Red Flags and Warning Signs of Crises:
- Hannah Teramura
- Nov 20, 2017
- 3 min read
Our last blog post touched on what crisis recognition is and how fast a situation is recognized as a crisis can make all the difference. Today we will be taking a deeper look into some indicators and signs that can help you to recognize and respond to crises quicker.
We have learned that crisis prevention and crisis preparation are two steps that companies can take in advance. However, when it comes to crisis recognition, companies must approach it differently.
“Assessing the crisis situation is the first crisis communications step you can’t take in advance.” - Johnathan Berstein
According to Coombs, listening is what scanning for crisis warning signs is all about and social media is one of the best ways to identify warning signs. The challenge exists in sorting through massive amounts of information on the internet to find trends that may soon develop into crises.
"The nature of the Internet is that ideas from seemingly unimportant sources can spread rapidly, thereby creating the potential for a crisis." (Coombs, 2015).
Steven Fink in his book, “Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable”, writes that one way to identify a crisis is to ask yourself the following four questions:
Is there a good chance that this situation will, if left unattended, escalate in intensity?
Might this situation foster unwanted attention by outsiders, such as the news media or some regulatory agency?
Is it likely that the situation might interfere with normal business operations in some manner?
Could it make your company “look bad” or cause people (the public at large or investors) to lose confidence?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you have a crisis unfolding and will need to start to implement your Crisis Communications Plan.
If your answers to those questions are ambiguous or you are unsure, Eric Mower in his article, “How To Identify a Crisis”, gives seven warning signs of a crisis that we believe can further help companies:
Warning Sign #1: Matters that attract unwanted media attention or give rise to a dramatically increased level of activity, attention or commentary on the internet
Warning Sign #2: Incidents that involve serious personal injury, death or jeopardize public safety
Warning Sign #3: Activities that have or may cause law enforcement or regulatory involvement
Warning Sign #4: Matters that result in significant work stoppages or production delays
Warning Sign #5: Behavior by managers or employees that reflects badly on your company’s reputation
Warning Sign #6: Actions by competitors or others — including rumors — that threaten financial performance or customer or investor confidence
Warning Sign #7: Be especially alert to “Smoldering Crises”. Some indicators: dropping share price, sudden sales losses, employee exodus, pending lawsuits, government investigations, negative shift in media portrayals with company portrayed as villain, buzzing grapevine, rumors. Heed these early warnings.
RockDove Solutions writes in their blog that the proliferation of digital technology has quickened the pace of emerging crises. Today, when a crisis breaks, it unfolds incredibly fast and can spread even quicker.
"Activation speed is one of the vital components of crisis management planning." (Britton, 2017).
Each of these warning signs we discussed in this post can help your company identify the situation at hand and can lessen the delay of action.
Now that you have learned how to recognize and identify a crisis, what should you do when one hits your company? Stay tuned for our blog posts next week, where we will discuss the final course of action: crisis response!
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