Does Your Business Have a Crisis Management Plan?

In many ways, our world is safer now than it has ever been. However, there are still some very real dangers that could threaten the safety of individuals, families, and all types of business entities. For example, despite all of our advanced forecasting tools, serious weather events can cause death and devastation. Similarly, the violent and unpredictable actions of a single person could lead to immeasurable tragedy—such as in the example of an active shooter situation.

If you are in a position of leadership at any size business, you have a responsibility to your colleagues, employees, and customers to create a plan for preventing and managing possible crisis events. 

Covering All of Your Bases

The first step in creating a crisis management plan is to choose the people who will be responsible for taking action during a crisis. Then, your crisis management team can start to the threats that your business could potentially encounter. As the team puts together this list, it is important to include things such as natural disasters, weather events, viral social media, technology failures, financial crises, and cyberattacks.

Once the types of threats have been identified and listed, your team can work together to assess the risks involved with each type of potential crisis. The team should also analyze the likelihood of the threats becoming a reality so that you can plan your response protocols appropriately.

The next step is to plan the response for each identified threat. This means deciding who is responsible for doing what during the crisis. For example, if you run a software company that is hit with a massive cyberattack, your plan should designate a person who is responsible for securing your internal networks, a person who is responsible for notifying your customers and the media, and a person who is responsible for assessing the damage.

Activation and Emergency Contacts

A key element of each of your response plans is the activation protocol. A proper activation protocol should describe exactly what event or events will trigger the rest of the response plan. It is also extremely important for the response plans to include up-to-date lists of emergency contacts. In the event of a crisis, there should be no question about who to call or how to reach them. It should all be decided well in advance when your crisis management team is thinking clearly and logically.

How We Can Help

The importance of having a crisis management plan cannot be overstated, and our team of qualified business lawyers can help you develop a plan that is designed to meet your unique needs.

As you prepare your crisis management plans and your response protocols, it is a good idea to work closely with a qualified business attorney. It is also important for that attorney to have a solid understanding of your company’s inner workings. Your lawyer will be able to help you identify not only the types of crises for which you should be prepared but also liabilities that you might have overlooked that could increase the possible exposure for your business. Depending on the situation, your attorney could also play an active role in your crisis management and response plans as a communicator and link to the public at large.

For more information about developing a crisis management plan for your business, contact a Naperville business attorney at The Gierach Law Firm. Call 630-756-1160 for a confidential consultation.

Sources:

Smartsheet

Asana