WEEK 1: DEFINITIONS AND TYPES

No company is safe from crisis. Unwanted incidents can strike at

any time, often with little or no warning. Proper preparation is
essential, because it can help to lessen the damage caused.
Every organization should have a crisis communication team in
place, composed of key members of the company, who use the
four phases of crisis management to create a plan to combat
and manage crises, working to get operations back to normal in
a quick and efficient manner.
Crisis Prevention
Many unfavorable situations can be prevented with forward
thinking. The crisis communications team should brainstorm a
comprehensive list of all possible crises that could impact the
organization. This includes taking past incidents into
consideration and ensuring that proper resources are in place to
avoid repeat situations. Reviewing this list can help to identify
situations that are preventable by modifying existing processes
and procedures.
 TYPES
1. Immediate: Natural disasters and other type emergencies, these
crises can’t be predicted. You can have plans in place to handle
them, but you won’t be able to prevent them. Often of the natural
disaster or major emergency type (earthquakes, etc.)
2. Emerging: These events can be anticipated and, therefore,
minimized at early stages
3. Sustained: The most dangerous of all, sustained crises can linger on
and continually drain the organization of its reputational
assets. Involves situations that may linger for years.
4. Spontaneous: brought about by an unplanned event such as a strike
or a serious accident
 WEEK 2: CRISIS MANAGEMENT
CRISIS MANAGEMENT TOOLS
A crisis is any event that can seriously harm the people, reputation or financial conditions of an
organization. Large-scale terrorism and natural disasters are unusual, but any business is
at risk of suffering significant disruptions from various crises, such as workplace violence,
severe weather and public relations problems. Examples include the ex-employee or
employee’s spouse who shows up with a gun, or a top executive arrested for drunken
driving. Every company should be aware of worst-case scenarios and have the crisis
management tools to deal with them.
Crisis Management Consultants
Experienced crisis management consultants provide resources during unexpected crisis events,
training for key personnel and security staff and assistance with risk management
planning. Consultants coordinate with law enforcement in the case of large-scale criminal
activity, train executive staff to recognize and how to act on red flags before a crisis, and
help key staff develop an effective risk management plan.
Identifying Risks and Threats
A thorough security audit that involves key staff from across the company identifies risks and
threats. Questions and answers about all security issues, possible crisis scenarios and
safety threats help define your company’s security status and highlight what areas need
reinforcement. Ask groups of key and non-key staff what would affect and interrupt their
ability to do their jobs and the company's ability to do business. Interview customers and
vendors to get input on outside perspectives of what would damage your business
operations and reputation. A good way to quickly ascertain risks is to meet with your
business insurance broker and get a briefing on what is and is not covered in your business
insurance plan. Get your management team together with a cross-sampling of employees
to analyze the risks further, raising awareness and gathering ideas to reduce and eliminate
them.
Risk Management Plan
Once risks are identified and well-defined, they should be used to develop a risk
management plan. The risk management plan should be well-documented and
regularly evaluated and updated. It should be an evolving document that is familiar to
everyone in the company, not just security staff. Crisis drills such as fire and tornado
drills should be incorporated into the plan and practiced regularly. IT department staff
should conduct drills with a power outage crisis checklist to use to efficiently get
systems onto emergency backup and get technical services activated in the event of
electrical outages or cyber attacks. Customer service teams should conduct service-
overwhelm drills during low service times to simulate and prepare for high call
volumes due to product shortages or shipping disruptions. The best risk management
plans include every aspect of the business with itemized and categorized risks that
have been well-researched and well-defined.
Planning and Training for Prevention
The best way to handle a crisis is to prevent it. A company that has planned for
security and trained staff to recognize security and crisis warning signs and red flags is
in a good position to avert disaster before it happens or minimize it when it starts.
Security and crisis management experts recommend regular review of security plans
and systems and continuing professional training for security staff. Additionally,
training all staff on emergency preparedness, business security awareness and risk
mitigation supports overall business security and reduces vulnerability.
