Crises continue to be in the headlines of our newspapers and in the main news on radio and television broadcasts. And crises continue to affect businesses in many ways, and they continue to happen without warning. But what is happening where we work in response to this continuing trend of crises? Are companies preparing for crises by developing crisis management plans? Do you know if your company has a crisis management plan or a business disaster recovery plan? Do you have a crisis communication plan?
The American Management Association conducted a survey in August and September 2005 and what the survey revealed is summarized below:
AMA surveyed 105 Executive Members and clients during the months of August and September 2005 to determine if crisis management plans were, in fact, in place. According to the results, more than half (60%) of all US companies surveyed have crisis management plans in place, a downward trend since 2003 (64%). Among those companies that do have crisis management plans, they have also addressed different concerns than in previous years. The greatest concern in 2005 was natural disasters (77%), followed by more traditional risks, such as failures in technological systems (73%) and industrial accidents (65%), as well as risks due to crime (31%), terrorism (46%) and major fraud (18%).
When planning a crisis communication plan, companies focus more on their senior management team (79%) and employees (84%) than on
family members (38%).
More than half of all respondents say their organization has designated a crisis management team (56%) and half have conducted drills or crisis drills (50%). And 38% have trained key staff in crisis management skills.
Almost half of the companies surveyed offered their employees formal training on
security procedures (52%), and most of those who do (90%), receive training once
a year or less.
The survey also reveals that companies are also concerned about employees
evaluation and selection (27%, a high level of concern) and resumption of business
planning (34%). They are less concerned about travel (13%) and parking lot safety
(10%).
After reviewing the results of the AMA survey, the most striking things to me that should cause at least attention, if not alarm, are the following:
+ Only 60% of companies have a crisis management plan and that’s less than in the 2003 AMA survey.
+ Only 56% of companies with a plan have a designated crisis management team
+ Only 50% of companies with plans have carried out drills or crisis drills
+ Only 38% of businesses with plans have staff trained in crisis management
+ 90% of companies with plans have formal training only once a year
My professional experience is that more than 90% of the companies I have contacted or had a business relationship with since 1982 did not have a crisis management plan when I met them. And companies that have followed up on the development of a crisis management plan have done so after a crisis has occurred or after serious discussions about
the value of a crisis management plan and the risks of not having a crisis management plan
plan. What about your company? Do you know if you have a crisis management plan? If you have a plan, are you familiar with any part of it?
The AMA survey results are cause for alarm, in my opinion, and many more companies need to be aware of what is happening with crisis management at work today. Ownership and senior management must recognize the problem and risk factors and then develop and implement a robust crisis management plan for the organization. Without a robust crisis management and crisis communication plan, businesses can freeze indecisively during a crisis. The business can come to a standstill without an organized strategic framework to respond to the crisis. And the business can be literally devastated and actually collapse due to a lack of crisis management planning.
Do you know where your crisis management and crisis communication plans are? If you answered NO, then you and the plans will not be in action when the next crisis occurs. If you are interested in learning more about the importance of crisis management planning and crisis communications planning in addressing the large impact a crisis can have on your company’s short- and long-term performance, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his website at http://www.crisismgmt4business.com or email Glenn at [email protected]