Boxoffice-November.2001

POV: Staff Management
Agreat sage once said, "Now is the
seed from which later will grow."
This is superb management advice,
especially for how to positively
manage crisis situations.
The recent events on the East Coast
have managers thinking about how to
best handle a crisis situation—an abnormal
event that threatens the operation of
a company, its personnel or its assets.
Successfully responding to any type of
crisis depends on the cooperation of
everyone within the company, the coordination
of response methods, saving
lives, protecting the business environment,
limiting damages, and protecting
the company's reputation, image, or
brand identity, its future liabilities, and
its ability to operate successfully now
and in the future. In short, the proactive
response is the best response.
Believe me, I've had my share of
learning some difficult lessons on the
importance and necessity of being able
snipers with automatic weapons for
more than seven hours with 1 ,500 theatre
guests and employees. Without panic!
So the question now is: How prepared
are you to meet the challenges of the
unexpected, the dangerous, or the disastrous?
Are you ready for the unseen crisis
waiting to happen? The following crisis
checklist is meant to be a "primer" for you
and your staff to follow. It is by no means
exhaustive, but meant only to get your
"manager mind" thinking in the mode of
being proactive "now" rather than reactive
"later." The rest is up to you.
POSITIVELY MANAGING
CRISIS SITUATIONS
APPROACH CRISIS AS A TEAM
Know the strengths and weaknesses of
your staff and cross-train for overall
"coverage" so that if one team member is
absent the rest of the team can fill in any
gap. Because your staff will take their
cues from you, stay calm and focused. If
you react by panicking, they'll follow
your lead. If you respond with thinking
and implementing your crisis-situation
plans, policies or procedures, they'll still
follow your lead. Identify additional crisis
"team leaders" on your staff.
READY AN EMERGENCY PLAN
Each crisis situation needs its own
action plan. What plan, if any, do you
have in place for each of these most likely
crisis scenarios: bomb threat, hostage
situation, robbery, shooting/stabbing,
gang violence, biological infiltration,
building collapse, fire/flood and riot?
ASK PRE-CRISIS QUESTIONS
To develop a comprehensive crisis
plan, you must consider a worst-case
by Randall Blaum
scenario based on the potential threats
to you, your staff and your facility. The
following questions are the starting
points for building a comprehensive
plan: Are staff members trained for crisis
situations? What are the company's
to successfully manage a crisis to ensure
minimal loss and damages, while continuing
to provide great customer service guests, adjacent tenants, vendors, modes
most vulnerable points—building, staff,
that is also safe service. With my 23 of communication, etc.? What will I
years in the movie business I've managed
to survive: working through an inkets,
medical help, food, cell phones,
need in case of a crisis—supplies, blantheatre
flood, being held at gunpoint, radio, back-up records, safe place for
being attacked by an angry customer, money and sensitive company information,
camera to document damages, etc.?
outbreaks of gang fights, evacuating a
sold-out theatre on opening night due to How many people am I responsible for?
a fire, and also being held hostage by What if we're stranded for any length of
time? What types of communication do
I have, and what happens if they fail?
Where do we go if the building is unsafe?
What is our evacuation plan?
IMPLEMENT THE CRISIS PLAN
Make sure all your first aid kits are
well stocked. Basics must include bandages,
Band-Aids, sterile gauze, eyewash,
scissors, and some type of pain
reliever. Conduct a monthly inventory of
all existing emergency supplies. Gather
all of the supplies in a central storage
area, or document where they are located.
Check the expiration dates on batteries,
fire extinguishers and the like.
Make sure to have enough supplies
for at least 72 hours. You will need:
water, food, blankets, cell phones, camera
loaded with film, flashlights, and
trash bags (which can protect equipment
from water damage from sprinklers).
Survey your building. Is there anything
that might make your crisis worse, or hinder
you in bringing the crisis under control?
Is there anything that can fall? Are
your exits clearly marked and easily
accessible? Is any room locked for which
keys are not readily available? Do you
have enough working fire extinguishers?
Do you know where the safest place is.
structurally speaking? And make sure
your staff is trained. Does anyone know
CPR? Can anyone handle minor triage?
KEEPING TRACK
How do you keep track of your
employees during and after a situation?
Do you know how many people you
have on staff and all their names? How
would you know if anyone was missing?
Do you have current emergency contact
information on everyone?
The key to handling any crisis situation
is knowing what to do before the crisis
happens. This can occur only if you
have ongoing crisis training as part of
your regular staff meetings—and drills
likewise are a must. The staff should
understand that, if the "impossible" happens,
lives can be saved, or lost, based on
their actions. Get them involved.
Management sets the example. Your
staff will take crisis management seriously
only if you take it seriously. Case
in point: Tens of thousands of people
survived the New York and Washington.
D.C. terrorist attacks because they had a
crisis action plan in place. So the only
question is:
the unexpected later?
Are you preparing now tor
HH
Randall Blaum is the CEO of RB
Communications Worldwide, a company
specializing in creating successful business
transformations specifically for the
entertainment industry. A nationally recognized
expert in marketing, advertising,
branding ami publicity. Mr Blaum may
he contacted at (503) 318-7705.
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