5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Handling a Crisis

a post by José Hernandez for the ByteStart blog

With each passing year, we are barraged with more and more stories of corporate scandals and wrongdoing. Recent examples include a global carmaker rigging their vehicles to cheat on emissions tests, a major bank illegally foisting accounts and credit cards on millions of customers without their knowledge or consent, and innumerable stories about sexual misconduct by powerful, entitled executives.

And these are just a few high-profile cases – the tip of the iceberg for anyone who reads the business news.

Such scandals do not arise overnight. Most of the time, they have deep roots in the culture, structure, and strategy of the organization. Too often, issues are ignored – or allowed to fester – by corporate leaders until they become impossible to contain.

Even when a crisis boils over and hits the headlines, there are things a company can do to mitigate its effects and start the long work of rebuilding the trust of stakeholders.

Unfortunately, corporate crisis management isn’t always intuitive – it often requires undertaking difficult, seemingly counter-intuitive measures to get in front of the crisis. As such, it is frequently mishandled by those who haven’t already experienced serious crises first-hand (i.e., most corporate managers).

Continue reading

Hazel’s comment:
So far this is standard business-speak but wait, I didn’t pick it for business/company reading.
I chose to bring you this because of a) the image at the start and b) the later exposition about pretending there isn’t a crisis. Too many people with mental ill-health, me included, hide their heads in the proverbial sand.

---