Guest contributor: Jo Detavernier, SCMP, APR – VP and Partner with Swyft. When a crisis hits, the spokesperson or (in a larger organization), the Crisis Communications Team, sees itself under immense pressure to respond quickly to demands for information from media. The first hour of a crisis is often called the Golden Hour because you…
The Crisis Management Team’s (CMT) role during a physical event may vary depending on the scale and complexity of the emergency. Knowing what to do during such events is essential. In the early stages of a physical event, the CMT needs to be organized. Making timely and accurate decisions due to the team being well…
The media continue to be filled with stories about companies that fail to manage crisis situations, costing them millions in damage, fines and reparations, lost revenue and lost jobs. Many of those failures can be tracked to a few common causes: 1) lack of attention to the identification and assessment of risks, 2) weak leadership…
In episode 31 of the PreparedEx Podcast, Rob Burton discusses Horizon Scanning and how it can help improve an organization’s ability to identify threats before they happen. Rob describes who should be represented during the horizon scanning sessions, how often the sessions should take place as well as some of the key benefits to having…
During the month of May, Rob Burton is focusing on Horizon Scanning and why this tool should be implemented into your crisis management team’s tool kit. Predicting Crises Through Horizon Scanning Horizon Scanning is a systematic examination of potential threats, opportunities and future developments, which may have the potential to create new risks or change the character of…
An Organization is Not “Crisis Ready” Unless it Validates Plans and Teams Through Crisis Simulation Exercises on an Ongoing Basis Do your crisis simulation exercises really engage your team members? Are they impactful in a way that your leadership team wants to invest more time and financial resources into them? Not sure? Then this short…
A Crisis Leader Needs to Think Strategically and Make Key Decisions for the Overall Management and Response Being able to coordinate multiple functional areas of an organization during a crisis requires detailed preparation. The CMT (Crisis Management Team) should have a leader as well as someone designated as his or her backup. In addition to…
In episode 28 of the PreparedEx podcast series, Managing Director, Rob Burton, discusses the crisis management briefing cycle. The briefing cycle is a disciplined crisis management activity that if implemented into a crisis team’s DNA, will increase their overall ability to respond to, and manage crises. This disciplined activity is taken from the military. Armies…
At some point, nearly every organization will experience a crisis. For many, unfortunately, their crisis planning strategy is denial: “that will never happen to our company.” Except that it probably will. Sooner than you think. When all hell breaks loose, consider these “truths” of a crisis as you wade in to manage your organization’s reputation,…
On October 25, 2011, a young American humanitarian aid worker, Jessica Buchanan, was in Somalia teaching children how to avoid landmines when she and her colleague were kidnapped for ransom by Somali bandits. They were held in the desert at gunpoint for 93 days before they were rescued by Seal Team 6. Buchanan will be…