“It Can’t Happen Here”

[by Nora Jacobs]

Over the years, we’ve spoken to countless clients about the crisis threats their organizations might face.  Many willingly accept that their business might be struck by an act of God — tornados, floods and fires most often come to mind.  But a surprisingly large number of clients seem to feel immune to the crisis threats we actually see most often in our work – the ones caused by human error or worse, human misbehavior.

In truth, most of our clients have good management teams in place and they’ve worked hard to instill good workplace values in their employees.  They’re good people, so they expect the people they’ve hired to be good, too.  It’s amazing how often these trusting individuals can be disappointed.  As often as we’re called to help a client respond to a hazardous spill or plant site explosion, we’re far more likely to deal with the results of human frailty.  Consider just this short list: embezzlement, workplace romance, workplace harassment, workplace violence, product tampering, intellectual property theft, computer breaches, identity theft, abuses of social media policies, disclosure of proprietary information, kick-backs and bribery, and careless operation of company equipment leading to injury or death.

In our minds, the best way to manage a crisis is to prepare for it in advance.  That’s why the first step we undertake with clients who embark on the crisis planning process is to identify those events most likely to threaten their organization.  Then we examine those threats to put a priority on the ones that would have the largest, most severe Impact if they were to occur.  That includes the threats posed by human frailty.

An additional benefit of this exercise is heightening awareness of avoidable crises and taking steps to make sure the right policies, procedures and practices are put in place to help reduce the likelihood that bad things will happen to good people.

In the end, good crisis planning is all about changing one’s mindset from “it can’t happen here” to “it could happen here, but let’s work now to try and make sure it doesn’t, and make sure we’re prepared if it does.”

Photo Credit:  FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Stuart Miles