Crisis Management

• Can we recognise a crisis in time?
• Do we know what to do when a crisis comes?
• Is it worth reviewing our current crisis management approach in line with current industry "best practices"?

Many companies cannot answer these questions, or their answer is ambiguous. The crisis plan, its management and the actual application in practice is often a big challenge for organisations. However, with our experience, it doesn't have to be the case.
 

We offer consultation or complete processing of all phases of preparation of processes related to crisis management, control or design of crisis management processes (including preparation of a crisis plan, establishment of a crisis team and its competencies in crisis management) and assistance in deployment and maintenance of crisis management.

After analysing the processes related to crisis management, we will help you set up the appropriate procedures. We will work with you to prepare the appropriate documentation and internal procedures. We will help you set up a process for early recognition of an incoming crisis. We will advise you on the choice of appropriate means to monitor the situation and on the preparation of criteria and procedures for assessing the severity of the crisis.

We will then begin to develop the processes and structures for managing the complications that the crisis plan will describe and include:

• procedure for activating crisis processes,
• steps for setting up a crisis team,
• method of communication,
• working with information,
• documentation templates used in crisis management.

Appropriate crisis management procedures need to be tailored to your specific circumstances. That is why we will work closely together to help us thoroughly assess the situation and, on that basis, prepare the optimal solution.
 

It is based on the recommendations of the original BS 11200:2014 standard of the BSI organisation, which is currently undergoing evolution into an EN standard under the designation PD CEN/TS 17091:2018.

Crisis management issues primarily affect corporate governance, but are closely related to business continuity issues ISO 22301:2019. Crisis management is further related to incident management ISO 22320:2018 and risk management ISO 31000:2018.
 

Events in the recent past show that we can expect more frequent occurrences of disasters affecting human society in the future, which will lead to recurrent crisis situations. As the coronavirus pandemic has shown us, health risks have a major impact on society.

Any crisis can have significant operational, commercial and financial consequences. Crisis management will not ensure that a crisis does not occur, but it will prepare you well for the circumstance. You will then respond appropriately and in a timely manner, increasing the chances that you will overcome the crisis with minimal losses. A crisis can also be a business opportunity if you can overcome it more efficiently than your competitors.

Preparing for a crisis also means recognising early on the events leading up to the crisis and responding accordingly. Without preparation, you increase your reaction time many times over and the information you need to make the right decisions will be useless to you.

The essence of crisis management is to prepare the processes, structures and procedures that will enable the responsible personnel to deal with the situation in a truly effective manner.