Crisis management is designed to protect an organization and its stakeholders from threats and/or reduce the impact of the threats.
This guide is made for teams whose businesses are under threat in today’s health crisis. This blueprint will support transforming the way teams work together in these changing times — with best practices for businesses to effectively respond during a crisis.
Undertaking organizational change helps businesses continually improve, sustain a positive brand, and stay competitive.
Here at MyOutDesk, we use a comprehensive approach so that our core values become rooted in the organization and the people that it impacts.
Drawing inspiration from our popular Organizational Change Framework, this Blueprint for Crisis Management is a current take on helping teams work together on creating REAL, impactful work and growth.
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6-Point Blueprint for Crisis Management
The Blueprint for Crisis Management allows entrepreneurs and business professionals to implement change under external threats and to breathe life into any idea, any concept, any organizational culture change, and any procedural change.
Here is the framework we use at MyOutDesk:
Let’s address threats and concerns with an actionable response plan. Pass them through this 6-Point Crisis Management Blueprint:
- Identify
- Inquire
- Acquire & Contain
- Protect
- Recover
- Learn & Adapt
The Blueprint for Crisis Management is a helpful guide especially for businesses looking to thrive and scale at any stage of the 7-Figure Business Roadmap.
We’ll guide you through each stage and give our own examples of how we brought our philosophy of adding value and being of service into existence.
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The Blueprint
1. Identify
In this first step, you will need to identify the tangible risks and threats affecting your organization. Be specific with what you are articulating. These are internal factors within your business.
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Example:
- Loss of revenue streams
- Costs currently greater than profits
- Dip in productivity, decrease in personnel, decrease in output
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2. Inquire
After you identified these risks. Understand that you CAN overcome these threats. You must double-down and seek knowledge — which brings us to this step, Inquire.
Understand that you don’t have to do this alone. There are plenty of resources today that want to help your business thrive, from governmental relief to strategic partners.
In this phase, seek knowledge from trusted partners and resources that could help you tackle these challenges.
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Strategic Partners:
You are not in this alone. These are your partners in today’s changing times.
Consult your strategic partners in this order, and make an informed decision after you’ve inquired with all of your trusted sources.
- Business Solutions, Professional Network, Strategy Consultant, Virtual Staffing – (We have them all through MyOutDesk!)
- Tax Advisor
- Financial Advisor
- Legal Advisor
- Lenders
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3. Acquire & Contain
By now, you’ve made an informed decision and plan to move forward. This important step helps you maintain your positive brand and reestablish stability for your business.
Acquire the help you need:
- Apply for cash relief. Prioritize on free monies before you borrow (government grants and loans).
- Strategize on lower labor costs & higher productivity. Double-down on productivity with skilled professionals who have remote work experience & decrease your overhead costs. Get the staff you need.
Contain: Ease concerns and anxiety by providing leadership communication:
- provide accurate, timely information to all targeted internal and external audiences
- demonstrate concern for the safety of lives
- safeguard organizational facilities and assets
- maintain a positive image of the organization as a good corporate or community citizen
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4. Protect
Protect your workers and your company assets. You know that your new plan is well thought out, but how do you get your employees to quickly enact this change and thus protect profits?
As you ramp up productivity with a refreshed business plan, you must demonstrate unwavering support to your employees. Explain to your employees every step that you are taking and how these new changes will support their livelihoods.
Discussion points for staff:
- Employees: Daily updates regarding steps you’re taking to promote safety, remote work culture, positive reinforcement to new plan outlines.
- Virtual Assistants: Communicate with them exactly as you treat your employees. MyOutDesk Virtual Assistants work for you full-time at 60% less cost than a traditional employee.
- Applied for grants and loans? Discuss financial stipulations and if they may affect the roles of employees.
- Sales & Marketing: Daily huddles to discuss new scripts and campaign strategies.
Communicating with stakeholders:
Protect your brand and product value by having regular conversations and rearticulating why your business is necessary at this time. According to Dr. Timothy Coombs, an expert in crisis management communications, you should:
- have proper internal communication in preparing for a crisis moment of media frenzy.
- maintain dialogs with different stakeholders in the middle of a crisis.
- explain clearly and accurately the extent of damage and crisis management steps to stakeholders to assure that they comprehend the situation without misunderstanding or confusion.
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5. Recover
At this stage, a new plan that effectively addresses the crisis is incorporated into the rhythm of the organization. Like a regular heartbeat, the plan is integrated into the daily business as an organizational habit.
Track and measure your outcomes to ensure that the team is working towards the anticipated outcomes. It is also important to constantly repeat key messages as the leader, so everyone understands what is expected to be completed in all processes and is fully equipped to carry the tasks out.
To effectively recover, always revisit all stages of this blueprint to ensure your plan is appropriately responding to any new threats when new situations arise from the crisis.
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6. Learn & Adapt
If the first five steps have been thoroughly applied, your company will have business maintained as usual, with new revenues and value propositions.
You will find that you have these completed:
- Company reputation is improved by effective crisis management.
- Incidents are contained, and appropriate responses are enacted.
- Policies and procedures are changed, and lessons of the crisis are applied to future incidents.
- Resources are produced by the company and available to employees and stakeholders.
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When you apply the Crisis Management Blueprint, you are able to revisit any stage of the process and make adjustments as you adapt to a more perfect solution. When applied alongside the Entrepreneur’s Thrive Guide & 7-Figure Business Roadmap, business leaders can learn to effectively scale, increase profits, and lead a talented workforce.
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