Corporate Crisis Management Blog

Having a great crisis plan is only the start of the story.

Whatever smart thinking is captured in that plan is irrelevant if the activation of your crisis team and plan goes awry. 

We just marked the 30th anniversary of one of the most infamous examples of appalling response, by the European ferry company Townsend Thoresen.

In today’s competitive business landscape, there’s no denying that a strong social media presence can be an important tool for success. Consider the fact that 63 percent of Millennials say they stay updated on brands through social networks, and 46 percent use social media when making purchases online. And it’s not just Millennials who are using social media: Research indicates that older demographics are on Facebook, Instagram, and other sites just as often as their younger counterparts.  

 It’s that moment you dreaded.

Your organization’s reputation and business in under threat.

But you have planned for this moment.

You imagined worst case scenarios, developed responses, talking pointsand escalation protocols.

All you need to do is to activate the crisis team. Straightforward, right?

Although a growing number of businesses, both large and small, are becoming aware of the need for disaster recovery plans, the vast majority are still falling short in preparedness. Research indicates that 60 percent of organizations don’t have a fully documented disaster recovery plan, while 40 percent of those with a plan admit that it isn’t very effective when a disaster does strike.

With so many companies downplaying the need for a full-fledged disaster plan, it might sometimes seem that your own organization can get by without one, right? Unfortunately, a company that is not prepared for potential disaster faces a wide variety of risks. 

Anyone involved in crisis management knows that moment.

You are on Spring Break with the family. Or you are settling in for a long weekend with old friends visiting from out of town. Or you’ve got tickets for the big game on Sunday.

(And if this sounds personal, each one of those situations has happenedto me. Don’t even ask my adult daughter about the fact I missed her 11th birthday party – I am still not forgiven).

In the U.S. and around the globe, many organizations follow business continuity management (BCM) standards in an attempt to ensure that they are meeting their BCM goals. Standards also give businesses a chance to demonstrate that they are effectively protecting their facilities, employees, assets, and stakeholders. 

 So now you have an updated and strengthened Crisis Plan.

You went through a rigorous exercise of building crisis responses to all the new and emerging risks – from Presidential tweets through to highly politicized issues around gender, sexual orientation, race and workplace culture.

You are satisfied that your processes and systems are capable of matching the speed by which digital and social media drives a crisis.

In every industry, at businesses of all sizes, crisis communication is a common topic of discussion. With every passing year, a growing number of companies are investing more time and resources into emergency communication methods and planning. 

Manufacturers are vital to the continual growth of the U.S. economy, contributing more than $2 trillion to our gross domestic product each year and accounting for nine percent of the total American workforce, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. When a disaster strikes the manufacturing industry or its supply chain, it has the potential to send significant ripples through the entire country, while also putting individual companies at risk of going under. That’s why, in manufacturing, business continuity and disaster recovery planning is especially important.