The Worst-Case Scenario Just Happened, Now What?
Five Tips for Managing During a Crisis
We may not know when and we may not know how, but the one thing we do know about crisis, is that it is bound to happen. Once that moment hits, knowing how to respond can bring a calm to the storm. While each crisis situation is unique, there are best practices that apply across the board. Let’s dig into five of those tips below:
Take a Breath
When crisis strikes, it can be stressful and shocking. Your immediate reaction may be to lash out or confront team members head on. Before jumping in and acting on your feelings, take a breath and take moment. Allow your nervous system to settle. Avoid responding emotionally. This will give you a clear frame of mind to assess the situation without being clouded by your feelings.
Seek to Understand the Situation
Determine what happened. Fully understanding what occurred in a crisis before taking formal action, can save the team from reacting to partial information. When assessing the situation, seek to understand the facts of the event, removing the emotions. Bring together the essential team members to review the crisis and ultimately determine the best course of action.
It is always best to be prepared for a crisis, as we’ve discussed previously on the blog. If you have an existing crisis plan, take this time to review and activate.
Communicate
After understanding the situation, it’s time to communicate. A crisis is rarely a time to remain silent. Development statements responding to the situation. With these statements, seek to acknowledge the facts of the situation, outline the company role or involvement and then detail corrections or a course of action resulting for the situation.
The first priority should be to communicate with your internal team. Your team needs to have confidence that the leadership is addressing the situation. This may include a few rounds of updates. Even simple updates to say you are reviewing the situation and working towards a solution are valuable to internal audiences.
Determine if external communication is needed for the situation. Before responding to media inquiries, determine who the appropriate spokesperson will be on behalf of the organization. Determine the best mode of communication. Email communication gives more control of the message and communication. Phone or video call allow for less control over the message due to the conversational nature of the medium, which may result in sharing more details or specifics than necessary.
In order to resolve a crisis, it must be addressed and communication is a key to addressing any situation.
Take Action
While communication is the start of addressing an issue, action is needed to back up and support any statement. In assessing the situation, consider what type of action is needed. Is internal change require? This could be restructuring teams, creating new processes, additional training and many other options. Is external action needed? With external action, consider how your organization shows up beyond the walls of the business. External action could include volunteer or service days, partnering with other likeminded organizations, sponsoring events, getting involved with local government and others activities. Action is required to achieve full resolution.
Be Present
As a crisis unfolds, it may be your natural reaction to hid away in your office or burry yourself behind work. However, this is a time to be present. Have an open door. Be available to your team. Answer internal questions. Emotional intelligence and the ability to show empathy are keys for success in crisis according to Fast Company. It’s important for your team to feel the company is handling the situation and available to hear and address concerns.
While no one wants to have a crisis, it can be an opportunity. How you handle a challenging situation can shape the affinity for your organization not only from your employees and stakeholders, but also from your consumers. If managed correctly, crisis can be turned around and result in newfound fans.