{"id":9203,"date":"2014-09-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=9203"},"modified":"2020-03-30T18:59:59","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T22:59:59","slug":"crisis-disaster-strikes-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/crisis-disaster-strikes-business","title":{"rendered":"How to deal when disaster strikes your business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sudden business crises&nbsp;are inevitable. However, dropping your iPhone or running out of M&amp;Ms when you are working late do not count.<\/p>\n<p>Audits, employee issues, accusations of crimes, cash flow problems, and technology fails are just a few of the potential \u201cpanic buttons\u201d we all encounter at some point.<\/p>\n<p>Howard Bragman of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reputation.com\/\">Reputation.com<\/a> emphasizes that the best time to embark on a reputation management or PR campaign is before you have a crisis or controversy. \u201cCleaning-up after a problem is always easier if you have a solid reputation as a business,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Staying calm in crisis and developing a plan for dealing with it are the keys to surviving and emerging stronger. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrew_graham\">Andrew Graham<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.agencyclear.com\/\">Agency Clear<\/a> believes that \u201ccrisis management is a perpetual mindset. A company shouldn\u2019t slide into crisis mode and go crazy developing new messaging.\u2019 Becoming prepared for bad things to happen should always be going on behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smart companies take the time to develop crisis plans in the normal course of the work year. Coming up with a process will enable you to work with your team to calmly think through \u201cWhat if?\u201d scenarios and develop action plans and accountabilities.<\/p>\n<p>When crisis does strike, in addition to remaining calm and focused, you should:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Build a trusted, expert, and rational team to help you problem-solve. Reach out to your \u201cinner circle\u201d (your personal and professional network, or LinkedIn) to find others who have faced similar situations.<\/li>\n<li>Consider engaging a PR firm with experience in crisis management. Have that person or company on-hand before you need it. The best time to find that resource is during the good times. Think of it as the EpiPen for a business bee sting.<\/li>\n<li>Appoint&nbsp;one or two mature&nbsp;points of contact for dealing with the media in times of crisis. Make sure those&nbsp;people are&nbsp;well-trained and are&nbsp;working from a prepared (and legally-approved) statement. \u201cAvoid being defensive about whatever bad thing happened (or is perceived to have happened),\u201d says Bragman. \u201cMake sure your PR people are working closely with your legal advisors \u2013 in collaboration, not at cross-purposes.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Tell the truth. Trying to \u201cspin\u201d or whitewash a bad situation can only make it worse. As we all learned from&nbsp;the NFL video debacle, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and Watergate, cover-ups&nbsp;and denial can sometimes make things worse \u2014 and damage credibility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In a small or growing business, owners need to ensure that a crisis does not bring critical operations to a grinding halt. Leaders also have a responsibility for keeping their teams calm, addressing any rumors directly and honestly, and keeping distractions to a minimum.<\/p>\n<p>As we all know, digital media can compound a crisis. Bad news travels faster and farther \u2013 through posts, tweets, and blogs. Like a wildfire, rumors and buzz spread rapidly, before a business can react.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zimstrat\">Robert Zimmerman<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zimmermancommunications.com\/\">Zimmerman Strategic Communications<\/a> says, \u201cEven many members of the media go for the sizzle, report on speculation, and not thoroughly research facts, in order to be the first one who breaks the news.\u201d Zimmerman also refers to something he calls \u201cthe vulture effect.\u201d Once bad news breaks, \u201cpeople who perceived a company has wronged or slighted them in the past will swoop in from nowhere to provide their stories or take on the business.\u201d Again, having a central point of contact in dealing with the media, avoiding defensiveness, and focusing on the facts will mitigate the \u201cbad buzz.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the drama has blown-over (as it always does), review your Google profile and make sure that you are consistently communicating good news. Over time, anything unpleasant that has cropped-up online will be overshadowed by positive mentions.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A crisis can actually be a learning experience. \u201cIn times of crisis, people really learn who their friends are,\u201d says Zimmerman. Businesses also grow from their mistakes and can take preventative measures to ensure that the same problem doesn\u2019t resurface, tightening internal controls. Like survivors of a battle, a crisis management team will often band together with a greater sense of pride and accomplishment for overcoming a bad storm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sudden business crises&nbsp;are inevitable. However, dropping your iPhone or running out of M&amp;Ms when you are working late do not count. Audits, employee issues, accusations of crimes, cash flow problems, and technology fails are just a few of the potential \u201cpanic buttons\u201d we all encounter at some point. Howard Bragman of Reputation.com emphasizes that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1054,"featured_media":9205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to deal when disaster strikes your business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When crisis does strike, in addition to remaining calm and focused, you should do the following.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/crisis-disaster-strikes-business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to deal when disaster strikes your business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When crisis does strike, in addition to remaining calm and focused, you should do the following.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/crisis-disaster-strikes-business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-24T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-30T22:59:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nc4liq1f501qfirfao1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy A. 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