Newspaper Page Text
Understanding the true
nature of crises
Odette Pollar
ne of the most common
mistakes people make is
toconfuseatruecrisiswith
a looming deadline. This confu
sion adds a layer of high emotion
and franticness to stressful situa
tions that is unnecessary. Itis a
continual source of amazement at
the annual budget process throws
so many organizations into
months of frenzy. Budget cycles
are routine, expected, and pre
dictable. There is a long lead
time, yet many respond as though
it is a brand new, completely un
expected event. Deadlines are a
regular part of business and
should be planned for. Not onlyis
the due date known in advance,
some influence over the deadline
is possible. The consequences of
missing a deadline may or may
not be severe, depending on the
issue.
A crisis, on the other hand,is an
unexpected occurrence of signifi
cant impact that deviates from
the normal course of events and
requires an immediate response.
Crises are new or unique, and the
onset is sudden. What makes
them so disruptive is the lack of
warning combined with the need
forimmediate response. The ulti
mate test for whether an activity
isreally crisis potential is whether
it will have serious consequences
ifnot handled. This is very differ
ent from the characteristics of a
deadline.
Manyfactorsinfluence the num
ber and frequency of crises—on a
macro level economic indicators,
business trends, and company
mergers. On a micro level per
sonal style, whether you are a
skilled planner, emotional equi
librium all have an impact. Man
agement by crisis is distracting,
time consuming and costly. Re
ducing the number of these expe
riences will help you and your
organization become more effec
tive. ‘Think back to the last crisis
you experienced:
- Was the crisis new to you or to
your department?
-Haveyou ever experienced this
or a similar crisis before?
- Wasthere anything predicable
about this crisis?
-Isthere anything you can do to
prevent a similar crisis from oc
curringin the future? These ques
tions will get you thinking about
proactive ways to respond.
MONSANTO CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
Agricultural specialists featured at
Waynesboro agricultural field day
WAYNESBORO, Ga.
The Central Savannah River
Authority (CSRA) Farm in
Waynesboro, Ga., will host a
Monsanto Centers of Excellence
field day on Thursday, July 15,
1999. The event, which begins at
8:30 a.m. and concludes with a
sponsored lunch, is expected to
draw farmers and agricultural
specialists from Georgia, South
Carolina and other parts of the
Southeast.
The purpose of the Centers of
Excellence is to research, develop
and refine conservation tillage
systems to increase farm produc
tivity, lower production costs and
If you are in need of summer help (camp counselors,
teachers’ aides, assistant activity coordinators, trip
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send your advertising needs on to our Marketing
Department. Call our talented marketing executives
at (706) 724-7855 to set up your ads.
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Four types of crises
1. High frequency, low im
pact.
When a situation happens fre
quently but carries with it no sig
nificant impact, it is usually not a
true crisis. It is likely to be a
process or a system that needs
adjustment.
What to do: Create a procedure
forhandlingthese situations more
smoothly. Look for ways to
streamline key processes in your
department.
2. High frequency, high im
pact.
If you are regularly experienc
ingthese, youarein acrisis-driven
environment. This is a high risk
and dangerous way to run a de
partment or company. Most
things that hit you are full-blown
drop dead problems already. It’s
an environment where there is
very little planning and it never
seems like there is a calm time.
What to do: Regular advance
planning will help. Encourage
staff to bring potential problems
up as early as possible. Create
crisis intervention teams to re
spond to situations instead of ev
eryone in the entire department
becoming involved.
3. Low frequency, high im
pact.
These are true crises. They do
not happen often, but when they
do, they really matter. You prob
ably plan well, which allows you
to sidestep many of the more rou
tine fires, but nomatterhow much
planning you do, some will occur.
That is part of the spice of life.
benefit soil and water quality. The
CSRA farm event is the third of
eight such field days held across
the Cotton Belt from Californiato
South Carolina.
Speakers include University of
Georgia agricultural specialists
Simmy McKowen, Glenn Harris,
Steve Brown, Paul Rayner and
Jim Hook. There will also be field
tours and presentations by indus
try representatives from
Monsanto, BASF, Netafim and
BAS Company. The major crop
focus will be on cotton, soybeans
and peanuts.
Topics to be covered include
subsoil and center pivot irriga
What to do: Attempt to lessen
theirimpact on you and your team,
or department. Add extra time to
project estimates to allow for the
unexpected and make sure not to
start any fires while putting out
the current one.
Management
® ® ® °
by crisis is dis
o o
tracting, time
@
consuming and
costly.
4. Low frequency, low im
pact.
What to do: Don’t worry about
these at all. They don’t happen
often, and they don’t matter much
when they do.
Routine deadlines that come
with a task or an area of responsi
bility are not the same as crises
that are truly new and unique.
The effects of both can be amelio
rated by planning. The more calm
you can be, the more energy and
resources will be available for
those truly unexpected, high-im
pact situations. :
Odette Pollar is a nationally
known speaker, author, and con
sultant. Her book, 365 Ways to
Simplify Your Work Life, is avail
able at bookstores. Her company,
Time Management Systems, is
based in Oakland, Calif. Call 1-
800-599-TIME or e-mail at
Opollartms@aol.com.
tion, management of ultra nar
row row cotton, row spacing in
peanuts, fertilization manage
ment, proper selection of soybean
and cotton varieties, herbicide
injury, and new developments with
transgenic cotton.
To get to the CSRA farm from
Augusta, take GA South for 25
miles. Make a right on GA Route
23 and travel west nine miles to
Handcock Landing Road. Make a
left and follow the signs. For
advance registration of more in
formation, call Dr. John Bradley
at 901-375-5655, or 1-800-
Roundup.
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