 P.R in crisis management
•There have been countless public relations crises in the past and there are five steps
that should be executed in order to properly manage a crisis. First, the corporation in
crisis should be prompt, addressing the public immediately following the discovery of
the crisis. Second, the corporation in question should maintain honesty because the
public is more willing to forgive an honest mistake than a calculated lie. Third, it is
important to be informative because the media as well as the public will create their
own rumors if no information is given to them by the corporation in crisis. Rumors can
cause significantly more damage to the corporation than the truth.
• Next, it is important to be concerned and show the public you care because people
will be more forgiving if it is clear that the corporation cares about the victims of the
crisis. Finally, maintain two-way relationships. This is important because the
corporation can learn a lot about the status of public opinion by listening. These five
steps are necessary in order to manage any crisis public relations situation.
•With that having been said, each crisis situation is unique and, therefore, requires a
tailored response. There are six types of responses and they range on a continuum
from defensive to accommodative. First, corporations can attack the accuser
attempting to eliminate the attacker’s credibility. Second, corporations can use denial
claiming that no crisis exists. The third response is justification where the corporation
claims no serious damage was done or that the victim was at fault. Fourth, the
corporation can use ingratiation to appease the publics, such as giving away coupons.
Next, corporations can use corrective action to right their wrongs. Finally, the
corporation can give a full apology asking for forgiveness for their mistake. All six
responses have been used in the past with varying results. If chosen properly, one of
the six responses can help mitigate damage.
 WEEK 3: CAUSES & PREPARATION FOR CRISES
• Crisis can come from nowhere at any time; natural disasters, human
error, and industrial accidents can all cause crisis.  Sometimes the
cause of a crisis is management itself; managers may insist that they
face no crisis, and they fall into the brink of lying and rejection of its
existence. Then, when the time of the deadline comes their answer
to why the job is not finished will be: "We faced trouble and stopped
the operation." Some managers fall into the crises fallacies, and they
overdo their denial of its existence. With time, the problems
accumulate, causing absolute failure. 
•We can categorize crises according to the cause of their existence,
or in another way based on the warning time. Crises, like any
business activity, have life cycles. The length of each phase depends
on the efficiency of the management in dealing with the crisis. 
• It is the management responsibility to try to solve the crisis using
everything it can, beginning with self confidence, going through using
all the skills, and ending by having the ability to absorb the public’s
anger or fear without harming the firm’s income or reputation. 
 Types of crisis
Crises are divided into nine categories, based on their causes, which
are : natural disasters, industrial accidents, product failure, public
perception of a crisis situation, industrial relations, business
management, management turnover, hostile takeover, and criminal
events.
1. Natural Disaster Crisis: The most relevant type of crises is the one
that happens because of a natural disaster. This natural disaster
happens in the environment and the human beings have nothing to do
with it, such as: earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and fire. 
2. Industrial Accidents Crisis: The industrial accidents may vary from
fires to machine dysfunction to electrical short-circuit. These crises lead
to full-scale emergency. Other crises lead to a limited local response.
The danger in the industrial accidents is because they are termed as:
"Media Magnet.";because these accidents cause serious casualties. 
• . Product Failure Crisis: This type of crises is a potential crisis
for the company, because the product may fail even if
appropriate research and development techniques are
followed. The magnitude of this crisis depends on the speed
of decision making in the company, and their resistance to
any kind of escalation for the problem. 
4. Public Perception Crisis :During a crisis, a company may fall
into another crisis because of failure in dealing with the crisis
in a public way. This may lead to confusion, along with
financial and personal losses due to poor public image. This
crisis is a kind of consequence or a satellite crisis for an
emergency crisis. Dealing with this crisis reflects the quality of
the organization response to a crisis, and the efficiency of
their decision making process. 
5. Industrial relations Crisis: Poor industrial relations between the workers and the
administration may lead to a major crisis. This crisis may lead to serious disorder in the
operations. Sometimes business is forced to react aggressively. Sometimes the labor
force may force the industry to stop. Therefore, the relationship between the labor
and the management should never reach the level of animosity. 
