Learning How to Handle a Crisis

One of the most important things to learn about crisis management is how to recognize a crisis, something the gradually unfolding nature of Temin’s Crisis Games helps participants and attendees develop.

“The trick is of course to determine when it’s a crisis and when it’s just a little blip that’s going to be self-correcting,” she said. “The hardest thing that I find in working with clients is when they cut and say this is a crisis, because otherwise it’s business as usual and they don’t start to put in solutions. It’s human nature, but it is especially corporate nature to go into denial mode. In these Crisis Games, one of the very important points is to say ‘OK, is this a crisis yet? Are you worried now? Are you not worried? Is this just business as usual?’”

Haynes said companies should realize that the missteps that lead to a crisis are often just a natural part of doing business. “Every company makes errors,” he said. “Errors become mistakes when they are not corrected. Admit real problems, implement an authentic solution and communicate the action taken.”

Daniel Margolis is managing editor at Chief Learning Officer magazine. He can be reached at dmargolis@CLOmedia.com.