A crisis is defined as a disruptive event which affects an organization - it’s facilities, people, IT systems, data etc. which leads to serious interruption or stoppage of processes. Crisis is caused by some serious incident, or a disaster. This changes all processes from "normal" to "crisis" mode and usually temporarily, during the crisis, changes responsibilities, processes, and procedures in an organization.
How to manage crisis
An organization has to change normal behavior to crisis behavior by using a crisis management team with empowerment to make decisions during a crisis and using a crisis plan such as a disaster recovery plan and other crisis management plans.
- Appoint a crisis management team, it should contain senior managers who have the expertise and experience needed to make correct decisions during a crisis
- Empower team members with responsibilities and accountabilities during a crisis
- Set up a command center as the focal point for handling the crisis
- Follow crisis and emergency plans adapted to the current situation
- Use disaster recovery plans for a fast and efficient recovery