6. Business Management Crisis: The real danger in this crisis is that it is subtle and
non-predictable. The real cause is hidden within a plan followed by the organization,
that is proved to be erroneous later on. This happens due to a sudden market shift
that the management did not plan for. However, management is responsible for this
crisis because they did not foresee the potential market threat. There are other
causes, such as: the consequences of other crises, failure to adjustment to the market
regulations, or international events that have indirect impact on the business. 
7. Criminal Events Crisis: These events are currently becoming more frequent. They
consider a major threat for some industries, such as: tourism, banking, and airlines'
industry. Common examples are hostage taking, terrorism, hijacking, and theft. This
crisis requires a very precise response because this type of crises is "Media Magnet." 
8. Management Turnover Crisis: Sometimes change in the organization management
is considered as a type of crisis. Some companies think about their CEOs as
indispensable, or as a figurehead. Thus his leaving is a real crisis. Some companies
follow succession plans to ensure that such a crisis will never happen. 
9. Hostile Takeover Crisis: This type is becoming more frequent nowadays, because of
tough competition between companies. Some companies that monopolize the market
may lead other companies into hostile takeover crises, that direct them to losses, and
cost the management its name and reputation. 
 
 WEEK 4: PREPARATION FOR CRISES
ANTICIPATING A CRISIS
 If you’re being proactive and preparing for crises, gather your Crisis
Communications Team for intensive brainstorming sessions on all the
potential crises that could occur at your organization.
There are at least two immediate benefits to this exercise:
•You may realize that some of the situations are preventable by
simply modifying existing methods of operation.
•You can begin to think about possible responses, about best-
case/worst-case scenarios, etc. Better now than when under the
pressure of an actual crisis.
In some cases, you know a crisis will occur because you’re planning to
create it — e.g., to lay off employees, or to make a major acquisition.
There is a more formal method of gathering called “vulnerability audit.”
This assessment process should lead to creating a Crisis Response Plan
that is an exact fit for the organization, one that includes both
operational and communications components.
 THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
•Internal communication refers to the communication within a small
business and its employees. As your business grows, the more
challenging internal communication becomes. As a result, effective
internal communication is essential for ensuring that the right people
receive the message at the right time. Effective internal communication
does not need to be costly. By utilizing what is available or applying
cost-effective techniques, internal communication can be effective and
free.
•Organizations can communicate with employees through newsletters,
meetings and informational sessions where they get to address issues
with superiors, and social networking pages or blogs. Using social
networking sites offers a more relaxed setting for employee discussion
and ensures that important information reaches the right people.
 THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATION
•Stakeholders are the people and organizations whose attitudes and
actions have an impact on the success of your project or your company.
Your stakeholders include employees, labor unions, suppliers,
customers, business partners, investors and shareholders, the local
community, government authorities and regulators. Different
stakeholders have different interests, attitudes and priorities. Effective
communication ensures that they receive information that is relevant to
their needs and builds positive attitudes to your company or project.
•Communication helps you to build positive relationships with people
and organizations, such as the media or special interest groups, who
influence other stakeholders. 
•Communication with stakeholders builds dialogue. By setting up
forums or inviting other forms of feedback, you can gain a better
understanding of your stakeholders’ interests and attitudes so that you
can fine tune your communications.
 THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
•Many forms of external workplace communication are available,
including faxes, Internet websites and advertising. Your company
website promotes your business, allowing you to showcase your
products and services. Faxes allow you to communicate over long
distances, in writing, so there is a paper trail of the communication
effort on your part.
•External communication not only serves customers but also can be
used to place inventory orders with vendors, check out the competition
and plan for the future. A phone call to a competitor gives you pricing
information. An email to potential customers alerts them to upcoming
deals and bargains.
 WEEK 5: CRISIS MANAGEMENT TEAM
Sequence of sudden unwanted events leading to major disturbances at
the workplace is called crisis. Crisis arises on an extremely short notice
and triggers a feeling of fear and uncertainty in the employees.
