Insurance is not enough in managing a crisis
With the proliferation of social media, all companies are in a state of pre-crisis. According to commercial insurance executives, having insurance isn’t enough for dealing with this new reality. A company’s best chance for weathering a crisis is having a robust risk management program that includes crisis planning. The plan should have a crisis response checklist that includes these elements:
1. Establish a crisis team. Designate a crisis leader and appoint a team that represents key operational areas to be responsible for planning and response activities.
2. Conduct crisis planning. Do the work to identify potential crisis scenarios and develop a response for each situation, including communication materials aimed at customers and employees.
3. Practice the company’s crisis response. An organization’s initial response will set the tone for how effectively a crisis can be resolved. It’s important to run annual simulations for your company’s crisis scenarios to make sure you’re organized, practiced, and ready to respond.
The mistake most companies make is to push their narrative instead of addressing the real concerns stakeholders are raising during a crisis. A company’s response must show that it will justly resolve what has occurred and do all it can to ensure it won’t happen again. For more insight, read our recent article in Insurance Journal.