As a small business owner or manager, you have a lot on your plate. But there are few job requirements that are more important for the overall success of your business than making sure your business is able to weather the many storms that are sure to come along over the years with effective crisis management tools and practices such as these.
Have a Plan to Manage Various Crises
There are an abundance of styles or forms a crisis can take. Businesses today need to be prepared to manage all of them head on. The major types of crises your business may face include those that are:
- Natural
- Technological
- Malevolent
- Organizational
- Confrontational
- Leadership
- Related to violence in the workplace
You need to have a plan of action for how to respond to and manage each and every situation. More importantly, you need to make sure that employees and managers working for your small business understand the proper procedure for each and every situation and circumstance. It needs to be part of your company policy.
Practice Prevention
Prevention is almost always the best cure. For most crisis situations, there are acts and procedures that could mitigate the situation and actively prevent small problems from becoming much larger problems. As just one example, strict technology policies and procedures can prevent many technology-related crises that would otherwise impact your business. Likewise, a cyber crisis response is essential in dealing with a cyber crisis.
That said, it’s always wise to have a “Plan B” to fall back on, like business insurance that covers liability and business interruption resulting from a technology-based crisis. More importantly, you need to know exactly what your business insurance will cover when crises do happen, and your business insurance agent is invaluable in this regard. Peace of mind that your business is protected from the worst is priceless when the worst seems to be happening all around you.
Educate all Employees about Their Role in a Crisis Situation
This isn’t a “once and you’re done” effort on the part of owners and managers. This needs to be an ongoing process that’s revisited and restated well and often. The better educated your staff is for what is expected of them in a crisis, the greater the likelihood is that the will meet your expectations when the time comes. One of the most important things you need to have someone assigned to deal with is taking care of your customers in the aftermath of a disaster. You want to have someone designated to this task as a priority so that your customers get the word about what’s going on, reassurance that their interests are protected, and information about when you’ll be back to serve them again.
Whenever crises strikes your business and whatever form the crisis takes, it is in the best interests of everyone involved to deal with the crisis quickly and effectively so you can get back to the business you do best.
