The Crisis Management Memo

Can consultants make a crisis "go away?"

“Make it go away.” That seemed to be the goal of a one-time crisis management client of ours several years ago.

The client had gotten itself into hot water with the news media and government regulators and instead of seeking advice in how to make the best of a bad situation, they simply wanted to engage a crisis management firm that would perform a disappearing act for them. They didn’t seem to care how it was done. They were willing to pay as long as we got rid of the problem and it didn’t take too much of their time or effort.

Unfortunately for them, crisis management doesn’t really work that way. At least not in the world we’ve been working in for the past 20-plus years.

Crisis management, at the least, takes a degree of cooperation and effort by the organization that’s involved in the crisis. While you may be able to buy your way out of some crises with the right consultant, I have yet to encounter that type of case.

Pardon the comparison, but it almost sounds like trying to hire a “hit man” to get rid of your problem.

Crisis management, I believe, is a team effort. It involves the organization affected, as well as the consultant…and sometimes additional players. A consultant alone – regardless of his experience and talent and how much he charges – is facing an almost impossible uphill battle if he tries to battle the crisis single handedly.

A crisis management consultant can offer advice and they can help implement strategies, but at the end of the day, it’s the organization’s reputation that’s on the line and the organization has to be in the center, starring role of any successful attempt to manage a crisis.

While the vast majority of the clients we’ve had the opportunity to work with over the years have been more than cooperative in providing any help we asked for, we do occasionally run across a prospective client now and then who just doesn’t seem to understand how crisis management works in the real world.

During the past several months, we’ve had multiple occasions where clients have wanted to hire our firm to handle crisis management much as they would hire a gardener to get rid of the weeds in their garden. They wanted us to make the crisis go away, but they didn’t want to get their hands soiled in the process. They seemed to figure with enough money, they shouldn’t have to involve themselves any more than writing a check now and then.

True crisis management begins with the formation of a crisis team. The team needs the talent and resources and expertise to handle the job. Yes, the team will probably need some outside assistance from time to time, but the team needs to maintain control of the process. You simply can’t outsource crisis management to a PR firm or crisis consultant.

In the best of circumstances, the team already has a relationship with a crisis management consultant. In the worst circumstance, they are looking for one at the worst-possible time.

A good crisis management consultant will offer advice and hopefully lessons from past experience that can help resolve the situation. At the very least, he or she should be a good sounding board for the crisis team’s own ideas of what should be done.

The consultant is not a substitute for the team’s own experience, or its knowledge of the organization and the industry. In the end, it is the role of the crisis team – not the consultant – to make decisions on what direction it should take in a crisis. The consultant only provides advice and counsel. Whether the team follows that advice and counsel is up to team members.

Together, the consultant and crisis team – along with the organization’s management and key players – have the best opportunity for forming a successful strategy. That opportunity is severely compromised if the team relinquishes its leadership and simply tries to hire a consultant who can make the problem go away.

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