Crisis Management: What Types of Crises?

Crisis management is an integral part of the skills of interim managers.
Today, many companies call on interim management firms in times of crisis. But what crises are we talking about?

The most frequent seizures

Regularly, the same types of crises affect companies:

• Closures of sites, implementation of an Employment Protection Plan ,
• Takeovers of groups or subsidiaries with staff reductions,
• Scandals, media crises (communication),
• Serious accidents.

Crisis Management through Transition Management

Times of crisis are a double-edged sword.

A crisis can prove beneficial for the company if it is under control. It must very quickly no longer be suffered but skilfully controlled, it goes from “crisis” to “change”.

Interim managers are sometimes required to become crisis managers. A company in the midst of a crisis must be able to count on adequate management, capable of overcoming complicated moments while keeping the objective in sight: restoring the situation to normal, or even improving it after the crisis.

Interim management calls on the skills and knowledge necessary to balance a society in crisis. For example, interim managers will be able to give priority to certain areas of the company over others. Eg: in the event of a media scandal, marketing staff and management must be proactive, and production must no doubt be put on temporary standby.

Essential Qualities

To be a good crisis manager , it is imperative to have certain essential qualities. Otherwise, the risk of failure increases significantly. A crisis is already a daunting moment for a company. Poor human management of it could be fatal.

Interim managers position themselves as leaders, they take the control with both hands when the plane slumps. Their human qualities are not neglected: they have a keen sense of listening. Listening is the essential basis of communication. Good communication is at least 50% of the success of a crisis exit . They are also disruptive, able to make difficult but necessary decisions with good judgment, thanks to their experience.

But what happens to a society after emerging from the crisis?

Out of the crisis: what next?

The crisis is over…a semblance of calm is returning, and the teams seem to have left as before.
But following a crisis, many leaders remain with concerns.

• Will the activities really start again as before?
• Is the image of the company impacted?
• If yes, to what extent?
• Is there a standard deficit to be expected after a crisis?

The phases of crisis management

It is important to decipher the phases of a crisis, so that a company is able to manage the short and medium term once the crisis is over. Also, this analysis generally makes it possible to set up new processes for the management of future crises.

One of the first phases consists in the recognition of the existence of a crisis. Not all crises are open-air scandals that make national headlines.

The health of the company must therefore be regularly and honestly examined.

“Prevention is better than cure…”

This adage is true in the case of corporate crisis management.

Then you have to take action. Just like a medical crisis, the spread of symptoms must be prevented: employee anxiety, strike action, PSE, impact on productivity, etc. There, the interim manager will reveal all his talents, as already mentioned in our previous article.

Then comes the reconstruction phase . The shorter it is, the smaller the impact of the crisis will be. A long reconstruction will hurt the company’s profits, because time is often expensive.

The after crisis

Once the crisis has passed and productivity has started again, a new era of business has just emerged. Employees and management must absolutely start on new bases, at least for the sector of activity affected by the crisis.

Interim managers called in the event of crisis management implement new business, marketing and financial action plans (according to) to sustain the post-crisis period.

Turnaround from a crisis situation

Once the goal has been achieved, you have to use a crisis as a lever to go further , aim higher. Where your competition would like you to fail, use a crisis to re-diversify your field of activity and if possible, your image.

Companies calling on Reactive Executive to benefit from the care of seasoned transition managers in resolution and crisis management are not neglected once the mission is over. The accompaniment is done on the long term with a listening, always irreproachable.