Crisis plans – every business has one, right? You probably spent a lot of time and money putting a plan together. So where is it right now? Probably on a shelf in an executive’s office, collecting dust. How should you keep that plan top-of-mind so it can be used in the case of a crisis?
Let’s back up for a minute – you made the crisis plan to keep your company’s communications running smoothly in case of a crisis. For some organizations, a crisis can mean bankruptcy, mass layoffs or facility closures. For others, a crisis is only related to death or catastrophic loss. Does your plan define what a crisis is in your organization? If not, that may be a good place to start.
After you’ve defined what a crisis is for your company, take that crisis plan off the shelf and look at it! Ask yourself the following questions:
- What personnel or structural changes have taken place at my company since this plan was created and how do those impact the plan? Employees leave, job titles and responsibilities change. It’s important to keep the plan updated to include the right people.
- Do the procedures in the plan make sense? Can they be simplified? Simpler is always better. Less confusion and more time for action!
- Are key people at the organization aware of their roles and involvement in the plan? Do they have a copy of the plan? Keeping the plan at your desk is fine, but key executives should have copies at home and, if possible, in their vehicles. You never know where you’ll be when a crisis hits.
- Does the plan reflect current communications tools? Believe it or not, three years ago, no one would have thought to include messaging on Twitter or Facebook in a crisis plan. If your company uses either of those mediums to communicate with customers or employees, they should be included in your crisis plan.
Depending on your answers to the questions above, you may have some work to do. Of course, you should review your crisis plan roughly every six months and make sure key people have copies both on and off site. This way, when a crisis hits, people refer to the plan first. Too many companies spend money to develop a plan just to find it is lost or outdated during an emergency.
In the middle of a crisis, it’s important to keep a business-as-usual attitude when it seems like things are quickly spinning out of control. A good crisis plan doesn’t get shoved on a shelf “just-in-case.” It’s pulled out a few times a year so employees can familiarize themselves with it and use it when a crisis hits. When that crisis hits, and it will, your crisis plan is a road map to keep your company running smoothly.