Every organization is vulnerable to crises. They usually happen quickly and unexpectedly, creating emotionally charged, high-risk situations for businesses. The way an organization responds has a long-term effect on its brand reputation. Partnering with a neutral, third-party help for crisis planning and management gives organizations the objectivity to respond and recover effectively. Objectivity is challenging to perform internally, given crises' personal and emotional nature. Working with a crisis management company helps organizations prepare, predict what’s ahead, identify gaps and navigate concerns with objectivity, purpose, and clarity.
Consider the following skills, capabilities, and expertise to find a partner to help your business successfully plan for and manage crises.
Assess Speed and Agility
A crisis changes rapidly and needs decisions and responses in real-time. The speed at which a situation moves and modifications can be overwhelming and cause anxiety and uncertainty for everyone involved, including the leaders managing it. Choose a company that can lead through the uncertainty by acting with the same speed and agility as the crisis. This provides a clear and stabilizing direction at an otherwise turbulent time. Ensure the team you’ll work with is flexible, accessible, proactive, and equipped to predict market shifts. Assess this by checking with client references.
Look for Experienced Communicators
Strong communication is essential to successful crisis and risk management. Organizations use communication to deliver clear, timely, factual information, engage stakeholders, and move the company ahead. Professional communicators know how to create and activate strategic communication plans that facilitate business continuity, support compliance, and impact business goals.
Crises have far-reaching consequences that affect a variety of internal and external stakeholders. Search for a crisis management company that knows how to engage stakeholders across a broad range of channels, including traditional PR and digital.
Assess their Relationship-building Skills
Crises are highly dynamic times for organizations and their leaders. Influential crisis management firms know how to step into a challenging situation and quickly build trust and connection across all levels of the organization. Consider whether the team you’ll be working with feels like a proper culture fit and whether you trust them to successfully guide the organization and the situation. Ask references whether the firm was able to build strong, trusted relationships across the organization, particularly with leaders.
Evaluate Crisis Experience
Crises are taxing, and their dynamic nature causes them challenges to navigate. Risk Management firms should have experience leading other organizations through every trouble phase and collaborating with C-suite leaders. The team’s ability to work with leaders is necessary, given the significant role leaders play in crisis preparedness and response. Experienced companies also know what works nicely during a crisis and what doesn’t, including common pitfalls and effective stakeholder engagement strategies.
Ensure Values are Aligned
Values are the manners organizations and their employees agree to live by daily, which are essential in times of crisis. Crisis and risk management firms with a strong purpose and values understand the significance of these business principles and know what it takes to review or realign to them. Organizations with a clear goal and values have greater transparency in moving the business forward through a crisis.