Planning for a crisis is key to survival

What is the worst disaster you can imagine for your business?

Do you know what you will say and do if that crisis ever comes?

Very few companies have a crisis plan. When a disaster hits them they seem helpless, transfixed in the harsh glare of publicity like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Yet many crises are predictable.

You may not know when they are going to happen, but they have a certain inevitability.

If you run an airline, for example, sooner or later one of your aircraft is going to crash.

If the company flies enough aircraft for long enough the laws of probability say there is going to be an accident at some time.

Whatever business you are in, the risk you least want to think about is going to hit you sooner or later.

Amazingly, few companies know how they will communicate in the face of disaster.

What, how and when will they tell customers, shareholders, regulators or the media?

If you are unfortunate enough to suffer a disaster, the damage can extend well beyond the actual incident itself.

Customers can withdraw orders, suppliers can stop delivering and your share price (if you have one) can go into freefall faster than a crashing airliner.

Much of this damage occurs in the first few hours after a disaster as people make decisions based on information available at the time.

If you are not providing them with credible information they will base their decisions on misinformation being provided by others.

Often those ‘others’ are the media.

In the absence of facts, journalists will speculate.

The speculation is rarely helpful to the company concerned.

But at least journalists work to a code of practice.

Commentators on social media have no such constraints.

The wildest theories spring up and spread like wildfire.

It is not possible to plan for every eventuality.

It is, however, worth investing a few hours (with appropriate external assistance if you need it) to play some ‘what happens if ’ games with your senior team.

Consider communications as a core part of those plans.

What you say in the first few hours after disaster strikes – and, importantly, how you say it – can determine whether or not your business survives.