Top Ten Crisis Management Tips for Small Business

[Carbon Neutral Copy]

If you’ve seen the news recently, you’ll know that British Airways has been hitting the headlines for the chaos surrounding the opening of Heathrow terminal five and the ongoing problems with passenger baggage and cancelled flights.

But you don’t have to be a big national or international player with a multi-million pound turnover to make the news for all the wrong reasons.

Crises hit businesses both big and small. They can affect even the most reputable of companies and strike unannounced when you’re least expecting/prepared for them.

When a crisis hits, you need to be ready to manage the situation quickly and effectively. Below are my top ten tips for small businesses on what to do when the proverbial hits the fan…

Top tips for managing a crisis

1. Don’t bury your head in the sand – this may be your instinct when something goes wrong in your business but it is the worst thing you can do. Pretending the problem doesn’t exist will not make it go away. If anything, it will make things worse.

2. Clearly define what has gone wrong – don’t get caught up in blame games or debates about who or what caused the crisis. Spend your time establishing exactly what the crisis is, who it will affect and what you need to do to manage the situation.

3. Get your facts straight – it is important for the reputation and survival of your business that you can demonstrate you are in control of the situation when things go wrong. If you confused or unclear about the facts, it will be hard for people to have faith in your ability to get the crisis under control.

4. Be honest - honesty is your friend so don’t be tempted to lie, cover up or underplay the situation. If you do, you will almost certainly be found out. You also run the risk of generating more negative interest and publicity about the situation and your business.

5. Establish your position – it is very important that you are clear about what has gone wrong and what you are doing/will do to put things right. Write this down as a clear, concise statement and make sure you stick to it!

6. Identify a spokesperson ­– if you run a business single-handedly then this isn’t a decision you need to make because the job falls automatically to you! But for small businesses with staff, you need to identify a spokesperson to respond to media enquiries. The more senior the person, the better but make sure that person is fully briefed on the company’s position with regard to the crisis.

7. Communicate, communicate, communicate - the minute people (including the media) get wind of what’s happened, you’re likely to get a lot of interest with questions coming at you from every angle. Communicate clearly, communicate honestly and above all, communicate often. Don’t leave a vacuum for people to fill with speculation and rumour.

8. Take five ­– don’t rush into answering media enquiries if you don’t have all the facts to hand. You could do more damage than good by making comments on the fly. It is perfectly acceptable to ask journalists for their contact details and tell them you will get back to them as soon as possible (but you do need to act quickly!). You can also issue a holding statement while you gather together all the information you need. If you do this, make sure you issue it to everyone and stick to it! Don’t be bullied into releasing information before you have had a chance to establish the facts.

9. Remember all your stakeholders – when you’re being hounded by the press for statements, interviews and information updates, it’s easy to forget some of your other very important stakeholders. Don’t fall into this trap! Make sure you keep anyone with an interest in your business informed of what has happened and how you are managing the situation. This includes your staff, customers, suppliers and shareholders.

10. Consider using a professional – well I would say that, wouldn’t I? Well on this occasion, yes, I would. A business reputation is a fragile thing and what you have spent years building up can be shattered in a matter of minutes if a crisis is mismanaged or handled badly. With an expert on board to help you manage your reputation through the crisis, you will have more time to spend implementing your plan of action.

Crises happen. They come in different shapes and sizes and affect businesses large and small. They are challenging and stressful and can threaten the reputation of your business. But by following my top ten tips for managing a crisis, you should be able to make the best of a bad situation.

Vicky

[Indizine]

Maybe the Heathrow thing is all a publicity stunt! News travels faster than BA after all.

[Carbon Neutral Copy]

Maybe the Heathrow thing is all a publicity stunt! News travels faster than BA after all.

Faster maybe, but certainly not cheaper! BA share prices have dropped and analysts are estimating a £20m loss for British Airways over the opening days.

Ouch.

Vicky

[spacekadet]

I am printing these out and posting them on the wall!

[alocalseo]

Again another great piece from CNC... #4. Jumped out at me. We experienced a little crises earlier this week which required an honest approach. I concluded that the situation could have happened to anyone and it wasn't specific to the person involved. Which is a good thing since I was dealing with my business partner and life partner.

[Leaflet Distribution]

Excellent post. I'm also printing this out and sticking it in the office.

