Didn’t see that one coming …

It’s a well known (and accurate) adage among crisis managers that success in responding to crisis is 90 percent in the planning and preparation. I don’t know if I agree 100 percent with the 90 percent mark but it’s pretty close.

What isn’t as commonly understood is that a considerable portion of that last 10 percent is recognizing when it’s time to put all those best laid plans into action. The sooner a manager recognizes the winds are blowing toward a crisis scenario, the better positioned she can be to get out ahead of it.

This is a cornerstone concept of the workshops we do. The video below is a sample of the first discussion we have with our attendees on day 1. It runs about 9 minutes and breaks down the chemistry of a crisis by identifying the key elements and how they interact to create a crisis reaction. It’s an analogy I developed and tweaked over time and would love feedback from other pros on how well it works.