It is essential for the superiors to sense the early signs of crisis and warn
the employees against the same. Once a crisis is being detected,
employees must quickly jump into action and take quick decisions.
What is a Crisis Management Team ?
A Crisis Management Team is formed to protect an organization against
the adverse effects of crisis. Crisis Management team prepares an
organization for inevitable threats.
Organizations form crisis management team to decide on future course
of action and devise strategies to help organization come out of difficult
times as soon as possible.
Crisis Management Team is formed to respond immediately to warning
signals of crisis and execute relevant plans to overcome emergency
situations.
 CRISIS MANAGEMENT TEAM
Role of Crisis Management Team
•Crisis Management team primarily focuses on:
•Detecting the early signs of crisis.
•Identifying the problem areas
•Sit with employees face to face and discuss on the identified areas of concern
•Prepare crisis management plan which works best during emergency situations
•Encourage the employees to face problems with courage, determination and smile.
Motivate them not to lose hope and deliver their level best.
•Help the organization come out of tough times and also prepare it for the future.
Crisis Management Team includes:
•Head of departments
Chief executive officer and people closely associated with him
Board of directors
Media Advisors
Human Resource Representatives
•Public relations manager
•Line manager-a person with direct managerial responsibility for a particular
employee.
•General workers
•Union representatives
•The spokesperson-the person who represents the workers during an internal crisis
 How does Crisis Management Team function ?
•A Team Leader is appointed to take charge of the situation immediately and encourage
the employees to work as a single unit.
•The first step is to understand the main areas of concern during emergency situations.
•Crisis Management Team then works on the various problems and shortcomings which led
to crisis at the workplace. The team members must understand where things went wrong
and how current processes can be improved and made better for smooth functioning of
the organization.
•It is important to prioritize the issues. Rank the problems as per their effect on the
employees as well as the organization. Know which problems must be resolved
immediately and which all can be attended a little later.
•A single brain cannot take all decisions alone. Crisis Management Team should sit with
rest of the employees on a common platform, discuss prevailing issues, take each other’s
suggestions and reach to plans acceptable to all.
•One of the major roles of the Crisis management team is to stay in touch with external
clients as well as media. The team must handle critical situations well.
•Develop alternate plans and strategies for the tough times. Make sure you have accurate
information. Double check your information before finalizing the plan.
•Implement the plans immediately for results. Proper feedback must be taken from time to
time.
•Crisis Management team helps the organization to take the right step at the right time and
help the organization overcome critical situations.
 WEEK 7: CRISIS MANAGEMENT AWARENESS PROGRAMS
DRILLS
Drills and exercises are designed to evaluate an organization’s risk profile through
a practiced review of response plans, procedures, and level of training with a goal
of developing a highly impactful Spill Management Team (SMT) and Incident
Management Team (IMT).  Contingency planning and crisis management are not
conflicting concepts but instead work in tandem.
CONTINGENCY PLANNING
• Contingency planning is the process of preparing for potential emergencies, while
crisis management is the overall management of emergencies when they do occur.
Smart and diligent contingency planning is an important aspect of crisis
management because it ensures that individuals and organizations make the
necessary preparations to be ready when trouble strikes.
Predicting the Possibilities
• Contingency planning is all about preparing before an emergency arises. A major
element to that preparation is envisioning all of the potential emergencies that
could occur. If a scenario would be dire if it occurred, it is worth the time and
resources to prepare for its realization. Businesses, governments and other
organizations that employ contingency planning consider a range of scenarios that
could affect their operations, aiming to be comprehensive in the scope of
emergencies that they examine. Overlooking a possible category of emergency in
the contingency planning phase can leave an organization poorly prepared when a
crisis hits.
 CRISIS MANAGEMENT AWARENESS PROGRAMS
Setting the Plans
• Once the scenarios have been identified, contingency planning involves
setting the policies and procedures that will guide an organization through
its crisis management function. This planning can involve simply producing
documents and other materials that spell out the guidelines for responding
to a crisis. It also can involve activities, such as a simulated exercise that
puts the crisis management team in a real-world scenario and pushes them
to make decisions. These exercises can help identify weaknesses in crisis
management procedures and prompt changes to better tackle a crisis.
