Issues, critical incidents and crises can present many opportunities for the organisation that is open to learning. Meyers and Holusha (1986) identified seven potential advantages or gains which can arise from a business crisis:
- New leaders or heroes may be born
- Organisational change may be accelerated
- Latent problems are faced
- People are changed
- New strategies evolve
- Early warning systems develop for future issues
- New competitive edges appear.
During a crisis it is vital that actions are oriented to each of the following:
- containing the crisis
- fixing it
- communicating with the authorities and all other important stakeholders, and
- learning from the crisis without focusing on laying any blame.
The organisation which does not attempt to learn from a crisis or critical incident is foregoing a major opportunity. Many organisations which accept the challenge to learn from a crisis or incident quickly discover the potential of a proactive issue risk management program to limit their future exposure.
If you would like to learn from the experiences of others without personally undergoing such a crisis, contact KMG Consulting for details of how we can help you develop a crisis preparedness plan or issue risk management program before it is too late.
