Collaborative Crisis Management

Two experienced corporate crisis advisors offer a thorough and approachable guide to successful crisis management from anticipation to resolution.

All organisations face crises from time to time, and at a time when news, information (or misinformation), and rumours can spread quickly, a timely and thoughtful response to a crisis is critical. In this book, two industry insiders offer a primer on how organisational leadership should prepare for and handle crises. The steps, plans, and cautions they offer show how organisations can deal openly and honestly with challenges while continuing to survive and prosper.

Thomas A. Cole and Paul Verbinnen show how successful crisis management requires a multi-disciplined approach enacted collaboratively under strong leadership. Drawing on many real-world examples, they speak to not only what to do during a crisis, but also the need for preparedness and post-crisis follow-up. The book is organised around a broad range of discrete issues that need to be addressed in managing any crisis and provides the steps required to successfully address each of those issues. The authors urge crisis managers to focus attention equally on four phases of management: prepare, execute, recover, and then repeat (after reflecting on the results of the last crisis) with the next one. The emphasis is on preparation and planning, setting up the procedures, and organising the teams that will respond to each crisis.

Unlike other crisis books that focus solely on communication, Collaborative Crisis Management goes further and, in addition to communication, discusses both the legal obligations and organisational challenges that accompany a crisis. The result is an indispensable guide for leaders, board members, and business students.