Have you been vaccinated against the coronavirus? And what about your company?!

Avi Muskal

The world changed in March 2020. One virus has triggered waves of crisis in no less than 213 countries worldwide, causing the death of some 250 million people, hitting large corporates and leaving millions out of work. The question is, has the coronavirus also taken us out of the habit of burring our head in the sand?

The Coronavirus pandemic showed us no one is immune, no person or company, across the globe.

But we've also learned that one can and should be vaccinated, and I don't just mean the booster against the virus.

It is possible to get vaccinated, even against crisis.

A crisis is dynamic, and comprises elements of danger as well as of opportunity. This situation may harm the company or organization, its' reputation or its' shares. One can't prevent crisis; however, it is possible to prepare for it ahead of time, minimize damage and provide protection to the organization.

Those who overcome the false perception as if "this won't happen to us" will be able to save their company.

Pre-crisis preventive steps require effort and resources but they are nothing compared to the investment that is required to contain a crisis once it erupts.

The best way to prepare is mapping the soft spots, weaknesses and vulnerabilities of your organization, with the help of a crisis consultant. It is necessary to assess thing objectively. This takes the point of view of an external professional, who does not necessarily share the company's executive's perspective. The professional point of view of someone who has experienced many different crisis situations, enables to identify what requires fixing and can be fixed today, in order to prevent tomorrow's crisis.

The IDF runs wargames and simulations, in which ground forces, senior command and the political echelon all take part, and simulate various war scenarios - air, naval and on land. This absolutely applies also to other, public organizations and large companies. To paraphrase the Latin expression: "If you want business to be as usual, prepare for crisis".

What does "The Anti-Crisis Vaccine Program" I developed include?

• An analysis of the organizational soft points and which bear potential for crisis, and proposals how to fix them.

• Building possible crisis scenarios, and the desired responses for each.

• Articulation of messages that correspond with possible crisis situations, for you to convey in-house and for external communication.

• Building an internal crisis-management team, in the organization or company.

• Training the senior executive staff to deal with crisis situations.

• Assessment of the digital soft points that could compromise the organization's reputation.

The Anti-Crisis Vaccine Program

Ensures prevention of some future crises;

It shortens the time of response,

and improves the organizational functioning in the future crisis situations that will erupt and affect your organization and can minimize the potential damage.

According to a comprehensive international survey: company executives who prepared ahead of crisis have quadrupled their chances of overcoming it and emerging out having the upper hand.

Anti-Crisis Vaccine - Booster

It's a social media world, and ongoing monitoring of any potential crisis is essential. Crisis should be spotted when it is still small, and before it is developed into a headline on a newspaper front page or a leading story on T.V. news editions.

Therefore, also after the soft spot's assessment is held, and the issues are addressed, it is necessary to keep ongoing monitoring of the social media profiles and pages of the organization or company, in order to identify crisis buds at an early stage.

From time to time, it is worth revisiting and train the company's senior executives, and maintain their preparedness for crisis situations. Just as the IDF does not hold only a one-time exercise, large organizations and companies too, should keep fit and in good shape in crisis-management.

Early detection: when the crisis is still in the incubation stage.

The crisis situations vary greatly, in nature and intensity, even in their dynamics: Some of which erupt by surprise and speed from zero to a hundred in no time; they require our immediate intervention in the acute stage. Cyberattack or catastrophic malfunction in a company are examples for such crisis.

But in many other cases, the first stage of the crisis nests quietly for some time before its' eruption. For example, consumer protest against a company that raised prices may gain momentum. Or customer complaints received no response can reveal an ongoing failure in how the company treats complaints.

We can consider this stage to correspond with the medical incubation stage or the prodrome. And just like in the medical realm, early detection of crisis can be challenging because the signs and side effects are minor. However, treatment at this early stage can minimize the outbreak in the acute phase and even eliminate it.

It may be a serious malfunction that the company's employees did not report and could bear fatal consequences. It could also be a serious complaint of a customer that would provoke a wave of protest on social media and eventually make it to mainstream media.

When monitoring early signs, it is important to distinguish between ongoing single cases and a combination of cases that can pose a different kind of threat.

If we don't identify the crisis when they emerge, we will be able to tell we're in crisis when the acute stage erupts.

In the acute stage of the crisis, the goal is to minimize the possible damage to the company, work routines, people and property. This stage can require a very large number of urgent administrative and executive actions inhouse, vis-a-vis certain categories or areas in the company. At the same time, it is necessary to manage the external, public front, communicate with the company's customers, in the media and often, also vis-à-vis various regulators and other authorities.

Maintaining ongoing work and functioning of the organization or company are top priority and so is the effort to minimize any damage to its' reputation.

It is also necessary to inform the public about the crisis, share details and prepare it for possible ramifications. Here, too, plans that were put together in advance can make the difference: a senior team to managing the crisis, an action plan and messages briefs which are ready for D-day.

Getting out of a crisis: it's not over, until it's over!

The acute stage of the crisis can last several days or longer. Usually, it will be followed by a longer phase in which, for example, a legal campaign will be held, journalistic investigation stories or extensive magazine articles will be published.

This stage requires close support of crisis management communications consultants. This is in order to adhere to the plan and to ensure any new mistake at this stage does sends us back to the acute stage of the crisis.

Usually, the end of the crisis will involve a process of restoring or reputation, against the background of the crisis that the organization or company has gone through.