Robert Baden-Powell emphasised that “be prepared” - the motto for the Scout movement he established - meant “having thought out beforehand any accident and situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment”. This is fantastic advice for the c.28 million scouts worldwide, and it’s equally applicable to anyone seeking to make their organisation “crisis-ready”.
From natural disasters to PR disasters, the calamities ready to befall sporting organisations are nearly endless. Sometimes even the simplest things; a power cut or a staff member with the flu; can have a huge impact on the everyday work of an organisation. It’s impossible to fully mitigate every risk, but applying the “be prepared” mantra is a small step towards making the best of a bad situation.
So you’ve seen the benefit of being prepared, and now you want to do it yourself. Here are three things to think about when making your organisation crisis-ready.
Like the name suggests, a risk register is a register of all the risks that could befall an organisation or project. Risks can be ranked on both their likelihood and impact. Once a risk is identified you should also assess potential mitigations and implement any that are practical, as well as suggesting contingencies to implement if the risk arises.
You can easily mitigate against the risk of a lost key, and doing so hugely reduces the risk of it impacting your business. On the other hand, some risks could have a huge impact but are so unlikely, and the mitigations so expensive, that to take action would be impractical.
Every organisation should have an organisational risk register and it’s the Board’s responsibility to make this happen. The risk register should reflect the content of the operational and strategic plans, and include any risk with a reasonable potential of preventing operational and strategic targets from being reached. The most serious risks, those where impact and likelihood are relatively high, should be reviewed at each board meeting, and it’s the responsibility of the executive team to monitor risks relating to their areas of function.
You can find out more about risk registers in the Governance Library.
Even with the best risk register and most effectively implemented mitigations no risk is 100% avoidable. This is where the “be prepared” motto comes into its own. A business continuity plan is a preconceived action plan for responding to business crises. Rather than “winging it”, it pays to have a plan in place ahead of time, so that everyone knows what to do when a problem arises. A good business continuity plan covers everything; establishing a chain of command and defining all the roles and actions that might need to be carried out; from data recovery and liaising with emergency services to cancelling the next days milk.
A business continuity plan isn’t just to cover major emergencies or natural disasters. An IT failure can prove just as disastrous as a flooded office, and it’s also more likely to happen.
Your plan should link to the risk register, where you’ve hopefully included contingencies for specific risks. It should also be adaptable enough that anyone can action it, rather than relying on one person who may or may not be available in a time of crisis.
Again, the Governance Library contains more guidance on how to create your own Business Continuity Plan.
Closely linked to the business continuity plan is the Crisis Communications Plan. Whilst the business continuity plan focuses on the actions needed to get the organisations back on its feet and operating again, the crisis communications plan details (as the name suggests) how to communicate the crisis and its impact to stakeholders and the media.
Again, it’s best to have this planned in advance. Some things, like selecting and training spokespersons, are better to prepare in advance. Others, like creating a well followed social media presence or a comprehensive database of necessary contacts, take so long to establish it’s essential they are in place before a potential issue arises.
The objectives of the plan vary depending on the situation. If your email system is down you might only need to inform stakeholders about the best way to get in touch with urgent enquiries. If you’re dealing with a full blown scandal then you’ll need to deal with the media as well as stakeholders, and damage limitation will be the order of the day.
In either case, the crisis communications plan sets out a clear chain of command, with roles and responsibilities for all staff, and guidance on how to respond regardless of the situation.
As you’ve guessed by now, there’s a guide to Crisis Communications Plans in the communication strategy section of the Governance Library.
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