Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Repeat
After reviewing the company's communications and actions responding to the crisis
and making some changes to the plan, it is necessary to go back as far to the begin-
ning of the Incident Management Plan and repeat the steps. Changes to the Incident
Management Plan will likely be made several times during the crisis response. The
ability to react to information in real time will strengthen the company's message and
resolve. Continue this cycle of change and review until stakeholders are satisfi ed with
the response, business is back to normal, and the crisis has been determined to be over
by the Incident Management Team.
Conclusions
Depending on the crisis, execution of the Incident Management Plan could require
anywhere from minutes to years. The information provided in this chapter is not
intended to be comprehensive, but to provide some experience-based guidance and
tools to assist in planning for unforeseen crises. Employing external counsel in the
development and execution of an Incident Management Plan is invaluable; counsel
objectivity will be crucial, because it is often very diffi cult for company employees
to remain objective during a crisis. A company and its employees are not likely to be
fully prepared for a crisis and its intricacies unless they have some experience. Even
then, it is unlikely enough experience will be gained as that of a professional crisis
manager. Hence, have a professional crisis manager preselected to assist, engage this
person at the time of the crisis, and then determine whether the crisis manager is
needed for the issue at hand. Most importantly, be sincere and focus on doing the right
thing. The consequences for not developing an effective Incident Management Plan
and executing it properly could well be loss of trust and ultimately loss of the entire
business.
