Types of Crisis Situations That Arise More Frequently

Some industries have their flavor of crisis that always comes up, like covenant not to compete enforcement risk in the franchise business. It seems that in recent years publicly held companies have accounting "issues" to deal with. How you treat things has an immediate impact upon stated operating profitability, and if there are drop dead dates coming up there can be a lot of pushing and shoving amongst management and the auditors. Construction companies used to have more emergencies than they seem presently to do, but when they do arise it is still a finger pointing contest amongst architects, engineers, contractors, sub contractors, at least for a while until the sorting out process has moved along a bit. Construction companies seem more often to be run by folks who handle things in a forthright manner these days. That factor alone reduces conflict income for the lawyers.

I am seeing a bit more frequent company/system infiltration situations in which hostile elements insinuate themselves into the operating loops of companies for the purpose of pushing nefarious agendas. You show me an over the hill franchise network and I’ll show you a target for those who distribute contraband and launder money. Most organizations never think of themselves in that context and are unprepared to deal with it or even detect its happening.

Infiltration really is best handled by very early on anticipation and preparation. When the problem comes out of the woodwork it is difficult to find cooperative witnesses. There have to be evidentiary substitutes for live witness testimony in many instances, and that requires system infrastructure adjustment that almost no one seems to be aware of. Sometimes infiltration can be facilitated by someone in company management without the person even being aware that they are playing that role. When it surfaces and the first response is blame casting and accusatory behavior, remediation is made more difficult.

I’m sure that next year will bring its flavor-of-the-month crisis cycle.

Find out more about franchise crisis management at http://www.franchiseremedies.com.