It’s tempting to fixate on pandemics and cyber attacks because our recent experience skews our thinking in that direction. But the next threat might be, for example, energy supplies.

Good leadership can be the difference between a successful response and a firm not surviving the crisis.

You can’t ‘wing it’ all the time - you need an element of process, organisation and planning to ensure the best chances of an effective crisis response.

As we look into 2022 we’ve had two years of the pandemic and in general the profile of crisis management professionals during this period has been been enhanced.

The first few weeks of a new year can sometimes be a bit sluggish. But not this year.

It’s been another strange year.

As you may have noticed, this week Facebook broke down. Not only did Facebook go down for six hours, but Facebook-owned Whatsapp and Instagram went down too. What can we learn from this?

A crisis for one person is not necessarily a crisis for another.

It’s important that the participants enjoy the exercise and that they learn from it — the last thing you want is to destroy their confidence.

It sounds a flippant comment, but it wasn’t meant in that way. It’s just that we have so many conversations with clients and potential clients that revolve around this answer. Let’s look at some examples.

When communications are delayed by needless tinkering, then stakeholders can be left in the dark and therefore perhaps less confident in the firm’s crisis response.

Planning is all well and good, but until you face the harsh realities of a crisis, you have no idea how good your plan is.

Could emergency measures force homes and non-essential businesses to face rolling power cuts to preserve supplies?

There is a tendency to give too much unnecessary detail during a crisis briefing. A SITREP can help.

During a crisis, teams - and individuals - need to change the way they operate.

Business continuity, risk management and crisis professionals should be working with Executive teams to understand ‘what threats could really bring our organisation to its knees?’. And they shouldn’t be afraid to stretch the imagination.

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.

Stuart Beattie has been looking at how operational resilience is now front and centre in the minds of business continuity professionals, in particular across the financial services sector.