Things can go wrong, and sometimes horribly wrong.

Just think of the horrific M1 Bridge Collapse in Johannesburg last week. As Benjamin Disraeli said; "What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least, generally happens.”

In today’s always-on news world, companies have to be ready to deal with crises and emergencies of all kinds. Stakeholders scrutinise what is happening at a company closely because they have to safeguard their own hard-earned reputations and cannot afford to be tarnished by association. Citizen journalists are ready to take pictures and air their views on social media channels.

What a company says and how it reacts and respond to a crisis will either instil confidence and trust or irreparably damage relationships and business dealings.

This means that a company has to pay attention to crisis management ideally before it happens. In fact, it can be argued that in a world where trust has become the new currency, where compliance and ethics and standards rule, that crisis preparedness should be a mandatory requirement for companies, so that they can determine the best course of action to take in crisis situations and that they can handle them well enough to ensure effective damage control and swift recovery to instill trust and keep their reputation intact.

Crises management is defined as the ability of an organisation to deal quickly, efficiently, and effectively with contingency operations with the goal of reducing the threat to human health and safety, the loss of public or corporate property, adverse impact on normal business continuance, and damage to its good name - its reputation.  

That ability or capability comes from having a well-thought out blueprint – a blueprint of what to do, what to say and what not say in a crisis. The M1 Bridge collapse have demonstrated in stark clarity the cost of damage a crisis with Murray & Roberts share price falling by 10% within the first day. Elsewhere, the fallout of the VW Diesel emission scandal has hurt with trust in VW at an all-time low, and VW having lost in excess of R312-billion.

Few circumstances test a company’s reputation or competency as severely as a crisis. Regardless of a company’s size, reputation or industry, corporate crises cause immense pressure threatening a company’s reputation and its ability to conduct business. Therefore, a coordinated approach to crisis management and preparedness can help an organization towards an effective, well-managed crisis response retaining a favorable impression and renewed confidence in the company.

This coordinated approach starts with having a well thought out crisis management and crisis response plan. The writing, design and development of such a plan is a crucial management function.

The problem is that few organisations have the capacity to have a full-time crisis manager on board, but that does not absolve them of the necessity of planning for dealing with the hand of fate. Today, stakeholders of an organisation expect an organisation to be ready to deal with all calamities as well as the unique communication challenges that these situations bring.

Organisations, therefore, have to choose if they are going to develop their own plans or bring in outside service providers to assist them. In that respect, Binneman has developed a crisis manager toolkit, a DIY approach that is a highly effective, low-cost measure to assist any company to develop workable crisis management action and communication response plans. This toolkit is also a useful resource that can assist any manager in this phase and during a crisis, and can serve as a benchmarking instrument. The toolkit can help a company to formulate a proper response.

For more information, visit www.deonbinneman.com. Alternatively, connect with him on Facebook or on Twitter.