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25 More Crisis Management Lessons Learned

In my “Crisis Manager” newsletter in October 2005, I published “25 Crisis Management Lessons Learned” based on my consulting assignments from the previous year. You may want to review them first, as most, if not all, are still valid. I had thoughts of repeating this the following year, but somehow time slipped away and WOW, it’s 2008!

What the hell. There may have been some lessons learned since then, so I’m happy to bring you this updated compilation of my views. As with my previous article, these are in no particular order, but if the shoe fits…

1. We have probably not seen the end of the food and commodity-related crises that originated in the People’s Republic of China. Any organization with relevant connections to the PRC should take this into account in their crisis preparedness.

2. The Internet continues to make it easy to read, listen to, and see skeletons in your closet. Lesson Corollary: Run your business as if everything you write, say and do can be recorded and you will avoid many crises (PS: By 2008 there will be 300 million multimedia-enabled mobile phones on the market).

3. Infighting within the organization is one of the main causes of crises and plays a significant role in exacerbating crises that might otherwise have been minor.

4. No written statement can convey messages related to the crisis, as well as video communication.

5. If you are a technophobic CEO, get out of the way and let your tech-savvy staff and/or consultants guide you on the best ways to use technology for crisis management purposes.

6. The Better Business Bureau (at least in the US) can be a real pain in the ass due to its institutionalized bias and bad habit of presenting information out of context. Unfortunately, it’s probably still worth spending time on reputation management to be highly responsive to BBB complaints and be a member too. BBB complaints are often cited by critics and it is a very common destination for consumers deciding whether to do business with you.

7. Ignore a compromised online reviewer and you’ll take most of the top spots on Google under your preferred search terms.

8. The most predictable judge or jury is unpredictable. Always be prepared for multiple potential outcomes in litigation-related crisis management.

9. Every organization in the world needs a blog.

10. Changing text less than once a week on a blog built as a primary communication vehicle (rather than strictly for SEO purposes) is like riding a horse in the middle of the German highway: everyone will either pass you or you will. they will run over If you don’t know what “SEO” means, see lesson 5 above.

11. Too many organizations engage in search engine obfuscation instead of search engine optimization, which increases their vulnerability to crises.

12. Vital policies to avoid and/or minimize damage from crises MUST be accompanied by initial and refresher training or they will be of no value. Corollary lesson: Almost every functional area of ​​an organization has (or should!) have such policies.

13. When there are significant cultural differences between the foreign owners of a business and those native to the country in which they are doing business, those owners should be willing to defer crisis communication strategy and decisions to those who best understand the business(ies). cultures). ) ) in which they communicate.

14. If an organizational leader commits to their stakeholders, they must ensure that everyone in their organization (a) is aware of the commitment and (b) does nothing to violate it, or the organization-wide commitment. credibility can suffer immense and entirely preventable damage.

15. Few organizations have phone systems or website servers capable of handling the dramatic increase in traffic that would result from a crisis. And many of those who believe so have not tested their systems through simulation exercises.

16. If you were to empty 10 trash cans in the executive suite (and many other parts) of most organizations at the end of a business day, you would find information that could compromise the reputation and/or financial well-being and/or safety of those organizations. .

17. If you are likely to need certain types of products or services as a result of the most common types of crises in an organization such as yours (eg, backup generators, test labs), the time to establish relationships with the product/service providers is now, not under the gun of a crisis. Corollary lesson: during times of widespread crisis, such as a natural disaster, the demand for certain types of products/services is greater than the supply; “Preferred customers” go to the front of the line, last minute customers may not be served.

18. It is a mistake to let the response to a crisis depend on the leadership skills of a single individual, no matter how talented and charismatic they may be. Crisis response must be based on advance planning that results in an effective response system that works even when individual team members are not available at the time the crisis occurs.

19. PR representatives of any organization must be very familiar not only with traditional media, but also with the leading bloggers covering their industry. In times of crisis, leading bloggers can become more important than traditional media, as they are more prolific, more focused on a long-term issue, and are cited more frequently by other bloggers.

20. Not all IT departments or consultants are the same. Some of them believe they understand all the ways the information in their systems can be compromised. Some of them are wrong.

21. Too many organizations have no contingency plan for what to do if, tonight, they lose permanent or long-term access to their primary workplace or major facility due to a disaster of any kind (eg, fire, flood, earthquake, tornado, hurricane).

22. There are relatively few organizations that have functional disaster response plans, which means that they include all the details of what to do in the event of a natural or man-made disaster and that training has accompanied the plans, including drills and/or or exercises.

23. Many crises, from reputational threats to threats of violence, have been heralded by messages on traditional websites, blogs or social networking sites, but most organizations do not regularly monitor these online sites. Those looking to harm people or organizations have the portable ability to easily record the written word, audio, and video and post it to the Internet very quickly, or even live.

24. Quite a few organizations have a policy of not allowing their top leaders to fly together, but in reality they are at greater risk of driving together, which they do all the time.

25. While many organizations go to great lengths to protect the security of data stored on their servers, the same organizations often allow executives (and others) to keep laptops on which they store sensitive information. Taken into public places and highly vulnerable to theft, these laptops are rarely protected with anything more than a password, which is easily circumvented. There are many articles on laptop security available online.

You probably could have called this list “Lessons Too Many Organizations Haven’t Learned Yet and Won’t Learn Anytime Soon,” but now you can work to make sure your organization doesn’t become a negative case for others.

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