How Do You Plan for the Unimaginable?

I am an unapologetic bibliophile. 

I simply love to read books. Although I’ve had a Kindle for several years and it is rarely out of reach, especially when I travel, I love the feel of my fingers running along a row of books; especially older, leather-bound books. There is something about the smell of leather and ink, and the exploration of a story that is soothing to me.

But what if there were no more books? It’s unimaginable, right? Even in today’s technologically advanced society, the idea of never picking up a printed book again is unfathomable.

In business, as in life, crisis management begins with identifying the unimaginable, the imaginable, the probable, and then planning how to mitigate the damage IF they happen.

Being caught off guard by the unimaginable is manageable if you routinely engage in, and actively fund, crisis management planning.

However, being unprepared to deal with a crisis of any type or size can be catastrophic and is, unfortunately, often fatal. 

In their book, Managing Crises Before They Happen, Mitroff & Anagnos point out that unlike in previous centuries, today crises are an unfortunate fact of life. Some are minor and affect only your own business, but in a global economy even small events can cause ripple effects that become tidal waves all over the globe.

At the risk of sounding like a management professor by quoting Mitroff & Anagnos, crises fall into one of seven categories:

• Economic
• Informational
• Physical
• Human Resource
• Reputational
• Psychotic Acts
• Natural Disasters

Regardless of the type of crisis your business faces, having a well-defined crisis management plan is essential to its survival. Good crisis management plans include:

• Identifying the type of risks that are possible, probable, and unimaginable (see bulleted list above)
• Determining the ramifications of the possible, probable, and unimaginable
• Identifying mechanisms for recognizing, preparing for, responding to and learning from crises
• Planning for the allocation of the company’s PR, HR, IT, culture, organizational systems and other resources before, during and after a crisis
• Open, frequent communications with all stakeholders so that everyone knows what their responsibilities are during a crisis.

In short, the unexpected will happen, and sometimes even the unimaginable happens. The key to surviving the unimaginable is careful, thoughtful crisis management planning.

So now I’m curious to hear what others think about crisis management.

Please take a moment to share what works for you, what doesn’t, and the best or worst advice you have ever received on the topic. 

Oh, and if you have a favorite book, I'd be happy to read it. 

Thanks for sharing!

Before founding her own consulting firm, Dawn Gannon served as a respected management professional in the military, higher education, and healthcare fields for 25 years. As a Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt, Dawn’s commitment and personal mission to improve the lives of others through service to the community focuses on providing administrative and volunteer management, consumer education, public outreach, event planning, relationship-building efforts, and strategic planning. She is the author of the Management in Motion blog, and has written a number of articles for RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association on the topic of childfree living.