The business lessons from 9/11 underscore the importance of resilience, effective crisis management, adaptability, and strong leadership in times of uncertainty.
Remembered as one of the greatest catastrophes in the world, the 9/11 incident evokes scenes of horror, distress, and death. Yet, in the wake of tragedy, the heights of heroism, quick thinking, and empathy stand out. Since the unfortunate event struck at the twin World Trade Centre, several businesses were impacted, resulting in a slump in commerce and a significant blow to employee morale. Rebuilding and resuming operations amidst paralysed infrastructure, having contingency plans in place, and addressing the crisis at hand were the biggest lessons learned.
Let’s look at what steps can help deal with such situations:
1. Personal Presence
During a crisis, a leader needs to maintain high levels of visibility for the employees to know and understand that the management is with them. To address the distress and upheaval caused by crises, with both written and oral statements communicated with utmost sincerity, showcases empathy. The promises and assurances feel real and genuine when they hear them directly from the leader. This helps build that human connection rather than releasing it via a spokesperson.
2. Careful choice of communication channel
Reaching out to all your employees through various means that may be available to communicate with them is crucial. Being creative or using unusual channels can also work while placing importance on internal communication. It should come directly from the head and prevent the filtering effect, which often happens when it percolates through various levels, diluting the effectiveness of the message. It helps build bridges and create a level of understanding. It became important to get the message out about how businesses were also impacted by terrorism.
3. Stay focused on the business
Relying on work to keep the crisis at bay can help bring some kind of normalcy back to the scenario. It becomes an outlet for them to reach out to fellow workers and find solace at the workplace while enabling them to get back on the normal routine. Together, the employees getting to function again helps them regain pride for the organisation and forge stronger bonds between themselves.
4. Having a plan in place
Every contingency will not have a blueprint ready, as the scale and intensity of the event may vary. However, a course of action needs to be drawn up in order to salvage the situation with a backup. Without this, the organisation could fall apart. Having critical data, experienced personnel, and seamless communication plans can be drawn with efficiency. Having insurance policies for such acts in the future can help cope with the situation better.
5. Decentralisation of operations
Getting as many people as possible on board to help carry out the crisis plan will allow you to take things under control faster. Only certain members of top management cannot salvage the situation entirely. From people within or even outsourcing to people who are trained in crisis management can be hired to help get out of a situation with minimal damage to human resources, revenue and reputation. In these tough times the senior members or outsourced personnel can help with employee mental health support and boost their morale during these tough times.
6. Improvise with a strong foundation
An urgency to come up with solutions to salvage the situation requires contingency plans and improvisation to handle the situation. Those plans can also be converted into an opportunity that helps scale up the business during the crucial period. It requires a team that believes in you and the company’s policies, having a strong foundation to carry you through. As crises can come in any form, fixed standards cannot work and using the base of the contingency plan and brainstorming with the rest of the team to evaluate the further course of action.
7. Learning to deal with crises using guiding principles
Every company would have put in place certain guiding principles, and they form the basis for most decisions. They can work well when you bring together the team during a time of crisis. They can refer back to the strong team culture and philosophy of the company to hold on. It will enable them to fight and help the company take up the challenge and spring back with a robust crisis management plan in place.
Takeaway
The preparedness of the situation and having strong leadership can go a long way to help make those crucial decisions. Contingency plans go a long way in handling crises, though at times they may not fit exactly into the situation to the extent of the situation, but improvisation with an existing plan can act swiftly. Working with resilience in times of crisis can help rebuild and prevent further losses.