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Note: The following is an excerpt taken from my new book, Crisis Ready–Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, which is available for purchase on Amazon.
The importance of solid and practical crisis management governance model
A crisis management governance model dictates who within an organization makes up the crisis management team. This is the team responsible for the organization’s crisis management and response. Governance models define everything from the structure, roles, and responsibilities of a crisis management team, straight through to the internal escalation processes.
There are three critical attributes of a strong crisis management governance structure that I want you to keep in mind moving forward. These three attributes are:
1- Alignment with the governance structure of your organization
It is important for your crisis management governance to be a natural and fluent fit for the organization. I have seen consultants try to use fancy terms when helping an organization develop its governance model. For example, some folks throw around terms like “Crisis Leadership Team,” “Crisis Action Team,” “Regional Crisis Management Team,” or “Global Crisis Management Team.” On top of this, they tend to use acronyms throughout the plan, which just makes it all that much more confusing! No one wants to have to figure out who the RCMT is, and how to contact them, as a crisis is unfolding.
Taking this approach, in my experience, is neither practical nor ideal. In fact, the last thing you want to be doing in a crisis is using terminology that isn’t natural to the organization, and that people may not understand or may be confused by in the heat of the moment.
Instead, your crisis management governance should reflect the organizational structure with which all employees and team members are already familiar. This applies to everything from the decision-making and approval processes, to the language you choose to use.
2- Ensure each stakeholder group has a representative at the table
When assessing the scope and impact of an incident on your organization, you want to ensure that each stakeholder group, along with every potential business impact, has a place at the table to be considered and assessed. The way to ensure this is to have a well-rounded crisis management team.
For example, one of the most common and frequent frustrations I hear from HR departments is that employee communication is often an afterthought in times of issue or crisis management. Yet, employees are one of your key stakeholder groups and poor communication with them throughout the management of a crisis is detrimental to your crisis management success. The best way to avoid making this dire (yet common) mistake is to ensure your employees are represented; have HR be a part of the organization’s crisis management team and you will be good to go.
3- Responsible vs. Accountable
These are two important distinctions. Everybody within your crisis management team will have specific roles and actions they will be responsible for implementing or overseeing. However, only a select few will actually be accountable for the organization’s overall crisis management. This accountability falls on the shoulders of your leadership team. They are the decision-makers, and ultimately bear the weight of the organization’s crisis management. Accountability can be delegated to one person, such as your CEO, or a collective few members of the c-suite. The answer depends on the current structure of your organization.
For example, take the case of Wells Fargo [discussed briefly in chapter three]. No matter what the bank did to try to manage their crisis, nothing worked until the CEO was truly held accountable and lost his job. As another example, in 2017, over a year after the Volkswagen scandal was discovered, six of the car manufacturer’s executives were criminally charged for their role in the crimes committed during the emission scandal. These six executives were held accountable for their part in committing these crimes.
Identifying and understanding who is accountable versus who is merely responsible for the organization’s crisis management will help guide the right actions in the heat of the moment. By the way, had the CEO of Wells Fargo known that he was going to lose his position and his reputation, and had the six Volkswagen executives known they were going to face criminal charges, maybe both organizations would have been smarter in preventing and managing their respective crises. A thought worth considering, if you ask me.
Interested in learning more?
If you’d like to learn more about developing a solid and scalable crisis management governance model, as well as how to implement a crisis ready culture that will enable you to build an INVINCIBLE brand, order your copy of Crisis Ready–Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, on Amazon, or contact info@mascotbooks.com to inquire about bulk pricing for your entire team.
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Thank you for an excellent article. I fully agree.
At the company I spent my last 25 working years at, our crises management team consisted of the structure you are advocating.
We understood that, depending on the type of crises, different role players would play a more commanding role and the others a more secondary one. Our on-site teams were multi-disciplinary with experts from each discipline being represented. Dependent on the crises Security; HR; Emergency Management would play a greater role than the others if it were in their field of expertise. It worked well and the CEO, or his representative/s had accountability while the rest of the team had responsibilities.
Greater representation and input in communicating crises would have been appreciated as it proved regularly that this was our Achilles heel during crises. Suggestions were not really welcomed and our communications fundi’s preferred to proceed to with their understanding of crises communication and protecting the company brand.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss and share thoughts.
Willie Nel
Hi Willie,
Thanks to you for sharing. Throughout my years as an advisor, I’ve noticed that some departments consistently have an interesting dynamic on the team. Sometimes this is the Legal or Compliance departments, other times it is the Communications department. Often, exercises such as simulations can help bring these teams together, on the same page, and with a better understanding and appreciation for each other’s roles and responsibilities – and how to effectively collaborate in a way that benefits the brand. Once established, these can become great relationships – though there is a necessity for these relationships to be establish prior to experiencing a crisis or viral issue.
How did the team overcome this internal challenge-or did they?
Melissa
This is wonderful information and adds arrows to our quiver in the never-ending battle to get senior leadership on board with emergency/crisis prep. The other point that needs to be made is that training and exercising for response is only as good as the people in the room. When senior leadership refuses to make training a priority, and then shows up in an EOC. untrained and confused, it turns into a hot mess fast! (A hospital CEO I worked for was incensed when the Fire Chief informed him that he would get his hospital back when the fire department was through with it. Until then, it belonged to the Chief.) They want to be in charge, but won’t make the time to learn crisis management.