Leadership During a Crisis Situation: Corporate Response Impacts Recovery

Every organization in the world, regardless of its size or industry, is at risk for a crisis. Crises can develop from the loss of key employees, from the loss of key customers, from organizational changes, from professional improprieties and from economic factors that the organization has no control over. (Shetcliffe, 2007). Organizational crises can even develop from accidents and mistakes made by one or more company employees, or by problems found within the company's oversight system. (Fink, 2002, pg. 15-16). The point is, that crises are simply a part of doing business, and sooner or later nearly every organization will need to deal with one, and when they do, they will need strong and effective leadership to get out alive.

Crisis Management and the Crisis Mitigation and Planning

The first place where effective leadership can help reduce the long term effects of crises is during the mitigation and planning phase. Unfortunately, many organizations do not invest in crisis planning because they either feel it is a waste of money, or they simply don't understand how beneficial it can be. (Nolan, 2007). However, as the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this is definitely the case when it comes to crisis management.

During the mitigation and planning phase of crisis management leaders need to first establish a crisis management team. (Shetcliffe, 2007). This team will be responsible for developing communication systems, plans of action and chains of command that will be used before, during and after a crisis is identified. Special crisis task forces should also be developed during this phase of the process. For example, a crisis identification team could be developed to identify crises as they develop. (Nolan, 2007). This task force could be charged with monitoring the company for signs of developing crises. Once identified, this team should be relieved from their normal job responsibilities so that they can focus on containing the developing crisis and reversing it before it becomes a full blown crisis.