When a crisis strikes, planning and preparation have always been of paramount importance in mitigating damage. Traditionally, a heavy, printed crisis manual will be taken out of the cupboard and dusted down, and established protocols defining roles and responsibilities of the crisis management team will be rolled out. Some manuals will contain forensic detail, carefully mapped stakeholders and a library of pre-drafted collateral tailored to every conceivable crisis scenario. Others are found on selected desktops in various states of repair. Whatever the format or state of these manuals, until now they offered peace of mind and a sense of defensive readiness. That legacy comfort may now be misplaced as the vast majority were written prior to 2020 and the impact of Covid-19 on all of our lives.
No longer is it straightforward to hastily assemble the crisis team in a designated ‘war room’ at a moment’s notice. Fast, informed and accurate decision-making requires immediate input from the crisis team and, ideally, a process that is well known and understood by all participants through regular rehearsal. Virtual work has permanently affected how companies operate and how teams communicate, and clearly now the logistical principles on which your crisis management protocols were founded may no longer be fit for purpose.
Furthermore, some threats have been amplified since the beginning of 2020. For example, the uptick in cyber-attacks, triggered by the sudden shift to remote working. According to Mohamed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, head of cyber security for the UAE Government, who was quoted recently in a CNBC article, the UAE has seen “at least a 250 per cent increase in cyberattacks [in 2020] as the pandemic forced organisations around the world to reconsider how and where they work, and hackers and malicious actors took advantage of increased digital adoption”. Such an increase calls for a review in how companies prepare for cyberattacks and the accompanying risk to their reputation.
At Kekst CNC, we understood the challenges many firms faced in managing a crisis well before the pandemic. Several years ago, we introduced an online platform called the Situation Room, which provides immersive, real-time and bespoke crisis training that stress-tests plans and teams. In a digital world, containing a crisis within a market is impossible and the structure of many companies requires crisis management execution from several locations. We know companies now need to be even more flexible and have adapted our Situation Room accordingly. Now, we can offer training entirely remotely or as a hybrid that fully reflects the current pandemic circumstance (and a likely post-Covid norm) where some people are on-site and others are in multiple remote locations.
Remote working brings with it an increased organisational vulnerability, given the dispersed network of employees, and therefore the challenges that presents for swift, efficient employee communication. An effective crisis communication strategy is only as good as its team members. It is built on a foundation of trust and synchronicity that could be handled more easily in person but needs to work just as smoothly remotely. Whilst we are all now very used to video calls, they have their limitations, especially in a crisis. This has forced teams to reframe how they communicate and behave behind a screen.
The world has changed and, unless crisis management keeps pace, the heavy investment already made (in many cases) in crisis management protocols may be rendered useless. By the same token, a sober acceptance of this fact now will allow companies to make the necessary changes, hopefully well ahead of a crisis emerging.
Revisit your risk audit to identify new threats. Update your crisis manual for a hybrid world and ensure it is digitally available. Familiarise crisis management teams with it and undertake simulation exercises to stress test both the process and how your teams apply it in practice.
Preparing now will put organisations around a rapidly evolving world in good stead for handling future crises and emerging from them strongly.
