What Does Being Crisis Ready Have To Do With Brand Invincibility?

If you follow my work, then you know that helping organizations become crisis ready is not just what I do professionally, but it is one of my biggest passions. The reason I’m so passionate about my work is that being crisis ready provides so much value to an organization and the people it works with and for—value that far exceeds the sole acts of crisis management and crisis preparedness.

Let me explain.

The typical act of crisis preparedness looks something like this: An organization tasks a department or small team of people to create a crisis management plan. This plan is typically very generalized so it can be used to address all forms of crises. Once drafted, this plan is then placed on a shelf and then put out of mind, ready to be referenced and activated in the event of a crisis.

But the thing is, with all the challenges, obstacles, and realities of crisis management today, by the time leadership reaches for this plan, the story is already miles ahead, potentially even going viral, and stakeholders are already demanding answers to their questions, concerns, and speculation. This means that by the time you reach for that shelf, you’re already playing catch-up on something that is potentially spreading faster with each minute.

So, while the act of planning remains an invaluable exercise for your organization, the choice to solely rely on that plan puts your organization, and your team, at a disadvantage.

Instead, I want you to imagine the following…

Imagine that, at the breaking moments of a crisis or issue, your entire team knows precisely:

• How to detect the rising threat;
• How to quickly assess its potential impact on the organization’s stakeholders, operations, reputation, and bottom line; and
• How to respond in a way that, not only instantly extinguishes the situation and its risk of further escalation, but actually builds brand equity and stakeholder trust.

This is what it means to be crisis ready.

Being crisis ready means that every department, region, and team is not only equipped to respond to a negative event when it happens, but they are actively working each and every day to build stakeholder trust.

Being crisis ready means that your team is trained and empowered to make smart decisions in tough situations, that focus on putting people first, above processes and bottom line.

Being crisis ready means that your team knows that they don’t have to wait for something to go infamously viral to address and mitigate the potential effects.

Being crisis ready means that your team doesn’t just handle a crisis or issue, they conquer it instinctively, managing it in a way that leads to more trust, credibility, and goodwill with those who matter most to your organization.

Being crisis ready means that your brand isn’t just able to withstand the bad, but it’s able to transform any negative situation into something that has a positive outcome for your company—making your brand invincible.

Crisis management is what happens once a negative event occurs. Being crisis ready is what smart organizations do to prevent negative events from happening in the first place, and to train and empower their teams to instinctively nip those events in the bud if and when they do occur.

How can you become crisis ready?

Becoming crisis ready is a process. Fortunately, it’s a process that you can adapt and implement into your organization, no matter your organization’s size, structure, or industry. Through my work as an advisor to organizations that range from Fortune companies to government entities, I have developed a Crisis Ready Model that takes your organization from wherever it currently sits on the crisis ready spectrum, straight through to building an invincible brand. If learning more about the process to becoming crisis ready interests you, you can do so here.

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Crisis Ready.

The book to help you build an INVINCIBLE brand.
By Melissa Agnes

Order copies for you and your team on amazon, or contact info@mascotbooks.com for special bulk pricing!