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What is Crisis Recognition & Why Does It Matter?

  • Hannah Teramura
  • Nov 17, 2017
  • 2 min read

Last week we examined what crisis preparation looks like and how you can begin to build your Crisis Management Plan. Today we will be learning about what crisis recognition is and why it matters to your company.

What is Crisis Recognition?

It is a common misconception that crises are easy to spot, that they are simple to see and avoid. And this can be true in some circumstances. When a catastrophic event occurs, it’s an obvious trigger that you and your company are facing a crisis and need to implement your CMP.

However, it is important to recognize that not all crises are obvious.

Timothy Coombs notes in his book "Ongoing Crisis Communication" that crises are both symbolic and objective.

“As strange as this may sound, an organization may not even know it is in a crisis” (Kamer, 1996 Coombs 2006).

The fact that people can disagree on what a crisis is, is the element that makes the process of crises recognition a challenging thing to accomplish. Because of this aspect of objectivity, Coombs states that a situation becomes a crisis when key stakeholders agree that it is a crisis.

According to Jim Dougherty, a featured contributor to the Cision Blog, crisis recognition is the process of actively monitor channels to in order to recognize a crisis quickly. Dougherty says, “Recognition takes place on several levels: Exercising constant vigilance, monitoring the environment, assessing industry trends, and listening for stakeholder criticism or concerns” (2016).

“Unfortunately some members of management may wish to deny that the organization is in a crisis even when stakeholders are screaming that it exists” (Find, Beak, & Taddeo, 1971; Pauchant & Mitroff 1992).

Why is it so important?

Crisis recognition is crucial because companies cannot begin to take steps towards fixing the crisis until they recognize that they are in one. Once a crisis’s existence is recognized, information can be collected to help successfully manage and diffuse the crisis.

“Crisis teams need accurate and timely information if they are to have the knowledge they need to make effective decisions quickly.” (Coombs, 2006).

Companies must take preventatives measures and set standards in place to identify warning signs if they want to be able to effectively be able to navigate and recover from crises in the public eye.

Keep an eye out for our next blog post, in which we will identify some of the warning signs and red flags that your company can look for!

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