Thanks Vicky,

[Designs2Print]

I would totally aggree with that, Thanks for the refresher

If you’ve seen the news recently, you’ll know that British Airways has been hitting the headlines for the chaos surrounding the opening of Heathrow terminal five and the ongoing problems with passenger baggage and cancelled flights.

But you don’t have to be a big national or international player with a multi-million pound turnover to make the news for all the wrong reasons.

Crises hit businesses both big and small. They can affect even the most reputable of companies and strike unannounced when you’re least expecting/prepared for them.

When a crisis hits, you need to be ready to manage the situation quickly and effectively. Below are my top ten tips for small businesses on what to do when the proverbial hits the fan…

Top tips for managing a crisis

1. Don’t bury your head in the sand – this may be your instinct when something goes wrong in your business but it is the worst thing you can do. Pretending the problem doesn’t exist will not make it go away. If anything, it will make things worse.

2. Clearly define what has gone wrong – don’t get caught up in blame games or debates about who or what caused the crisis. Spend your time establishing exactly what the crisis is, who it will affect and what you need to do to manage the situation.

3. Get your facts straight – it is important for the reputation and survival of your business that you can demonstrate you are in control of the situation when things go wrong. If you confused or unclear about the facts, it will be hard for people to have faith in your ability to get the crisis under control.

4. Be honest - honesty is your friend so don’t be tempted to lie, cover up or underplay the situation. If you do, you will almost certainly be found out. You also run the risk of generating more negative interest and publicity about the situation and your business.

5. Establish your position – it is very important that you are clear about what has gone wrong and what you are doing/will do to put things right. Write this down as a clear, concise statement and make sure you stick to it!

6. Identify a spokesperson *– if you run a business single-handedly then this isn’t a decision you need to make because the job falls automatically to you! But for small businesses with staff, you need to identify a spokesperson to respond to media enquiries. The more senior the person, the better but make sure that person is fully briefed on the company’s position with regard to the crisis.

7. Communicate, communicate, communicate - the minute people (including the media) get wind of what’s happened, you’re likely to get a lot of interest with questions coming at you from every angle. Communicate clearly, communicate honestly and above all, communicate often. Don’t leave a vacuum for people to fill with speculation and rumour.

8. Take five *– don’t rush into answering media enquiries if you don’t have all the facts to hand. You could do more damage than good by making comments on the fly. It is perfectly acceptable to ask journalists for their contact details and tell them you will get back to them as soon as possible (but you do need to act quickly!). You can also issue a holding statement while you gather together all the information you need. If you do this, make sure you issue it to everyone and stick to it! Don’t be bullied into releasing information before you have had a chance to establish the facts.

9. Remember all your stakeholders – when you’re being hounded by the press for statements, interviews and information updates, it’s easy to forget some of your other very important stakeholders. Don’t fall into this trap! Make sure you keep anyone with an interest in your business informed of what has happened and how you are managing the situation. This includes your staff, customers, suppliers and shareholders.

10. Consider using a professional – well I would say that, wouldn’t I? Well on this occasion, yes, I would. A business reputation is a fragile thing and what you have spent years building up can be shattered in a matter of minutes if a crisis is mismanaged or handled badly. With an expert on board to help you manage your reputation through the crisis, you will have more time to spend implementing your plan of action.

Crises happen. They come in different shapes and sizes and affect businesses large and small. They are challenging and stressful and can threaten the reputation of your business. But by following my top ten tips for managing a crisis, you should be able to make the best of a bad situation.

Vicky

[missnomer]

8. Take five *– don’t rush into answering media enquiries if you don’t have all the facts to hand. You could do more damage than good by making comments on the fly. It is perfectly acceptable to ask journalists for their contact details and tell them you will get back to them as soon as possible (but you do need to act quickly!). You can also issue a holding statement while you gather together all the information you need. If you do this, make sure you issue it to everyone and stick to it! Don’t be bullied into releasing information before you have had a chance to establish the facts.

This can't be stressed enough! It's easy to be carried away when you're in the thick of the moment... so to be sure, just rest a bit and be objective!

[limeminds]

Great summary on managing a crisis, being honest and taking action are always the key when the proverbial hits the fan.

Everyone can forgive a mistake but no one wants to do business with people who deny all knowledge and don't rectify an issue.

[Peter W]

A couple of findings from "Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion" (Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini 2007) for when things go wrong:

30 - it is better to blame internal factors which you can control, than external factors which you cannot.

31 - it is better to blame failures on technology rather than staff.