You’ve got the routine of running a factory or warehouse during normal operations down to the letter. However, what happens when that routine is suddenly disrupted? Whether it’s a hurricane knocking out power or a cyberattack disrupting your internal systems, even a brief disruption can bring operations to a standstill. That’s why crisis management strategies should be in place well before any emergency occurs.
This guide covers the steps that matter when routine breaks down—from team coordination to recovery and communication.
Reliable Crisis Management Strategies
Before we go any further, let’s discuss the importance of making sure your entire team is on the same page. If even one person doesn’t know the role they’ll play, then things could go haywire during a crisis situation. Having regular redundant training and trial runs might make your team miss out on a few minutes of work, but you’ll be extremely glad you prepared if a crisis strikes.
With that in mind, here are several proven crisis management strategies to guide your team, before, during, and after an emergency.
Develop Contingency Plans
Aside from training, you’ll also need to come up with contingency plans. For example, if your internet goes down due to a cyberattack, what will your team do? If you don’t know, that could present a huge problem down the line. By planning in advance, though, you could ensure that locked in hot spots are available to instantly take over, if needed. Properly implementing strategic crisis management in advance means not having to call all your company’s shareholders due to an extensive internet outage.
Conduct Risk Assessments
Conducting risk assessments is a good way to uncover weaknesses that could lead to bigger problems. Let’s go back to the cyberattack example. During a routine risk assessment, you might find that employees aren’t trained to recognize social engineering tactics like phishing emails. That’s a huge gap which could give bad players access to your internal systems. In this event, a basic training program can serve as a simple but powerful element of your crisis management strategy, helping to prevent a security breach before it ever happens.
Identify Early Warning Signs
It’s easy to become complacent when you see the same things at work on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this means your crisis management strategies could begin to slip. Instead, get into the habit of looking around your factory for any potential vulnerabilities. By collecting and analyzing data regarding these vulnerabilities, you’ll be in a much better position to ward off having to utilize your crisis management techniques.
Contain the Damage
Once you become aware that your crisis management strategies are needed, it’s critical to protect your company’s people and assets. Let’s say that a tornado is headed to your facility and expected to hit within the next 10 minutes. By preparing in advance for this with trial runs, your team should be in a good position to quickly reach either an interior room or a hallway on the first floor. Take care not to incite the more excitable members of your team. Instead, use a calm and rational yet firm tone when you give the evacuation order.
Appoint a Crisis Management Team
Getting your team into a safe position is only one step of the process. Having a crisis management team in place will give your employees someone to connect with if they become alarmed, start to forget their crisis preparation, etc. Ensure that everyone has a smart radio such as RelayX to stay in touch. Not only will these smart radios keep working when phone lines have gone dead, but they also feature safety alerts and language translation capabilities. In other words, they’ll make the evacuation process much smoother.
Communicate Clearly with the Outside World
Regardless of the type of emergency, you’ll most likely need to share the news with people who are outside of your facility. A prime example comes in the aftermath of a tornado or hurricane that blew part of the roof off your factory. You’ll want to get ahead of the situation by announcing the problem yourself. That way, you can also take control of the narrative to protect your company’s reputation. Always remember, someone is going to break the news. Therefore, it’s almost always better if your business, following factual review and legal approval, is the one to do so.
Initiate the Recovery Process
Once the immediate crisis has passed, the recovery phase begins. During this time, focus on rebuilding operations while reinforcing public trust. Let’s say a hurricane causes major damage to your area and temporarily shuts down your facility.
Even if the situation wasn’t preventable, how you respond can shape long-term perception. Helping affected employees with emergency support, offering paid off time during recovery, or donating supplies locally not only shows leadership, it also signals your commitment to your team and community. These actions, rooted in compassion, also serve to protect and strengthen your company’s reputation.
Perform a Post-Crisis Assessment
Anytime an emergency arises, be sure to conduct a post-crisis assessment once the danger passes. Imagine that there are four different entry points in your warehouse, and three of them are supposed to be locked from the outside at all times. Somehow, though, an unauthorized individual gained access through one of these doors.
The first thing you’ll need to do during your post-crisis assessment is figure out how they did it. Is there a problem with the lock? Did someone leave the door propped open? Was your door lock easy to pick? Whatever you discover needs to be included in your post-crisis assessment. Of course, you’ll also want to adapt your techniques so that it can never happen again.
Adapt Based on Lessons Learned
Your crisis management strategies are likely to evolve based on what you learn from an actual emergency. Therefore, you should immediately update your strategies to include new techniques for handling a crisis. If one part of your plan doesn’t work as well as expected, as in the above example, you should reevaluate and come up with a better plan.
The reality is that as much as we want to always make the right decisions, we’re also human and will make mistakes from time to time. Get ahead of your mistakes in the press and be prepared to show how you’ve adjusted your crisis management strategies going forward.
Five Considerations for Crisis Management Strategies
Before you release a crisis management plan, it’s vital to take the time to carefully consider how it will affect your company post-crisis. Because at the end of the day, reputation management is one of the most important things your business can undertake.
As you build or refine your crisis management plan, keep these five considerations in mind to guide smart decision-making during emergencies and throughout the entire recovery process.
1. Leadership
Choosing your crisis management team requires you to pick out strong leaders that have the ability to calmly provide guidance when things go haywire. Select leaders that others trust and listen to closely.
2. Reputation
Your chosen crisis management team must also fully understand the importance of protecting your company’s reputation. Ensure that they’re ready to quickly issue a transparent statement to the press.
3. Ethical Standards
Lapses in proper and ethical decision-making could become a news story in the aftermath of a crisis. Instead, think through your crisis management plan to ensure it has been built ethically, and with as much compassion as possible.
4. Flexibility
Sometimes, no matter how much work you’ve put into your crisis management strategies, it becomes abundantly clear during an emergency that your plan isn’t working. While some people will insist on following the plan no matter what, effective leaders know when to pivot. For instance, what if part of your plan includes meeting in an area that is currently flooded? The ability to quickly assess the situation and adjust your response is a critical part of leading through a crisis.
5. Communication
Maintaining clear, consistent communication throughout the crisis – and afterwards with your employees – provides a proven way to get through a bad situation as a team. For staying in touch with your employees, we suggest utilizing smart radios. Unlike two-way radios that have range limitations, smart radios like Relay makes it easy to talk via multiple nationwide 4G LTE networks and WiFi. Therefore, they’re a much more reliable way to communicate, which is exactly what you need in a crisis situation.
Crisis Management Strategies That Work
The previously listed techniques for crisis management are the best way to come out the other side with your reputation, operations, and team intact. If you don’t currently have a crisis plan, consider working on one today. After all, you don’t want to get caught in a serious emergency without having previously thought it through. Are you looking for a way to improve your team’s communication skills? Whether you turn to us for better crisis management or to improve your team’s communication abilities altogether, Relay can make life significantly easier. Contact us today to receive a free demo!
