk about them. Everyone likes to know that action was taken to fix a situation.
Reflect, Review & Resolve: Take a moment to think about what has happened. Review what worked and what did not and how the crisis would be addressed going forward.
Lastly, plan to proactively make an impact.
Alice Gordon is the CEO and Executive Problem Solver of Skye Connect, Inc. Her firm specializes in getting to the root cause of issues and crisis management, content management to incorporate global conversations with social media, and effective supply chain integration and supplier diversity metrics. She can be found at www.skyeconnect.com or on Twitter – @TheAliceConnect.