Organizational Resiliency and Crisis Management Planning

DECISIONS  

Decisions must be made based on available facts and focused on what is known. Decisions determine whether the crisis is worsening or stabilizing. Decisions must be made on a timely basis.   

Most of the available information within the first 24 hours of a crisis is untrue, inaccurate, or incomplete. In view of this uncertainty, decisions should reconcile the need for action with the potential for direct and indirect consequences. Every decision has consequences and will shape future priorities.  

Consequences must be weighed in terms of impacts for both the short and long term. Often, what feels right today can be catastrophic down the road.  Results and impacts must be monitored to understand any necessary changes to subsequent decisions. What is decided, as well as what is not decided, can be of equal importance in the outcome.   

ACTIONS 

Once decisions are made, they must be converted to action. Actions are directed to establish command and control, determine facts, coordinate the appropriate response, monitor events, and minimize impacts. The best actions to take in a crisis come from planning, testing, and training. Response and action plans must be created before an event happens. During a crisis is not the time to be figuring out what should be done or who should be responding.  

WORDS 

Word choices create understanding and generate emotional responses. The selection of appropriate words influences stakeholders’ reaction to communications. Since most initial information and intelligence received in a crisis are inaccurate or wrong, communications should be limited, and word choices carefully considered.  

Crisis Managers understand that most crises do not require communication at the onset and will not attempt to explain the crisis away or minimize liability. Explaining is losing by attempting to minimize responsibility. Most initial information and intelligence in a crisis are insufficient or wrong, and Crisis Managers may not have access to useful metrics normally available in a business-as-usual environment.  

Yet decisions still must be made. In a crisis, the decisions made, actions taken, and words said will directly impact the outcome. Decisions, actions, and words must address strategic impacts, not tactical responses.   

THREAT AND VULNERABILITY ANALYSES  

To fully understand the RISK in your business, program, or project, you first must start with an assessment of your Threats and Vulnerabilities.  

Threats include any external event or exposure with the potential to damage your people, business, or reputation.  Vulnerabilities are ways in which your people, business, or reputation are exposed to (or unprotected against) potential threats. 

The first step on the journey of building any preparedness plan or program requires a comprehensive understanding of the associated risks you are trying to address. Whether you are constructing a Cybersecurity program, a Continuity Recovery plan or a Workplace Violence program, you need to start with a Threat and Vulnerability assessment of your environment.  

Without a comprehensive understanding of your risks, you could potentially design a solution for the wrong issue, spend too much time on the wrong problem, spending significantly more money and resources creating your solution.   

The Adennill risk assessment is comprised of two parts: determining and defining the impacts of your Threats, and uncovering the Vulnerabilities in your environment that could be exploited. This data is then analyzed to determine your prioritized risks so that you can address the most critical issues.  

Adennill has the resources and experience to provide assessments and gap analysis for:  

• Cybersecurity Programs  
   
• Physical Security Site Assessments
   
• Continuity and Crisis Risk  
   
• Business Threat and Vulnerability   
   

Our assessment will enable you to identify gaps and areas of exposure in your current preparedness programs and plan, uncover areas of improvement and help you start your journey in the right direction, saving time and money.  

EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANNING

Implementing an emergency response plan (ERP) and a crisis management plan (CMP) will enable your business to more effectively respond to an emergency event. Adennill works with clients to develop and implement a comprehensive set of customized emergency and crisis plans that address your specific threats and vulnerabilities.  The plans will be consistent with industry best practices that include, identifying internal emergency response personnel roles and responsibilities, as well as response procedures for evacuation, shelter, lockdown, and lockout. 

Adennill has helped many clients establish detailed response protocols for a variety of emergencies, such as fire, natural disasters, active shooters, and medical emergencies. We can help designate alerts and notification protocols to be used during each emergency or critical incident.  We can document suspicious activity, organize drills or exercises, and plan reunification activities.  

Adennill’s solutions are client and site-specific response plans that meet and, in most cases, exceed any applicable state laws or licensing regulations. 

CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLANNING

Effective crisis communication is a crucial element in the success of any response to a crisis event. It establishes employee and client confidence in the ability of a company to manage events and implement a resolution. Effective crisis communication is also integral to the larger process of information exchange aimed at eliciting trust and promoting understanding of the relevant issues or actions.  

• A business’s Initial crisis communications will set the tone and direction for the coordination of the response and recovery activities.  
   
• Subsequent communications will be used to address the potential crisis impacts on the brand and reputation.  
   
• Communications will be executed to notify those parties affected or potentially impacted. Communications also serves the dual purposes of notification and remedy actions to mitigate or prevent potential impacts.  
   

Crisis Communications Guidelines are essential to effectively manage all communications during and after a disruptive event through formal, clearly defined channels, to mitigate crises or serious negative impacts and maintain a reputation of leadership and transparency on vital issues. 

CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLANNING

The focus of a Crisis Management Plan is to help your business effectively manage your response to a crisis. Unlike a Continuity Plan that is focused on recovery after the crisis, a Crisis management plan is constructed and tested to guide your decision-making process during the crisis. For more than 12 years, the Adennill team has managed numerous crises in public and private companies, schools, and government organizations. The Adennill senior leadership team has a wealth of crisis and consequence-management experience to help you manage crisis outcomes successfully. 

During a crisis, seconds count. Actions and words matter. Organizations feel an overwhelming compulsion to act and speak. Very often, these initial inclinations are wrong and result in additional exposure and liability. Adennill works with clients to stabilize the situation, trigger appropriate resources, investigate exposures, and avoid common crisis errors. 

Adennill aims to slow the process, control panic, identifies immediate concerns, provides direction, and lays the foundation for consequence management. More importantly, prevent many common mistakes, thereby reducing the frequency, severity, and brand and reputation damage.  

BUSINESS CONTINUITY/CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLANNING

Plans will not always prevent a crisis. But, the right plan, individually tailored to your business or organization, could mitigate the consequences.  With threats and vulnerabilities addressed ahead of time, your plan could determine whether or not your company will survive the crisis. 

Continuity of Operations Plan development includes not only preparing for, and the mitigation of, major disasters (e.g., total loss of a building), but also routine interruptions to service and daily operations. We put disaster planning in perspective, predetermined response and recovery actions, testing and training that will help reduce the impacts of crises and help your recover more effectively.  

Developing and implementing a Continuity Plan must include planning for all stages of a disaster and take an all-hazards approach to mitigation and recovery. Plans start with identifying warning signs, responding to escalation events, and deploying recovery plans and resources.    

Adennill can audit your existing plan to isolate gaps or weaknesses and tailor a solution to address every contingency. Based on findings from our reviews and analyses, Adennill makes client-specific recommendations to manage and either eliminate or mitigate the impact of identified vulnerabilities of your company.  

Adennill will prepare department-specific plans, as well as prioritizing recovery needs so that resources can be allocated to recover vital departments first.

TESTING/TRAINING

An essential component of security and emergency preparedness is training staff on how to respond to a critical incident more effectively. The goal of Critical Incident Response Training is to enhance coordination, communication, and proficiency among response staff. Adennill recognizes that an emergency plan is useful before and after an emergency; however, the most important thing that will affect the outcome of an emergency or critical incident training. 

Adennill has established a multi-hazard training program to better prepare those charged with leading the response to respond effectively during emergencies. Training provided by Adennill includes discussions of the four main response options during emergencies - evacuation, shelter-in-place, lockout, and lockdown. It includes an interactive discussion on common physiological responses that occur during emergencies, as well as strategies to combat the potentially debilitating impact of those responses.