Crisis Management Prevention Plan

Crisis Management Prevention Plan

This resource is for chapters who need to update or create a crisis management prevention plan. This five-step process is best used when you have a specific crisis in mind that you are hoping to prevent.

STEP 1: FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH AUBURN UNIVERSITY GREEK LIFE AND/OR YOUR HEADQUARTERS RISK MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND/OR PROCEDURES.

All Auburn University relevant policies and procedures can be found on the Greek Life website.

STEP 2: THINK OF WHAT PROBLEM YOU ARE TRYING TO SOLVE. WHAT CRISIS ARE YOU HOPING TO PREVENT?

Maybe there is an event, or activity that needs updating, or maybe there is a group of people in your chapter causing issues, think about what problem you are trying to prevent from getting worse, or becoming a crisis.

Answer these questions:

  • Describe the situation you are hoping to prevent.
  • What is problematic about something you are currently doing, maybe an event, or activity?
  • What could happen if this continues?

STEP 3: FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL.

Be specific about what you can control, so that you can create a plan to prevent the problem you are trying to solve. When you create your plan, you want to focus on how you will set expectations, how you might intervene, and how you will hold members accountable.

Answer these questions:

  • What expectations do you have for how members should behave?
  • How will you confront behavior that does not align with the established expectations? Who will do this for the chapter?
  • How will you hold members accountable if they violated expectations? What if members continueto ignore expectations?

STEP 4: ESTABLISH CONSEQUENCES. IF MEMBERS ARE A PART OF THE PROBLEM, DETERMINE HOW THE CHAPTER WILL HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.

All chapters have membership expectations. When members are not, or refuse to follow those expectations, chapters should establish consequences that will correct the behavior. This step is important to continue to prevent problematic situations that could lead to a crisis.

Answer these questions:

  • What are the consequences for members who do not adhere to the prevention plan?
  • Which chapter leaders are responsible for adjudicating members?

STEP 5: COMMUNICATE WITH THE CHAPTER ABOUT THE CRISIS MANAGEMENT PREVENTION PLAN.

Once the crisis management plan is established, you need to communicate with the entire chapter about the established expectations, how you might intervene, and how you will hold members accountable. Communication examples include, email, or chapter meeting.

Adopted from Holmes Murphy, Crisis Management Prevention Plan Resource