Can you tell the likelihood of something based on past performance?

It’s the middle of the night. A burglar begins to raise their weapon. In a split second you grab the gun and aim it at the person threatening your life. Could you pull the trigger?

All organisations purporting to be leaders in their field should set themselves an aspiration to communicate effectively within set timeframes. Follow these five steps to ensure your organisation can meet the crisis communications challenge.

More and more organisations want to analyse their performance in a more granular way. The ACID Test allows them to do just that.

I’m always slightly bemused when we start work with a new client and we ask them to explain their crisis management framework.

It takes strength of character and a well-timed intervention to change the views of a group that has already made up its mind.

There are various types of behaviours that we might draw on (consciously or not) to deal with a crisis.

What traits or qualities does a person need in a crisis?

Often in the eyes of the senior management team business continuity doesn’t appear to offer much value to the business. How can it get invited to the party?

The corporate gift we nearly produced but didn’t was an umbrella emblazoned with the fact that we were the crisis advisers to Lehman Brothers.

One of the most important things in preparing for a crisis exercise is getting a decent cup of coffee.

With the challenges presented by COVID-19 the way meetings are conducted has changed, and this particularly affects crisis team meetings, where time is often short and quick, effective decision-making is required.

It’s important to focus activity and provide clear, useful guidance to everyone involved in the recovery effort.

here’s a saying in crisis management ‘Don’t get caught planning for the last crisis’. It sums up the fact that the next crisis will always be different from the last one.

Sheena is a global communications leader specialising in strategic, crisis and issues communications.

All members of a crisis team must feel ‘psychologically safe’ to voice their ideas, fears and doubts.

Many believe that the world of work will change significantly for many and ‘Zooming’ will become a permanent feature. So can virtual meeting technology improve the processes used by crisis teams?

Over the last few days I’ve been asking my contacts “Is your organisation more resilient now than it was mid-January?”. Many admit that their sense is that they are less resilient now, as operations are running with reduced staffing, less controls and with IT services operating at breaking point. 

It's easy to stay on the baseline, just returning shots and trying to survive. But to maximise your chances of winning you need to get up to the net and take control.

Activation of a crisis team is the process by which an organisation switches out of ‘business-as-usual’ role and engages itself with the crisis.