| In business, crisis management is practically | | | | resolve the event. |
| unavoidable. Mistakes will be made. Accidents will | | | | CRISIS MANAGEMENT |
| happen. Products will be flawed. Acts of God will | | | | Although there is not consensus about how a crisis |
| continue. | | | | should be handled, there are a number of common |
| Since you can't avoid crises, you'd better prepare for | | | | themes. The basics are: |
| their inevitable eventuality, and: act promptly, intelligently, | | | | --CRISIS PREVENTION |
| decisively, strategically, politically, sensitively, honestly, | | | | The most important activity which can be taken, is to |
| and with a genuine effort to resolve the issue and | | | | take action(s) to prevent a crisis from occurring in the |
| prevent further harm and recurrence. | | | | first place! |
| BACKGROUND | | | | --CRISIS PLANNING |
| As a reminder, some major crises include: Johnson & | | | | Should a crisis occur, despite all your good |
| Johnson (Tylenol); Proctor & Gamble (Tampon/ toxic | | | | preventative efforts, have plans in place to deal with |
| shock); Union Carbide (Toxic Chemicals); Three Mile | | | | likely, unlikely, and forecastable occurences. |
| Island (Nuclear); Hurricane Katrina; Exxon (Valdez/ Oil | | | | Appropriate planning, prior to the inevitable disaster, will |
| Spill); the 2008 Financial Meltdown (as well as many | | | | help focus efforts, limit delays, and mitigate the |
| prior Market crashes), and most recently, the BP (Oil | | | | damage. It provides a level of reassurance for all |
| Spill). | | | | stakeholders. |
| THE BP CRISIS | | | | --CRISIS INTERVENTION |
| This is being written on around day 45 of the Gulf (of | | | | Initiate timely, forceful, and focused actions to limit the |
| Mexico) Oil Spill Crisis. BP (British Petroleum) is under | | | | scope and duration of the crisis. |
| siege with public relations, environmental, and financial | | | | --CRISIS MANAGEMENT |
| problems, as a consequence of a disastrous, deadly, | | | | Management consists of planning, organizing, leading |
| contaminating, incident of unprecedented proportion. | | | | and controlling. In a crisis, the leadership must be clear, |
| This infamous event began in late April, 2010 when an | | | | respected, visible, and trustworthy. Coordination and |
| explosion destroyed the surface drilling platform, (with | | | | resource management are essential; project |
| 11 platform worker fatalities), and shut-off devices | | | | management skills are required. |
| failed to turn off the gusher of oil spewing from a | | | | --CRISIS COMMUNICATION |
| severed pipe at the bottom of the sea, one mile deep. | | | | Honesty, transparency, and frequency are important. |
| Various strategies were tried to stem the daily | | | | Deception, minimization, hiding, or avoidance are deadly. |
| multi-thousand barrel flow of pollution from the | | | | Trust will be lost when lies or misrepresentation are |
| wrecked installation. Robots were placed to handle | | | | discovered. The press needs access, and will become |
| repairs at the high pressures, great depth, and poor | | | | hostile if spokespersons are not forthright. |
| visibility, on the seabed. The U.S. Government mobilized | | | | --CRISIS ETHICS and CRISIS HUMANITY |
| it's resources (Coast Guard, FEMA, various federal | | | | The crisis needs to be handled in an ethical fashion. It is |
| agencies, National Guard, etc,), but were largely | | | | essential that morality supersede financial |
| ineffective and responsiveness appeared to be "too | | | | considerations. |
| little; too late." BP tried multiple approaches to capping | | | | The emotions, health, feelings; personal and financial |
| the well and stopping the oil flow. Approaches termed: | | | | impact on individuals are paramount considerations. |
| "Top Kill,":riser package cap," "replacing a 'blowout' | | | | Leaders need to sincerely demonstrate their |
| preventer," and a longer term "relief well" is in progress | | | | compassion, sensitivity, and empathy for those |
| ("BP Begins...New Strategy..."Bloomberg.com, May 30, | | | | adversely impacted. The human side of crisis will |
| 2010). So far, nothing has worked, and perhaps | | | | undoubtedly require immediate, continuing, and genuine |
| irreversible damage is being done to precious wetlands, | | | | support. |
| beaches, and habitats for marine life, birds, animals, and | | | | BACK TO OUR EXAMPLE... |
| birds. What a mess! | | | | The BP incident appears to have been mishandled on |
| THE MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE | | | | so many levels that it will surely be a case study on |
| "Crisis Management" is a leadership specialty, and | | | | how crises should NOT be managed. BP has suffered |
| reputations and fortunes of individuals, governments, | | | | billions in stock losses, and probable financial liabilities. |
| and private companies can be severely, perhaps | | | | The damage to business and government reputations |
| irreparably, damaged if the event, public perception, and | | | | and trust is yet to be determined, although it is appears |
| restorative actions are mishandled. The classic | | | | major destruction has been done in this arena, as well |
| strategies for these types of events were largely | | | | as to the environment and economy. |
| ignored, or conspicuously fumbled. The President of BP | | | | With the high stakes implicit in major crises, managers |
| looked bad, as did the President of the United States. | | | | would be smart to consider the aforementioned points; |
| Ineptness appeared to rule the day and the | | | | update, review, and revise their Crisis Management |
| government, along with one of the largest energy | | | | Policies and Plans, and be prepared. You don't want to |
| corporations in the world, were unable to control, or | | | | be in the news for your mismanagement in a crisis. |