The debate rages on as to whether concern over the current Swine Flu epidemic is the product of a media fear-mongering campaign or a very real public health crisis. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, organizations in both the private and public sector were right to prepare for the worst when the epidemic first erupted.
I’m part of a team currently preparing a crisis management and communications plan for a NASDAQ-listed company based here in Hong Kong, and I have to admit we were caught off guard when stories on Swine Flu started coming in. Perhaps it was because we were still so focused on the actual process of preparing the plan.
So, how can an organization anticipate a crisis before it actually happens?
According to IABC publication Crisis Management and Communication (Dan P. Millar and Larry L. Smith) a crisis can take two forms: a sudden crisis or a smoldering crisis.
Potential epidemics fall into the smoldering crisis category, which the authors describe as a “condition that is potentially damaging and of which someone in the organization has knowledge but does nothing. The condition smolders like an ember in the fireplace until some change in the condition brings the ember to flame.”
Other examples include violations of government regulations, antagonism between the organization and activist groups, or employee dissatisfaction.
They define varying levels of smoldering crisis, ranging from those that can be handled by a single manager to imminent crises that require all the resources of the organization and outside assistance such as legal or financial counsel and crisis management specialists.
To manage what could be a smoldering crisis in your organization, it’s good practice to undertake a thorough risk assessment.
One method is to identify potential crises by brainstorming with colleagues across the organization. Through these discussions, you can discover which holes need to be plugged and implement remedial actions such as improving fire safety, beefing up security or increasing staff training.
Another method is to monitor trends specific to your industry. Your insurance department or your broker can help with this. It’s also a good idea to monitor past and present stories in the media to see what crises commonly occur in your industry. Keep a crisis clip file and use the information from it to chart crisis trends and outcomes. You can do this inhouse or hire an outside media monitoring service.
Also useful is scenario building as part of a strategic planning exercise. An excellent resource for this is Scenario Planning by Mats Lindgren and Hans Bandhold.
Finally, if your vulnerability assessment shows that you are indeed at risk, you should consider hiring outside help to put together a comprehensive crisis management and communications plan.
If you’re still hesitating about assessing your organization’s vulnerabilities, remember this: “Every organization WILL experience a crisis. Finding vulnerabilities will allow your organization to correct problems over which management has some control and prepare for those over which management has little or no control.”
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