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PrintWhen there is an apprehension of difficulty, getting prepared to deal with the possibilities is less difficult/easier than when everything has already hit the fan. It is possible to manage personal apprehensions well before the fact at a stress level that doesn't have everyone reaching for their anxiety medications.
Since very few people ever have the misfortune to do this both ways -- way before the fact and at the moment of attack -- it's hard to appreciate the difference in levels of difficulty.
Having seen it both ways, I can reliably report that early warning prophylaxis is easier on the soul, easier on the budget, and far superior in the sense that the options are maximized. What you can do once an assault has begun or is about to begin immediately is greatly restricted by comparison. When assault has begun, triggers are pulled that may limit defensive strategies.
Denial is the most expensive company dynamic. Even if you are reasonably satisfied that "nothing is wrong," you need to take into account that if the sentiment is reliable and nothing is wrong in fact, that verification is worth a great deal in psychic revenue as well as downstream risk.
The probability is that apprehension really has a basis in fact, even if the "problems" turn out upon analysis not to be as serious as you feared. And if they are worse than you believed they might be, the value of early remediation can be incalculable.
I'm not talking about burning files. I'm talking about dealing with the root causes of potential adverse circumstances. Root cause remediation beats the hell out of mea culpa later on.
Making things work better enables a much easier personal relationship between the crisis counselor and managers than having to deal with what could have been remediated but wasn't.
Avoidance of crisis is so much more valuable than the consequences of denial. The mantra speaks for itself.
The likelihood is that what must be done to achieve remediation early on is far less costly than what may have to be done when actually in crisis mode.
I offer no apologies for saying what seems to anyone as basic elementary logic that any teenager ought to understand. There have been many companies that, although management knew this to be true in abstract terms, didn't avail themselves of their best options before those options were severely restricted or worse.
Much of crisis management counseling really is rocket science. Most of early on remedial investigation and analysis isn't. Nuff said?
Visit the Crisis Management Center for feature articles, related services, and other resources to help get your company through difficult times.
