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Creating a crisis management team—key roles and responsibilities

by | Sep 17, 2021 | Analysis, Public Relations

One of the biggest factors that end up determining whether a company can successfully navigate a crisis is the crisis management team and the members’ preparedness. Companies looking to create their own strong crisis PR management team should choose people that will fit each role well, as they can utilize their individual strengths in their roles.

The main goal of a crisis management team is for a company to have an easier time navigating through a crisis. The crisis management team at a company can manage and lead everyone at the company, communicate important information to relevant people, and analyze the situation, along with potential reputational damages.

The most common crisis management team roles include department heads, the executive team, someone from the company’s board of directors, human resources, along with communications and marketing managers. This is a group of people that can help the company navigate a difficult situation, and create an action plan to move forward from that situation with minimal damages. There are several things that the people on a crisis management team should have when the company looks to select the right people.

Analytical skills

The crisis management team is going to be filled with people that are going to be solving a problem for the company, which means everyone on the team should have strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This way, the team, along with the company itself, can quickly come to a strong solution to any problem, and at a faster rate.

Performance under pressure

The people in the crisis management team should also be individuals that are level-headed, and think without emotions during stressful situations, without feeling overwhelmed. Crisis situations put a lot of pressure on the crisis management team, and the company overall, which is why businesses need these types of people that aren’t going to break under pressure.

Communication

Everyone in the crisis PR management team will likely, at some point, have to address the public, or even the press, to share important information about the situation. That’s why the team members should have strong communication skills and are able to communicate clearly and efficiently, both with the public and with each other.

Collaboration

As with all teams, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, which is why it’s important for the crisis management team to work together and come up with the best possible plan or solution to a problem. Everyone should be working towards a unified goal which, at its core, should be to help the company successfully navigate through any sort of crisis situation that can potentially damage its reputation.

Once the company has created a crisis management team with people that have the aforementioned skills and are from the noted roles, it’s time for the team to run through different potential crisis scenarios and create separate plans for each one. This way, the company will be prepared for any negative situation beforehand, and the job of the crisis management team will become a lot easier.

Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian is the Founder and Chairman of 5W Public Relations: 5WPR is one of the 20 largest PR Firms in the United States.

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