In order to truly implement a CRISIS READY™ culture, your entire team needs to understand:
- What their roles and responsibilities are when the organization is in “crisis mode”;
- What is expected of them by both leadership and stakeholders – and how to meet those expectations;
- How to make smart decisions in the heat of the moment; and ultimately
- How to work together to successfully manage the crisis.
But this is a tall order with lots of impacting factors. So what’s the best way to go about training your team to have the crisis management skills required for successful crisis management in this day and age? I answer this question in this week’s CRISIS READY™ video. Take a look!
Do you have any questions about conducting a successful crisis simulation?
Pulling off a successful crisis simulation involves a lot of moving parts – and I want to help you succeed. So, if you have any questions about crisis simulations, post them below and I’ll be happy to answer them. Now, ask away!
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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.
Thanks for your work in this area … I frequently share your emails and videos with members of our crisis communications team. Several of us have worked together in crisis communications settings in the past, but we have new team members and I’m wondering what a simulation would look like. We’ve done several updates to our crisis communications plan and have engaged in ongoing conversations as a team by meetings or standard “water cooler” conversations.
Hi Jim,
Firstly, thanks for the kind words and I’m so glad to hear that my publications have been a helpful resource to you and your team!
As for your question, it’s a little bit of a complex question to answer here, but let me try: a simulation is an exercise that feels like a very real breaking crisis. Once the simulated crisis strikes, your team has to work together to manage it. One of the wonderful things about a simulation is that you get instant feedback which enables you to test your program and help your team members hone their crisis management skills.
Water cooler conversations and standard meetings are a great place to begin – and it’s wonderful that crisis preparedness is an ongoing discussion within your organization! A simulation would be a great exercise to up the ante and truly put your team and the program to the test. It would certainly fuel future water cooler conversations! 😉
Does this help answer your question? If you have further questions, please don’t be shy. I’ll be happy to respond!
Keep up the great work,
Melissa
Melissa, I totally agree that simulations are better than tabletops. I disagree with your notion that the ability to do a simulation is technology dependent. We have been doing simulations (aka, functional exercises) for decades, well before the introduction of social media, cell phone cameras, tablets and such. The technology should never change WHAT we do, just HOW we do it. Our pre-technology functional exercises included (and sometimes still include) people playing mock reporters, exercise controllers using landline phones to see how public information officers would respond to calls, rumors and misinformation from reporters and the panicked public, and we used those same devices to coordinate actions between remote locations and the operations center. And while much of that experience is in the public sector, the private sector also was involved, as in the case of privately owned nuclear power plants. So while I agree with your premise about crisis training, be careful making things dependent on technology. Because part of crisis planning is knowing how to act when losing that technology is part of the crisis! 😉
Hi Ed,
I agree with you entirely and I was not saying that simulations are technology dependant. The point I was making was that technology gives us advantages to leverage when testing our program and teams. I’ve found that this point helps people think beyond the more traditional “table top exercises”, which is important for all the reasons expressed in the video.
I’m glad to hear you’ve been conducting these types of trainings for decades. Your clients are very lucky to have you!
Keep up the great work,
Melissa