Wow! The past four years has been a wild ride for crisis managers.
It began with an unprecedented threat faced by companies who scrambled to put a plan together should they be named and shamed in a tweet by the then new US President. Continued with a deeply disturbing wave of accusations of sexual misconduct, and then of course, there has been the pandemic.
Given all of that, you might wonder how any organization could anticipate and prepare for what lies around the corner.
A number of well-established and long-standing threats wreaked havoc on the reputation and business of well-known brands over the past few years as well. Therefore, make sure your crisis plan is up-to-date and robust on old favorites.
Here’s a ‘famous five’ that should be in any organization’s plan:
- Data Leaks – this has been a problem and will be a problem for many years to come. Defenses are not in place, even among those who handle large amounts of sensitive data.
- Extreme Weather – never the most fashionable or exciting part of a crisis plan, but year year proves how important it is to have a response mapped out, especially for internal employee communication. Organizations in California, Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, among many others, are still coping with the after effects.
- Corporate Malfeasance – it’s always awkward presenting a crisis plan to senior management that anticipates what will happen if one of them goes off the rails. With examples of sexual misconduct, miss-use of company jets, bullying in the workplace and all the usual financial shenanigans, this cannot be overlooked.
- Product Malfunction – another problem that always happens to someone else until it happens to you.
- Workplace Shootings – horrific to contemplate and difficult to plan against, but it must be in your preparedness toolkit. Sadly, and tragically, events continue to show this is a very real threat.
