Don’t panic in times of crisis, ask for help and
LIFE IS full of its ups and downs, and running a farm business is no different. Of course, there are the sunny days of summer “when the hay is saved, and the cows are back in calf ” but then there are the times when a crisis strikes.
Farmers vary in their reaction to times of crisis, some come into their own and thrive on tackling the issues head-on, while others are fatalistic and cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. Crisis management is the process by which a farmer/farm business deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the business, its stakeholders, or the general public. In the corporate world the study of crisis management originated with the large-scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s.
Crisis Management Plans were put in place to better manage such events.
However, the nature of crises are that they are unexpected. I have helped manage/resolve many on-farm crises in my career as a consultant and I have listed four steps to take in the event of a crisis. The purpose of this exercise is to encourage farmers to think about what they might do if one of these events arrives at their doorstep.
So when a crisis strikes, what should a farmer do?
There are four steps in a crisis management plan:
Step 1: Don’t Panic
The first advice is not to panic. Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem, If, says “if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” is a good point from where to start. Running around like a headless chicken certainly does not help matters in times of crisis. It is vitally important to take a breath and not panic. family and trusted professionals come into play.
The hardest part for many farmers is to pick up the phone and ask for help. Friends, family and, in particular, trusted professionals have experience of dealing with such situations which can be invaluable in getting an early grip on a crisis and avoid some unnecessary worry and anxiety.
There is comfort in the fact that you are not the only person in the world who has encountered that particular life-changing event and more importantly what lessons can be learned to best cope with your own personal crisis.
Step 3: Make a plan
The third step is to make a plan to resolve the crisis and