Crisis Management

Posted by admin@larkinpartners In Uncategorised 0 comment

Ignorance is rarely bliss, and in the case of business, it can be catastrophic.

When you’re running an SME, it can be comforting to think that a business crisis won’t happen to you.

After all, you’re too small to make too many headlines, right?….. And you’ve got insurance for everything else, right? However, crisis management planning isn’t just about avoiding negative PR. It’s about making sure you’ve got the financial sandbags and expert support in place to weather whatever storm comes your way.

Business crises can come in many forms. From simple things like an important member of staff stepping down, to major global events, here are the sorts of scenarios that every business should be planning for:

Natural crisis – flood, fire, cyclones
Technological crisis
Personnel crisis
Financial crisis

So, how do you financially prepare for a crisis in your business?

Given the range of crisis above, it’s essential that your business crisis strategy is strong and adaptable enough to cope with a variety of scenarios.

Step one: identify and measure the risks.
Step two: examine and implement solutions.

Of course, not all risks will be this immediately apparent, or have a clear-cut solutions. So it is important to dedicate in-depth thought and planning to your risk management and mitigation in your business.

Finally, remember that your job isn’t done once your crisis management plans are in place. Initially, you must communicate your plans with all the stakeholders across your business, in a sound and confident way. And secondly, you must never assume your plans are set in stone. To be truly effective, an SME crisis plan should be a living document: always adapting, improving, and responding to the latest changes in and around your business environment.