How to Survive Your First Crisis and Gain from It
10 lessons learned from over 20 years in corporate and crisis management
Imagine you are sitting in a plane ready for take-off. Your final destination is a small island with a white paradise beach. The airplane is old, it is humid, and the inner cabin tiny. You are tired, too tired to think about anything. Only the vibration of the aircraft keeps you awake.
That was me in the summer of 2009, and I had no idea what was ahead of me. More than 1,000 flights in my life, but this was the first time to see straight into the cockpit, directly from my seat. So I took this picture literally minutes before the pilot performed a crisis management maneuver. What happened?
Right after we started from Manila in the Philippines, I very quickly understood: something is wrong. The aircraft’s boost was not strong enough. We took a sharp turn straight back to the airport and made it to the landing strip just in time. It was my first (and hopefully last) emergency landing. No casualty, though one less cat life.
What initially felt like a simple change of flight direction was the start of a strict protocol. All pilots know the ANC mantra aka “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.” First, keep the aircraft under control. Second, know where you are and want to go, and only third, communicate after firm control over the situation.
We can learn a lot from pilots and how their training how to handle a crisis. Unfortunately, there is not always a handbook for every situation in the corporate world. In particular, not for those that will shake the foundations of your organization.
Over the last 20 years, I became confronted with various unexpected (9/11, Lehmann, or as most of us lately COVID-19), or externally contracted situations, where crisis management was a question of corporate survival. The following lessons learned can make a big difference on how to survive your first crisis and even gain from it.
Crises are often associated with some form of accident, a hacker attack, or a market meltdown. According to Wikipedia, it is an event that goes (or is expected) to lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community, or society as a whole. Such an event can have a shorter (“bombing”) and longer (“slow-mo tsunami”) lead time. Crisis management itself must start long before that.
1. “Left of Bang” - always keep the radar on
Proper management of a distressed situation has to start much in advance before the critical event even occurs. The military calls it “left of bang,” allowing you to identify some pre-event indicators. Like animals before a storm or an earthquake, there are always some signs that give you an early warning. With big data and predictive analysis, it is gross negligent not to keep on the digital radar 24/7. Your organization has to be on a minimum alert all the time.
2. Corporate resilience is a shock absorber
Most crises are detectable early on. Only a few emerge from a blind spot. Every company, be it a Blue Chip or a startup, can prepare itself for the unexpected. By permanently strengthening your corporate resilience, your immune system, even an out of the blue crisis immediately loses a bit of its disruptive energy. It is not a question of size or level of bureaucracy to carry out crisis scenario training regularly. It should be part of every company’s DNA, of your risk and opportunity mentality. When was the last time that you thought about your corporate fitness (beyond mandatory requirements)?
3. Don’t be in denial
A crisis is like flu. First, you have a runny nose, a headache, nothing an Aspirin can’t cure, but then boom. Once the crisis hits, don’t be in denial. Every second you pretend that everything is good will cost you valuable time, putting you even deeper into a reactive mode. It is painful to admit being late, especially if you are in the middle of a crisis. One that you could have handled beforehand. Don’t look away. Even a late u-turn shows leadership and might still allow you not only to manage but even to gain from the crisis.
4. Keep calm and don’t panic
Even though the world has become a bit more unpredictable and volatile, crises are still more an exception than the norm. Therefore, if you face one, it will most likely be your first time. Full of adrenaline, don’t forget rule number one: “Keep calm and don’t panic!” In particular distressed situations that catch you by surprise require a calm mind. Also, the sheer magnitude of a “slo-mo tsunami” (like COVID-19) can make you lose your nerves. In any case, expect your learning curve to be steep, and there is one thing for sure: you will never forget the first crisis you managed!
5. Cash is king
A pilot will always take a bit of extra fuel with him. It is part of his applied risk management. Even in regular time, a company’s liquidity (like fuel) is a central KPIs. During a crisis, it becomes a vital matter for the boss. Cash flow is an anticipative factor. The more important is your ability to produce accurate actual and forecast figures. That is sometimes a challenge, not just for smaller companies, but it must not be an excuse.
6. Your stakeholder will remember how you handled the crisis
There are times when you will have to do everything to keep the ship afloat. All unnecessary weight has to leave the boat. Do not forget that at one point, the crisis will be over. A company is more than just an income statement and a balance sheet. All stakeholders, be it your staff, suppliers, customers, or the general public, will remember how you have handled the crisis. CSR also exists in crisis times, and the wrong measures can become very costly in the long run.
7. If necessary, do it the MacGyver way, improvise
Nobody expects you to save your company with a pair of shoelaces and a Swiss Army knife. The legendary MacGyver showed us something more important: before giving up, improvise. Think out of the box. Bring in a diverse team that might give you the necessary kick in finding a way out of a dead-end. In contrast to a pilot, a corporate leader sometimes has a bit more flexibility in handling a crisis. It would be a waste of options not to use it.
8. Not everyone is a born crisis manager
Some people are born leaders in a crisis. It is their time to outperform. Others still can learn how to navigate through a heavy storm. Provided they can learn fast, and sometimes reach out for helping more experienced hands. Finally, there is the third category: decision-makers who do not fit into such an environment. It is no shame to understand one’s limitations. Only hiding them can become toxic for the organization and oneself.
9. Don’t be afraid to bring in experts
A crisis contains a lot of elements that an organization has to do for the very first time. Even a super resilient company cannot be competent in everything. Don’t be afraid to bring external experts on board if necessary. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. It will cost the company and its stakeholder much more than temporarily outsourced expertise. Very few companies have their fire brigades. So, why not invite experts to assess one’s crisis preparedness? Or in case the event has already happened, a proper PR or risk management firm can make the difference.
10. Every crisis contains some opportunities
Crisis disrupts temporarily or permanently. These are moments of threats but also opportunities. Do not think only in risk categories. You will end up as a negative person and miss out on the upsides. A crisis is the little brother of risk and opportunity. Where there are risks, there are chances, like Yin and Yang. At one point, it will be over. Take yourself some time and reflect on your lessons learned during that period. It is an essential experience, not only for you individually but for the organization as a whole. You will see: It is priceless.
Key takeaways
So what do emergency landings and crisis management have in common? You hope they never happen, but when they occur, you are glad that the people in charge know what they do! You might not be fully prepared, but you can close the gap by making your organization more resilient, by listening and learning from those who have already been there.
If you face becoming or currently are a crisis manager, never forget:
- Have your radar on 24/7
- Make your organization resilient
- Don’t be in denial
- Keep calm and don’t panic
- Cash is king
- Keep the time after in mind
- Improvise
- Not everyone is a born crisis manager
- Experts pay off
- Crises contain opportunities
