Give crisis a miss
DURING my stint at a publishing house, we had a crisis, which extinguished the careers of many an editor/manager.
Every time a book would come in from the printers, there would be innumerable blunders - grammar, spelling, etc. The harried authors from far away places would send frantic mails and call up to vent their ire. None of us had any answers. No one bothered to change or rectify anything till finally one gentleman walked in with his lawyer and cleaned out the company.
When I look back at it with the wisdom of hindsight, I can pinpoint the exact place, which could be termed as the epicentre of the crisis - poor judgement of people. One person should not have been assigned the job he was doing, because he lacked the required expertise. If a competent person was brought in his place, the crisis could have been averted. But then, few people have the courage to do that at the right time. When the situation goes out of hand, then damage control is either ineffective or just plain too late!
A new discipline
Crisis management is an important corporate discipline. Many companies hire professional teams while others deal with it themselves, with a lot of help from consultants who help establish crisis management plans.
From the smallest, family-run tailoring venture to a multi-crore business spanning continents, companies run the risk of a crisis. What would happen if the head of the tailoring unit were to fall sick or meet with an accident? In a bigger firm, there would be ten other people who could do his job, but in the small venture, either he closes down or his wife and children take over and keep the venture alive. Bigger companies have to deal with bigger risks and therefore when they are hit by a crisis, they go into a hyperactive mode. They have to control the crisis, talk to the media and give out very measured statements so that there is no panic among the shareholders, customers, vendors, etc. Along with this, they have to make sure that the right people are in place to do the damage control.
How to ...
Companies that think ahead and plan for the future know how to manage crises. It is important to identify the right kind of people - cool, calm and unflappable, with an ability to make a decision even under crisis-induced stress. Special training seminars are conducted so that such people take over whenever there is even a whiff of a crisis.
Crisis can be of two kinds— one is people- oriented and the other work related. Both can be big and small. Small problems come and go on a daily basis, especially when they are people related— differences of opinion, attitude problems, conflict of space, etc. Work- related crisis could sometimes get really big like the cola wars. People- related crises have hit the BPO industry hard because of the turnover of people.
It is important to identify the crisis and prevent it from going out of hand. Then, attempts have to be made to control and manage the crisis as quickly as possible.
The cool top gun
The guys at the top end of the hierarchy have to retain their cool because they are the ones who have to take crucial decisions under very trying circumstances. They have to get the picture right and not aggravate the situation by blowing their top! If there are rumblings of discontent or if someone points out things that are not really in order, then it is important to take notice of them. Maybe some kind of an open house where the employees can interact better would bring the problems out in the open. Many a time, smaller problems snow ball into crises if allowed to fester and if the employees do not have a forum to express their grudges out in the open.
An open line of communication is a big help, especially in the form of a suggestion box with no names required; it may help to begin with.
SHYMOLA KHANNA
faqs@cnkonline.com
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