Crisis leadership - seizing the golden hour!
RCAS supports a plethora of industries with one of our biggest growth sectors being gaming in 2024. That trend is stronger than ever in 2025! Following some very successful industry engagements, we were recently contacted by Global Gaming Business, the leading gaming industry magazine to share about the importance of crisis leadership.
Here is an excerpt of the article with the full article available here.
Winning strategies for effective crisis management
A recent Netflix series documented Sir Winston Churchill, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister who guided his nation through the global crisis of the Second World War. While controversial, his leadership brought many together in the fight against fascism and changed the world we live in today. What made him successful in the face of an overwhelming enemy and difficult geo-political terrain? The documentary did not provide enough detail in how Churchill organised himself to clearly state whether he was lucky or did he follow crisis management best practises to victory. What is clear, is that crisis defined his legacy as a leader. Today, crisis still defines how leaders and organisations are perceived.
If Covid taught us anything as a society, it is that crisis is inevitable, and it is highly likely we will not be offered the luxury of deciding when calamity strikes. After a 35+ year career in public and private sector roles, my current professional life has me focused on supporting organisations in preparing for and responding to crisis. The following keys to successful crisis management are a collection of what I have seen as best practises gleaned from working with my clients.
Other than history lessons, Netflix also has a wide variety of murder investigation shows. Most of the investigator narrators on these shows speak of the “the first 24 hours” being critical in successfully apprehending the killer(s). For crisis management experts, we have a similar paradigm with the “golden hour”. An organisation’s initial crisis response, ideally within an hour of the crisis being recognised, makes the difference in whether an organisation thrives or struggles throughout the impactful event. So, how do we prepare ourselves for the unknown?
In a perfect world, any organisation will immediately react to a crisis and convene their crisis management team (CMT). Their CMT will assess the crisis’s immediate impact to the organisation and focus their energy on containment; not letting the crisis worsen. Priorities should always be people first, your clients and employees. Next priority is your assets such as brick & mortar infrastructure and inventory. Finally, your reputation! Occasionally I have clients state their reputation is their most valuable asset and that should be priority #1. History has shown that organisations that focus on people and assets first, end up with an untattered reputation or an improved public perception through strong crisis management responses.
Before diving in, it is important to clearly define the term “crisis.” There is a plethora of terms used interchangeably in the industry: serious event, emergency, business continuity, and safety & security incident to name a few. If a crisis is impactful enough, there may be insurance implications. As such, I like to use the British Standards Institute’s BSI 11200 definition:
“An abnormal and unstable situation that threatens the organization’s strategic objectives, reputation, or viability, and which requires a response beyond business as usual.”
It is worth noting that ISO 22361 was published in 2022, making it the first true global industry standard for crisis management. Their definition shares the same spirit and intent: