The need for a solid crisis management plan in today’s business environment isn’t in much dispute. Companies that are unprepared for the unexpected can suffer serious consequences if a disaster does occur. Yet, almost a third of businesses have no crisis management plan whatsoever.

The other two-thirds of companies may be smart enough to have plans in place, but some are not so diligent in maintaining and updating those plans. Another study discovered that only 29 percent of crisis plans are updated at least once a year. If a situation does occur and your crisis instructions tell you to send a fax, you may have a bit of a problem …

Crisis strategies are no good unless they are operational, ready when you need them, and reflect the requirements of the present. Plans assembled into a binder and thrown into the bottom of a desk drawer to be forgotten can actually exacerbate an emergency—particularly if the instructions weren’t well designed in the first place. Here are five must-haves that an operational crisis management plan should include:

1. Clear objectives

Though this first step seems obvious, many crisis programs are vague in how they want to solve whatever catastrophes occur. Is the primary objective getting your employees to safety? What will the employees do once they are safe? What happens once the immediate crisis has passed? Are you going to need extra staff support just to get operations up and running in the immediate aftermath of the crisis? Effective crisis management cannot leave questions dangling. Define your objectives, and map out a plan to reach those objectives.

2. A stakeholder in each department

Operational crisis management can’t be the sole task of one person. Though a single individual could be in charge of the overall plan, it still requires input from other departments, which will need to get their people to safety, shut down and power up systems, and quickly restore order after the crisis passes. Enlist at least one volunteer from each department to assist in creating, improving, and/or maintaining your crisis program. Through the unique perspectives and needs of the various stakeholders, your plan will cover every base and, most importantly, help ensure that no employee is left behind if a serious event does occur.

3. Communication channels

We joked about the fax machine before, but you might be surprised to find that some “current” crisis plans don’t account for the emergence of smartphones, tablets, file sharing, and Wi-Fi. In a crisis, constant communication will be crucial—and difficult if you can’t instantly access coworkers’ phone numbers or the digital versions of your plan. Emerging from your office yelling, “Get out of the building!” is not a preferred method of crisis communication. Define how employees will be informed of what to do in case of emergency, and periodically test those methods so no one is caught off guard when a plan must initiated.

4. A plan for the aftermath

Think back to the fire drills you experienced in grade school. Love them or hate them, they were an interruption to your day. Likely, you returned to class and your teacher had to figure out where you left off. The rest of the period might have flowed as well, not only from the disruption and the jaunt out of the school, but also from the adrenaline from the fire drill—refocusing probably took a little while. When a real crisis occurs in the workplace, the same factors are at play, except you lose real dollars in the aftermath rather than just a few minutes of class time. A crisis management plan should account for employee safety first, of course, but then must get your operations up and running as soon as possible. Business continuity and IT recovery teams are likely involved at some point as well.

5. Long-term strategy

Too often, companies put great effort into their crisis management plans, perhaps even hiring outside consultants to help, but then complete the process and do nothing else. Don’t be one of those businesses mentioned in the statistic at the beginning of this post that never updates its crisis plans. Incorporate improvements, upgrades, updates, testing, discussions with stakeholders, and innovation into your long-term crisis strategy. Training should also be integral to your program so that employees are confident—and not panicking—when the unexpected is suddenly occurring. The last thing you want to discover is that your plan is inadequate during a crisis in progress.


What requirement do you think is most important to an operational crisis management plan?