By Virginia Mburu
Crisis, crises, disaster, catastrophe,
emergency, calamity, predicament, crunch....
They happen to everyone, anyone, any
organization, business, nation etc. resulting in major changes in lives
and lifestyles. All the more reason why how we handle a crisis matters!
But again, how do we react when faced with a
crisis?
Mwakazi, the passionate owner of Makao
Interior Designers realized that at times our instincts lead us to reacting
in ways that make the situation worse.
The other day, there happened to be a fire drill
in a building he had visited and he noticed that some people were more
interested in saving their possessions than their lives! Imagine someone trying
to go down the stairs carrying the merchandise they sell!
It is more disastrous if this behavior is
exhibited by you the Passionate Entrepreneur or the CEO of the organization. In
crisis, your employees look up to you for the next course of action and any
wrong move will affect their personal and organization’s fate.
Mwakazi decided to seek guidance on how to
respond to a crisis situation. During one of his usual meditations, he came
across a crisis Jesus faced in Mark8: 1-10 and picked the following lessons;
Lesson 1.....Assess the
crisis and minimize damage
Mark 8: 1-3 “During those days another large
crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to
him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with
me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will
collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
Take a hold of your emotions and accurately
assess the situation. What is happening? What is at stake? Is it
damage to life, property or both? What is the extent of the danger?
This is when you need to master all your
energies to remain calm and grounded so that you can gather all relevant
information you need at this stage. You will make critical decisions
prioritizing those that relate to saving human life such as first aid,
hospitalization, evacuation, put our any fires etc.
In this case study, the food supply had run out
in the middle of nowhere! And the people were likely to collapse should this
situation continue!
Lesson 2.... Quickly identify and engage
relevant stakeholders
We see Jesus addressing his disciples in verse 1
and the crowd in verse 6. Your key stakeholders could be your employees,
shareholders, customers and other individuals or entities who have relevant
knowledge in data gathering, analysis, planning, executing, communicating the
plans etc.
They could be those who will significantly be affected
by the crisis or resultant actions. In case there was real fire in
the building Mwakazi visited, emergency response teams such as the
police, fire brigades, Red Cross, ambulance owners, hospitals,
neighboring business owners etc. would be immediately engaged.
Lesson 3.....Employees
reaction and resistance may present roadblocks
Verse 4- “His disciples answered,
“But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
Given the panic, fear and anxiety that manifests
during a crisis, do not be surprised should you face some level of
resistance.
Show leadership by enacting the behaviours you
are expecting of them- caring, calm, confident, collaborative, flexible, quickly
reading the “new reality” and getting into problem solving mode.
Lesson 4.....Work out an action Plan
Verse 5-“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus
asked. “Seven,” they replied.”
Immediately engage the available stakeholders to
developing a plan of action based on best, usual and worst case scenarios given
certain key variables and assumptions.
Which stakeholder leverage points can you work
with given the crises? The disciples had seven loaves that Jesus could work
with. While developing the plan, remember to take your core values into
consideration so that short term gains do not turn into long term regrets.
Lesson 5...... Set up a crisis Team
Jesus and the disciples-This is the central team
that will handle the various aspects of the crisis management. You need a team
leader and professionals in communication, emergencies, finance, Human
Resource, marketing, production, operations etc.
The rest of the employees will be taking
directions from this team as they continue with their “near normal” functions.
This follows that you should have an agreed assembly point as well
a clear contact and communication structure (which may involve next of kin
contacts as well) in place for quick transmission of information.
Lesson 6.....Execute your plan
6 He told the crowd to sit
down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he
broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they
did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave
thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.
Difficult? –Right! All the same, you now
have to execute your plan. Keep your cool and be ready to change as new
circumstances may arise necessitating a change of strategy. While speed is of
utmost importance, avoid acting in haste so that you do not compromise the
effectiveness of the expected result.
Organise your teams to work for reasonable
durations so that they do not suffer fatigue and lose effectiveness thus
aggravate an already bad situation.
Lesson 7.... Communicate effectively
See to it that employees, customers, suppliers
and every vested interest group receive transparent, honest and relevant
information early and as often as possible. Open and transparent
communication may help deter rumors and defuse potential media frenzy.
Be transparent in all media internally (memos,
emails, meetings etc.), online (website, social media) and offline (emails, SMS
texts, calls, meetings, press releases, interviews). Admit mistakes, apologise
and do what you can to correct the anomaly.
Have a central contact person or group who
dispatches the information to the relevant interest groups to avoid conflicting
communication.
Lesson 8.....Recognize, celebrate
breakthroughs
8 The people ate and were
satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces
that were left over. 9 About four thousand were
present.....
Expected result-Four thousand men ate and were
satisfied but there could have been equal numbers of women and children which
means about 12,000 people fed that day!
Unexpected outcome-seven basketfuls left over in
comparison to the seven pieces the disciples had before the miraculous multiplication!
Is it possible to have a positive outcome your employees or stakeholders can
celebrate once the crisis is over?
Lesson 9.....Close the crisis and go back
to normal activities.
“.......After he had sent them away, 10 he
got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
Jesus ensured that the crowd was fully fed and
on their way back home. And then he was back to business as usual. As
much as possible, sort out all pertinent issues and tie any lose ends so that
you do not precipitate another crisis.
Take the shortest time possible to normalize
your activities. You may need to have debriefing sessions for all the affected
parties so that you quickly adapt to the necessary changes.
Lesson 10.... Be better prepared for the
next crisis
After taking in the lessons above, Mwakazi
decided to;
a. Have a crisis management plan.
He would have brainstorming sessions and list
all possible happenings could significantly affect his business (fire, acts of
God (floods, storms) product malfunction leading to accidents, theft, attacks,
labour issues etc.).
What would be the impact? How could he prevent
the same from happening? If not, could he visualize how would he respond or
better still adapt the nine lessons above?
How often was he to review the plan as
circumstances change and thus a periodic review of the plan is important to
keep it up-to-date?
b. Improve his crisis response ability
To personally acquire and assist employees
acquire crisis coping skills. He would also take them through situations (fire
drills, first aid) that enhance their ability to assist one another stay calm,
collaborative, confident, flexible, quickly adapt to change, solve problems all
within a crisis.
He also needed to set a solid core value system
which will guide how the employees react to the crises e.g. high attachment to
material things vs human life.
He also noted that we learn how to respond to
crisis at family level. He was to encourage the employees to teach and
apply the crisis coping skills at home so that the others can learn
from them. Actually, he would encourage them to have a Family Disaster
Management Plan-how to react, where to assemble, identify who to call,
emergency phone numbers etc.
Another factor that influences coping ability is
how we have handled other crisis as nothing prepares one for a crisis like a
crisis. It matters not that the two events are significantly different!
Does this mean that he should look forward to a
crisis? Maybe not, but a crisis is bound to occur and it will define what
type of person he is and what people will remember most about him!
Over to you Passionate
Entrepreneur;
- How do you cope with crisis situations?
- What do people remember you for after a crisis?
Share your experiences, suggestions or questions
in the comments section below. Who knows- You could probably be the one to
benefit from the expected result or the “seven basket fulls" of unexpected outcome after the crisis is over!
Whatever you do, make sure it results in
less work, more money and positive impact.
Update
Virginia Mburu
Passionate Entrepreneurs Coach
Virginia empowers and motivates Passionate
Entrepreneurs to realize their purpose and pursue it. She then assists the
entrepreneurs to clarify, prioritise and focus on management and marketing
strategies and action plans that will get them to work less, make more money
and positively impact within one year. Download some of her gifts- absolutely free lessons on www.biasharacoach.blogspot.co.ke
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