One of the most incredible books of this era is ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and the first habit stated by Covey is ‘Be Proactive’. The quality of proactive is that it applies to all walks of a person’s life. Moreover, this quality is likely a must in the world of business and economics. Many of the people around assume ‘activeness’ to be a competency; but today, ‘proactiveness’ is the competency employers look for. Proactive people tend to get more appreciation and reward for their ‘extra’ hardwork. The real question is … ‘how proactive we are in tackling a crisis?
Let’s consider an example; all organizations practice fire drills periodically, though not all organizations go through a fire break out – then why practice? Just to ensure that ‘if in case’ such a situation arises, people should be ready for it, and should know what to do. Its what they call ‘proactiveness’. The point to ponder is … why not practice crisis?
What will a store manager do if the sales suddenly decline?
What will a brand manager do if there are regulations against out of home advertising?
What will the brand do if there is a regulation against its ingredients?
Is there a Plan B???
Practicing on simulative crisis scenarios can give enough confidence to the managers, decision makers and all employees that they could smell crisis even before it deepens and eventually react in time to avoid a major crisis.
There are a number of commonly used tools to develop such simulations. One of them is called mystery shopping i.e. sending unknown representatives to evaluate how employees react to various situations. Another simulative methodology is case studies and role plays. There are firms that reverse roles of managers or make their employee of the month as ‘one day managers’ – hypothetically or otherwise – to visualize the leadership skills and to seek ideas. This and many more such and similar practices can be used to practice crisis before it emerges.
With all these practices and procedures being applied and best practices … the real question is … ‘how proactive we are in tackling a crisis?
