Many companies ignore their poor preparation for a crisis until they are faced with this situation. Poor preparation means the lack of a strategy, a plan and a lack of knowledge of the right tools and methods for good crisis management. That is why mistakes are often made that, instead of helping to solve them, only amplify them.

These are some of the most common:

• Lack of information sharing and anticipation. During a crisis, events happen at a high pace and the information needed for management may be difficult to obtain. Even without the information in its entirety, it is important to share with stakeholders what is going on so that they do not stay in expectation and guess, looking for information that may be wrong. For that, it is necessary to define in advance a management plan, flexible and that can be adapted, improvised and improved, for an unwanted crisis.
• Lack of a team built on relationships over time. A reliable team with the capacity to manage a crisis is mandatory. For this to work, its members have to know and work well together, which implies that their coexistence and interaction are promoted in a timely manner. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the function and emotional intelligence of the people who make up the team: calm people under pressure, oriented to detail, accessible, respected and confident and people with specific skills for a particular crisis. It is necessary to ensure that their personalities match so that internal conflicts are non-existent during a crisis and their resolution is the only focus.

• Don't learn from mistakes. After a crisis it is important to bring the whole team together to identify what went well, what went wrong, and what should be done differently if there is a next crisis. Only by learning from mistakes is it possible to avoid repeating them. During a crisis, mistakes can be easy to make and difficult to repair. They will always exist and the more you study and learn from them, the more difficult it becomes for them to have more serious consequences and even if they will be repeated.
• Lack of planning and manual management. A crisis management plan is decisive for its resolution or to minimize its effects as much as possible. Decisions have to be quick and their effective communication, which involves the existence of a manual to be followed so that reliable and updated information is available in good time for the use of those responsible and crisis resolution teams.