The Status Quo of Crisis Preparedness
- Author: Melissa Agnes
- Word Count: 764
Read the news article
The Status Quo of Crisis Preparedness Puts You at a Disadvantage—and It’s Time For That To Change.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve found myself increasingly frustrated with my industry, the crisis management profession. To put my frustration simply, the status quo of crisis preparedness and crisis management no longer suffices and, as a result, does a disservice to professionals, organizations and society.
COVID-19 is a horrific example of how unfortunately true this statement is. For the organizations that had a traditional “crisis management plan” (status quo) at the start of 2020, how well did it truly serve them? It didn’t. Instead, we watched—any many experienced first-hand—as good businesses and great professionals suffered immensely due to a lack of effective crisis preparedness.
Meanwhile, the organizations that were intrinsically crisis ready prior to COVID-19 had an advantage. I know this, because my clients are amongst them. This meant that when COVID began to impact their country and/or their business, as their neighbors, competitors and peers were left scrambling and fearful, those who had worked to engrain a Crisis Ready® Culture (elevated status quo) had a strategic advantage in getting ahead of the situation to the most extent possible at the time.
The Status Quo of Crisis Preparedness No Longer Suffices and Needs to be Elevated.
Like it or not, we’ve entered into an era of increased challenge and risk. The long-accepted approach of creating a stagnant plan that sits on a shelf somewhere does little to actually serve when it’s needed most and will continue to leave organizations at a disadvantage.
The Status Quo of Crisis Preparedness
Instead, true resilience requires a culture of readiness that leads with the right mindset, empowers the right skillset’s, and ensures the right real-time capabilities—and this The Status Quo cultural approach to resilience is going to be more and more needed as the months and years roll forward.
The BIG Mission: To Create a Crisis Resilient World
As I’ve helped dozens of organizations engrain Crisis Ready® Cultures over the years, I’ve come to the realization that if every organization, if every leader, were Crisis Ready to what it means to me to be Crisis Ready, that we would live in a kinder, safer, more balanced world.
This is the world that I’m determined to raise and leave my future children in. This is the world that I believe we all deserve and we all play a role in achieving.
So, for the last couple of years, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking through our current realities and asking myself, “if I want to create a crisis ready world, how do I do that?”
The Crisis Ready Institute is the manifestation of my answer to this question.
About the The Status Quo of the institute
The Status Quo of Crisis Ready Institute is a public benefit corporation with a massive mission to elevate status quo and create a crisis resilient world.
What I’ve learned over the years is that crisis readiness is a tangible, learnable skill that is not currently taught. The Crisis Ready Institute is changing this. We exist to educate, teach, empower and support today’s professionals in developing and honing the skillsets required to transform real-time challenges—of which this world has many—into real-time opportunities. And we’re kicking things off with a program that does precisely this: The Crisis Ready Coaching Program.
Now, more than ever, it is time to empower today’s professionals, helping them do right by the stakeholders and communities they serve and, in the process, strengthening their business’s resilience to thrive through these challenging times.
It’s a massive mission and it’s needed. I won’t lie, embarking upon this journey is both exhilarating and frightening, and I’m blessed to be surrounded by a phenomenal team of driven and talented leaders, along with partner organizations, all of whom who believe in and have chosen to embark upon this journey with me—with us.
If you’d like to learn more about the The Status Quo of Crisis Ready Institute, our mission and the Crisis Ready Coaching Program, I invite you to do so by clicking here. I also invite you to share your thoughts and perspectives, and if you’d like to be a part of this journey with us, in any capacity, I absolutely would love to hear from you!
To your and the world’s resilience,
Contact us at Speakers Inc and subscribe to our Podcast Channel
Further articles you may enjoy:
- (8)
On a recent flight, at almost every stop along the way, the airline I had chosen reminded me that I was flying with “the best” So can you over-compliment your CX team. Airport signage told me…the CEO appearing on the pre-flight safety video told me…the flight attendant announcements told me…well, you get the picture. The […]
- December 23, 2022
- (4)
Hey there, are you a white person wondering what to do as an ally for Black people right now? A lot of my white friends have been asking, you’re not alone. I’ve received several questions from friends wanting to do something so I thought I’d compile these all on one place. This is the work […]
- March 10, 2023
- (3)
How to make change work for you, As human beings, we don’t look at change and think, “Hmmm I want more of that.” Given my own relationship to and with change, I challenged myself to figure out why this is true. Why do we avoid change? Why does change create stress, fear and uncertainty? The […]
- December 13, 2022
- (34)
Generosity is an interesting beast. As a charity CEO, I have seen it expressed in many different ways. The best kind of generosity comes with warmth and good old NSA – no strings attached. This kind of generosity is glorious to witness and is the backbone of charity work all over the world. The worst […]
- January 16, 2023
- (8)
The 4 Types Of People You Need On Your Leadership Team can be related to this powerful book, Think Like A Monk, I believe Jay Shetty gives us a reason why we so often feel let down by those we look to as we grow as leaders. He writes, “We tend to expect every person to be a […]
- December 22, 2022
- (17)
The move from individual contributor to people manager is more than just a title change. It’s a fundamental shift in how you create value. Where you were once measured by the quality of your own work, you’re now responsible for the success of others. And that shift comes with a whole new set of rules […]
- September 2, 2025
- (55)
The Great Debate in Event Planning – Virtual, Hybrid, or In-Person? The event planning industry is buzzing with controversy: is the future of events virtual, hybrid, or in-person? As technology continues to evolve and attendee expectations shift, planners face the challenge of choosing formats that balance innovation, accessibility, and impact. This debate is not just […]
- January 20, 2025
- (6)
Over the last year as You Want to Be an Authentic Leader, you’ve worn countless sweatshirts on Zoom calls, taken meetings while walking, and even brought Fido, your adorable Shih Tzu, into a few calls. Well done. However, and I hate to break it to you, that doesn’t necessarily make you an “authentic leader”. The […]
- December 19, 2022