Crisis Hits
• When an emergency occurs and an organization's crisis management
function activates and moves to the forefront of operations, the
importance of the contingency plan also flashes into relief. The
organization's key members should be able to address the crisis using the
protocols and lessons that they picked up through contingency planning.
Systems should allow a business to fashion an organized response to a
crisis, with members of the team understanding their roles. Successful crisis
management involves all members of an organization working to limit an
emergency's impact and damage and to restore operations back to normal
as soon as possible.
 WEEK 8: CRISIS MANAGEMENT AWARENESS PROGRAMS
WORKSHOPS/TRAINING
• One of the duties of a business manager is to prevent and resolve adverse
behavior. Crisis management behavior training is designed to give leaders
the tools they need to recognize and address situations that could escalate
into workplace violence. While most organizations should implement some
degree of crisis management prevention, certain types of organizations are
more vulnerable. Businesses that deal with underprivileged and diverse
populations typically need to avert potentially harmful behaviors more
frequently than other types of businesses.
Awareness
• Crisis management behavior training educates managers about the types of
feelings that can lead to violence in the workplace. Some of the
contributing factors behind aggressive behavior include stress, anxiety,
mistrust and feelings of powerlessness. Miscommunication and
misunderstandings might also cause an employee to act inappropriately.
Managers can't do much about some characteristics, such as an easily
agitated personality. But crisis management training can show them how to
eliminate as many factors as possible.
 WEEK 8: HANDLING THE MEDIA
PLANNING FOR AND ATTENDING TO MEDIA
• Stories that appear in newspapers or on television often provide free publicity and
promotion for a small business. But getting your company's name in mass media
requires strategy because, without one, media exposure could hurt your
company's reputation.
• Effective media strategies involve a mix of approaches, including media outreach
and media relations. While these two functions are connected, they don't
necessarily foster the same type, quality and length of company exposure.
• A media mix is the combination of communication channels your business can use
to meet its marketing objectives. Typically, these include newspapers, radio,
television, billboards, websites, email, direct mail, the Internet and social media,
such as Facebook or Twitter. Combining these channels in a media mix enables you
to communicate in the most effective way with different types of customers and
prospects at different stages of the purchase decision, according to Entrepreneur.
• An effective media mix delivers the right marketing message to your customers
and prospects at the lowest cost and with minimal waste. If you want to reach a
consumer audience across the country, you might use a media mix that includes
national newspapers, radio or television. If you wanted to reach a specific group of
business decision-makers, such as technical directors, your mix might include
specialist business magazines or exhibitions aimed at those directors. To reach a
small number of key executives who influence a major purchasing decision, you
might include personalized direct mail or an executive briefing session in your mix.
POST-CRISIS PRESS BRIEFING
• The test of your proactive media relations comes in the wake of a crisis. Every
business will experience one, whether large or small. It could be an employee
involved in an illegal activity, or a natural disaster at a satellite office. By having
your media list ready, building your media relationships, and establishing your
credibility, you are poised to minimize possible damage because you already have
a positive reputation that you have spent time building.
DAMAGE CONTROL
• Damage control is one duty of a public relations department and it involves
minimizing the negative effect caused by an event or series of events.
• While many duties of a public relations department involve building the reputation
of the employer, with damage control it is primarily about minimizing the negative
perception caused by a crisis-situation. A crisis is sometimes the result of an
unexpected event. It might also be about something that the public relations
department hoped to conceal from the public or hoped would not happen. Those
involved in damage control are typically on call 24 hours a day, ready to minimize
negative public perception.
 WEEK 9: POST-CRISIS EVALUATION
• It is important that every public relations agency, or
department, has a variety of monitoring tactics in place to
ensure that they are able to measure the success of their
public relations strategy.
