The Anatomy of a Crisis

The word crisis comes from the Ancient Greek krisis, meaning a decision, judgment, choice or decisive turning point.

Interestingly, krisis wasn't inherently negative. It described a moment when circumstances demanded judgment – a point at which a choice had to be made.

That's a useful way to think about crisis communications today.

Crisis management is, at its core, the management of choices at a turning point.

Not every problem is a crisis. Organizations routinely encounter issues, incidents and emergencies. A situation crosses into crisis when it creates significant risk to people, operations, relationships, credibility, trust or reputation and requires an extraordinary response.

But the severity of the original event is only part of the equation.

A relatively minor incident can become a major reputational crisis when it is ignored, mishandled or poorly communicated. A serious event, meanwhile, can sometimes be contained when an organization responds quickly, responsibly and credibly.

That's why one of the first questions shouldn't simply be:

How bad is this?

Instead, ask:

Who is affected? Who cares? What do they reasonably expect from us? What happens if we get our response wrong?

Those questions shift the focus from reacting to an event to managing the choices created by it.

Because when something goes wrong, the organization may not be able to control what happened. But it does have considerable control over what happens next.

That's the first principle we teach in PRESS POWER | SURGE, our Crisis Communications Readiness & Response Lab:

The event may start the crisis. The response often determines its size.

Preparing for those decisions before the pressure is on can make all the difference.

To learn more about The Communications Group's crisis communications services and how we help organizations prepare, respond and recover, click here.