Preparation Yields Better Crisis Responses

Leaders need to prepare for a crisis. Even though most crises are by nature a surprise, that doesn’t mean general planning can’t take place and that contingency responsibilities can’t be assigned.

It’s not enough for a leader to take a deep breath, project authority and calm, and attend to the situation. To paraphrase an old saying, these days bad news can circle the globe before some people can tie their shoes.

A common theme when something goes wrong is the sense that there wasn’t enough time, that things happened too quickly. That’s why we plan. We need to be able to at least start a response quickly and efficiently. Planning buys reaction time.

Planning should include who will address the media and when—and don’t forget social channels, which can be brutal. In today’s news environment, a “news vacuum” created by no, slow, or ineffective communications will be filled by speculation and chatter that could well define the narrative forever—no matter how inaccurate those musings might be.

Apart from the public-facing communications, who will head the crisis response (this can be different people for different types of crises) needs to be decided. The same goes for deciding under what circumstances outside experts will be consulted—and who.

If an outside firm will be engaged, pre-crisis engagement needs to happen, because hesitation can be perceived differently by different onlookers, and you’d be hard pressed to find a perception of hesitation that includes terms like confidence, competence or efficiency.

With a plan in place, it’s more likely that whatever unanticipated twists and turns might arise, your team will know that, at least, a semblance of order will exist. That confidence can offer the foundation of a successful response.

Events that lend themselves to planning can include technology problems from service outages to data breaches, legal issues from lawsuits to criminal accusations, corporate news from poor fiscal results to meddling from activist investors and, of course, a financial crisis, a natural disaster or a pandemic could also come appear, no matter how unlikely they might seem.

On the other hand, some things can be seen from miles off. For example, the cycle from COVID-19 infections rising, followed by hospitalizations rising, followed by deaths rising. The Omicron BA.5 variant looked unusual for a time—infections soared, but it was months before hospitalizations jumped, and another month before the death toll began its rise.

A good rule of thumb: If you’re looking to experts for their expertise, it’s not a bad idea to listen to what they say.