Media Content Evaluation
• Media content analysis measures the volume of press
coverage you received, covering print, broadcast and online
media outlets. You should count the number of mentions of
key issues about your industry and mentions of your
competitors. You want to see how you stack up against
overall industry messages. Count how many of your key
messages -- those messages that you purposely incorporated
into your PR activities so people would remember them --
made it into the press coverage. Finally, use circulation
numbers to calculate how many opportunities people had to
read or view your coverage, and then the actual number of
readers or viewers. Get these numbers from the media
outlets.
Post-evaluation: Expectations
• Analyze what happened at the end of your PR program compared with your
objectives and expectations and those of company executives. Point to concrete
numbers, such as how many people can recall your company slogan compared to
before your campaign started, and an uptick in requests for information you
received through your website. Determine whether your planning objectives were
too ambitious or not ambitious enough.
COST EVALUATION
Sales
• To determine the increase in sales due to the sales promotion, the company must
establish the level of sales that would have taken place without the promotion.
Such a base level must avoid the effects of any variation in sales volume during the
evaluation period. The best estimate is usually the average level of sales of the
months prior to the evaluation period, adjusted for seasonal factors obtained from
previous years. The company must compare this estimated level of sales to the
actual sales that took place over the evaluation period to get the increase resulting
from the sales promotion.
Profits
• Sales promotions can generate increased profits. The volume of additional sales
must be large enough to generate profits greater than the cost of the sales
promotion. This cost has several components. There are the costs of producing the
promotional signs, coupons and publicity. There are additional costs for processing
the coupons, discounts or other incentives. Finally, there are the costs of the
promotion itself, such as a discount or rebate. The company must subtract these
costs from the additional profits generated by the extra sales to get the true net
additional profit that can be attributed to the sales promotion.
PUBLIC EVALUATION
• Use surveys to gauge awareness and perceptions of your company and public
attitudes about it. It’s important that surveys be done prior to your PR program so
you have a baseline measurement -- that is, what awareness, perceptions and
attitudes existed prior to your program, and then conduct a post-program survey.
Also use survey results to measure important program messages. 
 WEEK 10: LEGAL ISSUES IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Providing Truthful and Reliable Information
• Public relations practitioners constantly confront pressures
to bend or twist the truth. For example, if a warehouse
burns down, it could be tempting to make it seem like a
minor incident, when in fact the company has lost a
significant amount of inventory.
• Being honest prevents the public and industry peers from
coming back later and claiming you tried to cover up the
seriousness of the loss. Instead, the PR practitioner can
state the truth and emphasize the owner's determination
to bounce back and not only replace the inventory, but
build a safer warehouse. In this way, the truth can be
inspirational and instill confidence in the business.
 WEEK 12
Offering Authentic Context
• An ethical public relations communication offers
more than mere facts; it offers context for a story.
This means explaining to readers why an event has
importance or why company leaders take the stance
they take.
• For example, simply announcing that a business has
recalled a product due to safety concerns could be
accurate. However, if this recall were the result of a
government agency raising the concerns, that
information would have to be included by an ethical
CONTRACTS
• A written contract documents an agreement between two parties
under which both must perform. To form a contract, one party must
make an offer to another party. If the second party accepts the offer,
both will need to exchange consideration to make the contract
legally binding. The legal implications stemming from entering a
contract depend on the terms of the contract.
Breach of Contract
• Each party to a contract has a duty to perform. If one party performs,
and the other party doesn't, the nonperforming party could face
legal consequences. Failure to perform under the contract amounts
to a breach of the contract. The non-breaching party can file a
lawsuit against the other party to recover damages. "Expectation
damages" usually put the non-breaching party in the position she
would have been in had the other party performed.
Level of Breach
• If someone entered a contract with you and breached the
contract, you must determine the type of breach that
occurred. If it's a material breach, you don't have to perform
on your end of the contract. A material breach happens when
you don't receive the substantial benefit of your bargain. For
example, you enter a contract with a construction company
to build a restaurant.
• The construction company leaves a defect in the patio you
requested. This example represents a minor breach. You
received the substantial benefit of your bargain, the
restaurant with a patio. Therefore, you must pay the
construction company. However, you can sue the
construction company for damages to recover the money it
would cost you to have another company fix the patio.
