It’s one of the worst nightmares for small business owners. Your business is past its growing pains, it’s growing and making money. Then, bam. A crisis hits from seemingly out of nowhere. Successful entrepreneurs need to know how to weather crises. What type of crises? They can be anything from a product failure, to a sudden loss of key employees, to a sudden economic downturn because of a pandemic. Whatever it is, savvy business owners have to know how to manage the situation. The website All Business offered some smart suggestions. These are the four we found the most insightful.
Delegate, delegate, delegate
During a crisis, you need to remember not to take personal control over everything, especially if you are the CEO or head of the company. Instead, you need to delegate tasks to your crisis management or response team members, including PR spokespeople.
By delegating tasks, you’ll ensure that vital work gets done on time and there isn’t a lot of back-and-forth or delay between your responses to the public.
Speak to the public
Always speak to the public immediately following the development of a crisis. The last thing you want to do is go radio silent, particularly if the crisis in question affects your customers or clients.
If word gets out that a crisis is coming your way, face it head on and immediately put out a public statement. All you have to do is acknowledge that you recognize the crisis and are working on solutions or potential work-arounds.
This does two major things to benefit your organization:
- It shows that you are taking charge of the situation.
- It can calm down or reassure clients or customers who haven’t experienced the same crisis factors before.
Be decisive with employees
In times of crisis, people respect leadership and decisiveness. Show you’re in charge by firing problematic employees and hiring new ones right away. Don’t allow sentiment to get in the way of doing what needs to be done. That’s especially important in the early days of the crisis when the public may demand rapid decisions that show you are doing something or anything at all.
Similarly, if your employees are not to blame, don’t throw them under the bus. Defend them to restore faith in your leadership and company culture and earn back your customers’ respect.
Accept responsibility
You should also accept responsibility for any crisis and all future messages. Don’t try to shift blame or make it seem like a crisis is someone else’s fault. All this does is make your leadership look unprofessional and ineffective.
Even if the crisis in question isn’t your fault, take responsibility anyway. You lose nothing by shouldering the burden of solving the crisis or promising to help customers overcome their current difficulties.
We hope these tips help. you to weather any crises you may face. Our goal at VersaTel Solutions is to help our clients weather day-to-day challenges. Reach out to us to find out how we can help you. We have a package that can help you with your bookkeeping, HR, and administrative needs.