The sad truth in crisis response is that the road to hell, the front page, and the courtroom is paved with good intentions.
First, they are right. There is no way to plan for everything. Even if you home in on the event that causes the first crisis you experience, your plan won’t be able to anticipate every detail as it will occur.
However, that’s not where the benefit of having a tried and tested crisis response strategy lies. Rather, it is the act of preparing – not whether you hit the mark on predicting the right event – that brings the most value to an organization.
Who will be part of the crisis response team? What are their professional and real-life strengths? How do they interact and make decisions? What is their availability? How do you reach them when they are not at their workstations? Has everyone been trained? Have they been stress-tested in an exercise?
Do you want to be learning those answers and more on the day your organization is fighting a very real and dangerous challenge that could tank your stock, prompt a customer exodus, or cause someone to die?
A great crisis response strategy, however, doesn’t measure success by whether there is a comprehensive plan for everything. It measures success by whether the organization is “ready” for everything.
Readiness isn’t event specific. It is process specific. Does the organization have trained people who work well together, know how to define an issue, map its elements and stakeholders, plot an initial response based on predefined moral and commercial principles, source materials and additional talent, retain flexibility, read the room, and know where they are and where they are heading at any given point in the response?
Whether you are just launching your crisis response program or are undergoing a thorough review of an existing strategy, start by aiming at the correct target. Frustration and wasted resources lie ahead for those that don’t. Enhanced peace of mind awaits those who do.