 ETHICAL ISSUES IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT
IMPARTIALITY
When dealing with a crisis-especially an internal one, the manager cannot be seen to
be favoring one colleague over another, or favoring people in seniority at the
expense of junior employees. Matters arising must be dealt with as objectively as
possible, and due process must be followed, regardless of who commits the crime.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Any business benefits from good customer relations, whether a large corporation or a
mom and pop shop. Customer relations, or customer service, refers to the way a
business communicates and interacts with the public to gain and retain customers.
It is necessary for a business to cultivate good customer relations to attract and
keep a loyal base of customers. Some companies hire consultants to advise them
how to develop stellar customer relations.
Importance
Customer relations is key to understanding consumer motivation. Without assessing
customer relations, it's difficult for a company to know how visible it is in terms of
its client base. It's also hard to figure out how to grow the company without
understanding the relationships it has with current customers.
Relationships
Maintaining a loyal base involves building relationships with customers by
acknowledging them. It is difficult to attract customers, and a key aspect of
customer relations is retaining a loyal base of customers who keep coming back to
the company.
Retaining Customers
Often, companies use direct print and online marketing to keep in touch with their
clients. Customers want to feel involved with a business, as if they're part of the
firm.
MANAGING EMPLOYEES
A thorough security audit that involves key staff from across the company identifies
risks and threats. Questions and answers about all security issues, possible crisis
scenarios and safety threats help define your company’s security status and
highlight what areas need reinforcement. Ask groups of key and nonkey staff what
would affect and interrupt their ability to do their jobs and the company's ability to
do business. Interview customers and vendors to get input on outside perspectives
of what would damage your business operations and reputation. A good way to
quickly ascertain risks is to meet with your business insurance broker and get a
briefing on what is and is not covered in your business insurance plan. Get your
management team together with a cross-sampling of employees to analyze the
risks further, raising awareness and gathering ideas to reduce and eliminate them.
 WEEK 13: CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN
• A crisis is any event that threatens your
company. This can range from a natural
disaster to the loss of a major client or a
scandal among your executives. When a crisis
hits, you may feel like giving up.
• But if you have a plan for continuing your
operation, you can regain your footing. Create
your crisis plan when times are calm so you'll
have definite actions you can take if events
work against you.
Chain of Command
• During any crisis, someone must lead. Whether that
person is you or a trusted manager, the leader must
have absolute authority to tell people what to do
and when to do it.
• You will need one or more alternates who can take
command in the event the person who is your first
choice is one of the people rendered ineffective by
the crisis.
• Your plan should explain the crisis leader's priorities,
including ensuring the safety of employees, getting
the company back to operational status and dealing
with the press.
 WEEK 14: CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN
Crisis Team
• The crisis leader can't work alone. Your crisis plan should designate a
crisis team who will relay the leader's directives to the other
employees. This team can also participate in the decision-making
process and inform the leader of issues that need to be resolved. You
could choose team members based on their problem-solving abilities
and rapport with employees.
Essential Contacts
• You must maintain a list of phone numbers and email addresses for
employees, vendors, office rental companies, the media and even
customers if possible. Your crisis leader would have to designate
several people to make phone calls to coordinate on-going work,
ensure receipt of shipments, contact the press and deliver goods and
services to customers. Your essential contact list will make those
processes possible. After a crisis hits is not the time to gather phone
numbers. So create and maintain this list in advance.
 CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN
Evaluation Procedures
• During a crisis, you may have a tendency to focus on preventing
further damage, but you also need to understand what caused the
crisis. Your plan should assign this task to trusted people who can
investigate the extent of the damage and what caused it. This can
help you make decisions about how to move forward and avoid
making the crisis worse.
Alternate Resources
• Depending on the nature of the crisis, you may need new business
premises, replacement computer with software, alternate suppliers
and a delivery or courier service, to name a few examples. Your
business infrastructure may be disrupted. So investigate alternatives
that could help see your company through a crisis. List all contact
information for these alternative resources so that a designated
person will know who to call.