It’s inevitable that every business will have to endure a crisis at some point, whether it’s internally or externally generated. While an experienced business leader may feel capable of managing most crises that arise, it can be challenging for newer leaders to manage one without having had hands-on experience in dealing with a crisis before.
There are ways to prepare to handle crises before they occur, and all business leaders should have a plan in place to help them successfully face any they might encounter. Here, 13 members of Forbes Coaches Council share their expert tips to help newer business leaders to learn how to successfully manage a crisis before one arises.
Forbes Coaches Council members share tips to help new leaders learn how to manage crises before they arise.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Build A Crisis Management Team
Build a crisis management team to effectively handle unexpected challenges. The team should include legal, branding, marketing and customer service. Meet regularly to explore “what if” scenarios and plan steps to mitigate the situations. While some issues might be unique to a specific company, many industry challenges are the same and can be identified ahead of time. - Deborah Hightower, Deborah Hightower, Inc.
2. Practice Agility And Accept Change
Practice agility and become comfortable accepting change as a necessary catalyst for developing both business sustainability and humility as a leader. Teams depend on leaders who are courageous, available and display vulnerability in unforeseen situations. Collaboration’s effect on growing a team culture that embraces progressive ideas begins with leaders who seek self-growth and awareness. - Reena Khullar Sharma, Agilis Executive Consulting
3. Create Adaptive And Agile Structures
Internal or external crises happen because the environment is changing daily. When the rate of change is faster than the organization’s ability to cope, a reactive response is triggered and is usually ineffective. The best way to manage this before it turns into a crisis is to create adaptive and agile structures that anticipate the issues and draw up plans for different scenarios. - Thomas Lim, Singapore Public Service, SportSG
4. Know Where You Are Most Vulnerable
The best way to manage and mitigate risk is to first define it and know where you are most vulnerable. That generally means we need to test our assumptions about our people, processes, products, suppliers—all of the stakeholders involved. Then, model what would need to happen if there were any disruption. This allows you to know in advance what your initial steps will need to be. - Kathi Laughman, The Mackenzie Circle LLC
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5. Plan For Everything And Always Ask ‘What If?’
I recently spoke to a brilliant professional with 40-plus years in business who said, “I plan for everything—always asking, ‘What if?’” Many leaders are either stuck in the “what if” planning stage or creating without asking that question. All leaders are capable of finding a balance that suits them. In that balance lies the answer. Add a little more of whichever spice is not your go-to, but just a little. - Lisa Hale, Focused Leadership Consulting
6. Create A Culture Of Resiliency And Flexibility
It’s impossible to anticipate all crises. Instead, create a culture of resiliency and flexibility. An organization must be oriented around sound decision making and the ability to turn on a dime. With that capacity, whether the crisis is a market change, an inept comment made on Twitter, a boycott or a pandemic, the tools are already in place to address it. Instead of clairvoyance, build creativity. - Amie Devero, Beyond Better
7. Create An Enterprise Risk Management System
When companies are realistic about the risks to their business and the probabilities of those risks occurring, they stand a better chance of handling the risks that can become crises. Anticipating the reactions of those who may be in crisis mode should be part of assessing the risks. - Evan Roth, Roth Consultancy International, LLC.
8. Create Disruption Readiness
Examine your mindset. The best leaders in our current environment understand that disruption has become the norm. Are you updating your thinking and building leadership agility? Are you creating a culture of agility? Are your business processes able to respond to changes? Leadership mindsets, behaviors, cultures, processes and systems all need to be nimble to create disruption readiness. - Maureen Metcalf, Innovative Leadership Institute
9. Learn From Other Business Leaders
Learn from others. Make it a priority to spend time developing a network or participating in a mastermind group where the intention is to learn from other business leaders in other industries. I have found cross-appropriation of learning to be key in developing essential skills of improvisation and speculation. Both are necessary when we are faced with the unexpected, which might be surprisingly positive. - Angela Cusack, Igniting Success
10. Have A List Of Go-To Contractors
One can never plan for everything from earthquakes to floods, however, once a crisis happens you should have a list of go-to contractors to resolve specific issues. For example, if your system loses power, secure a cloud-based system to store your information—you can even purchase segments of time for IT assistance. - Barbara Adams, CareerPro Global, Inc.
11. Analyze Trends, Opportunities And Risks
Crises are nothing more than accelerators of change. The fundamentally effective changes are described by megatrends and corresponding subtrends. Therefore, analyze existing trends, how they affect people’s wishes and problems (and thus, your business model) and what opportunities and risks will develop for you. Prioritize these and create solutions. - Michael Thiemann, Strategy-Lab™
12. Be Clear On Your Priorities
Change is inevitable. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past year and a half, it’s that we have to be nimble and responsive to circumstances that are clearly out of our control. When you’re clear on your priorities and your team knows the priorities, you have an anchor, even in the midst of chaos. Communication and alignment are key, especially in times of crisis. - Kathleen Woodhouse, Nova Leadership
13. Create A Culture Of Trust And Open Communication
Clear and regularly scheduled communication is a key first step to managing a crisis before it happens. Clear and open communication can only happen if a leader has created and cultivated a culture of trust, encouraged all communication and made it a priority. Openly communicating won’t avert all crises, but it should help avert most. - Beth Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Coaching and Consulting
