Crisis management: How to prepare for unanticipated events
Kansas City The heavily regulated pet food industry is becoming more and more well-known as people give their pet’s nutrition, health, and well-being just as much thought as they do for their own children. Expectations are very high, and even something as trivial and harmless as a single mistake or human error has the capacity to start a crisis.
“Pet food processors must be prepared for a crisis that could relate to consumers, retailers, business partners, regulators, or any other important audience,” stated Dana Brooks, president and chief executive officer of the Pet Food Institute (PFI), Washington, D.C. “Partnered with the increasingly complex manufacturing processes, federal and state oversight, and dynamic supply chain needs.”
A crisis, whether it manifests as a pandemic, a natural disaster, or a product recall, will invariably have an adverse effect on your operations and business continuity.
“It is foolish to think that your company will never experience a crisis,” stated Hinda Mitchell, president of Inspire PR Group, located in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s not if, but when you choose to be a human, hire a human, or serve a human.”
A thorough crisis plan, when implemented, may guarantee that possible dangers are recognized, that steps are taken to lessen their effects, and that recovery time is accelerated. A risk assessment can identify the most likely dangers to an operation, whether it be from a natural disaster, employee health problems, product recall, or another source. It can also ascertain how these threats may affect a business, product, personnel, supply chain, operations, and customers.
According to Peg Ray, manager of technical services at AIB International in Manhattan, Kansas, a processor can only create a response plan to meet the specific requirements if it has a thorough grasp of these and other dangers. A strong crisis plan, however, won’t deal with operational shortcomings. The best practices continue to involve testing, QA and SOP maintenance and spot checks, reporting requirements, and pet food safety procedures.
Getting workers ready
According to Anne Marie Quinn, senior vice president and partner at FleishmanHillard HighRoad in Toronto, Canada, many companies have invested in a strong crisis plan with good business continuity or have recovery plans in place at the operational level, but they lack preparation from a communications and stakeholder level.
In order to meet the demands of your stakeholders, she stated, “you must communicate clearly about how you are handling a crisis that affects them.” “This also applies to your own staff members, who in a crisis should not be disregarded as having their own communication needs.”
Many people neglect to update their own teams on the situation in their eagerness to react to such an event. According to Mitchell, workers may be worried about their jobs or how the crisis would affect the company’s general stability. They may also frequently receive inquiries about the situation from their personal networks. Overcommunicating might be beneficial in avoiding unnecessary anxiety or false information.
Chris Hamilton, president and chief executive officer of Red Collar Pet Foods in Franklin, Tennessee, stated that knowledge is the greatest preparedness. To define roles and responsibilities and the conditions that would lead to the formation of a Crisis Management Team, it is imperative to construct a comprehensive and well-defined crisis management strategy. Employers can respond to a crisis with the help of a strategy.
Employee education on critical best practices like GMPs, HACCP, and food defense is another important component of preparation, according to Ray. In addition to assisting the operation in avoiding problems that could cause a crisis, such as a product recall, training on these and other topics enables frontline staff to understand and apply fundamental components of food safety. For example, she said that in order to ensure a seamless recall process, staff members need to be aware of their allocated roles and capable of carrying them out.
Red Collar Pet Foods’ extensive crisis plan has made it possible for the business and its employees to respond to unforeseen circumstances coolly and resiliently. All colleagues and leadership undergo site-specific safety training, which is regarded as a non-negotiable. Red Collar Pet Foods is one of the few US pet food producers with FSSC 22000 certification, demonstrating its commitment to being a proactive company. Many human food firms employ the FSSC 22000 accreditation, which has the toughest requirements regarding quality and food safety.
Continuing to be proactive
Quinn suggested creating a communications playbook to improve readiness. The playbook should specify who is in charge of communications during a crisis, as well as each member’s responsibilities within the crisis team and the key stakeholders for the company, all from the perspective of stakeholder engagement and communications.
“Adding a variety of crisis scenarios is one of a playbook’s most important components,” she went on. Consider potential situations that could affect your company and describe the communication strategy you would use in each case. With a cross-functional team, put this playbook through its paces on a regular basis, pressing each scenario to test the roles, responsibilities, and communication protocols.
Creating a crisis plan can minimize the natural reactions that could make the situation worse and preserve vital time. According to Mitchell, defining roles ahead of time is essential to preventing “turf” fights and other conflicts.
According to Hamilton, a clearly defined process may also guarantee that standard operating procedures for excellent manufacturing practices, worker safety, and quality and food safety requirements are not compromised in times of emergency. These components comprise the routine safety measures, which are put in place to preserve the caliber of a company’s goods and the enterprises of its clients.
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Including associates both inside and outside the company
Any areas that were not sufficiently addressed in crisis planning can be made clear with the use of drills and scenarios that are intended to resemble a real crisis. Ray suggested customizing each crisis response group to deal with a particular problem. For example, you should involve a healthcare professional in the development of workforce health protection measures if the threat is associated with a pandemic or other health-related concern. Human resources must be involved in planning due to the potential effects on employees, and those in charge of regulations must be consulted on food safety and recall matters. Remember to include the IT department as well. All businesses still struggle with data management as a result of data loss, breaches, and cyber-security problems that are generating headlines across a wide range of industries.
“Basic labor and employment crises — such as domestic violence in the workplace, disgruntled employees, worker injury/death and other crises that create risk for all businesses and employers — get neglected because pet food makers spend so much time on industry-specific crises, like food safety, ingredient issues or supply chain disruptions,” Mitchell said.
Varying the rhythm
In ways that many never imagined, the epidemic is forcing processors to test their crisis communications plans as it continues to produce new kinds of crises. Ray noted that COVID-19 also brought attention to the fact that few operations had a crisis management plan that gave the effects of a pandemic first priority. This included dealing with pandemic-related problems like worker illness, supply chain disruptions, and facility shutdowns that were required, as well as unforeseen problems like civil unrest.
Conversely, methods employed to control labor scarcities, interruptions in the supply chain, spread of illness, and closures of establishments could inadvertently affect food safety and the reputation of brands. Therefore, it’s imperative that during crisis planning, all the ramifications of these tactics be evaluated and dealt with.
PFI witnessed directly the vital role that industry collaborations played during a crisis, just like many others who were also confronted with astounding volumes of information and shifting circumstances.
According to Brooks, “the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the significance of upholding unobstructed channels of communication and cooperating with stakeholders and nontraditional coalitions.”
Crisis management needs to be dynamic and flexible. Changes in operations or policy, both then and now, require appropriate and regular communication so that staff members and management can make the necessary adjustments. In order to minimize uncertainty or misunderstanding, a bottom-up communication structure gives colleagues a method to raise questions and concerns, while a top-down strategy guarantees that senior leadership will be involved in leading the crisis communication.
Given the potential for a crisis to undermine the trust and confidence of all pet food manufacturers, Mitchell advised viewing a crisis as a chance for industry unification rather than a means of gaining a competitive edge.
She advised, “Have a plan, then work the plan.”Whatever the issue, one thing is certain: each processor will experience it differently and with a distinct impact. Maintain an updated playbook and consistently improve communication techniques to stay proactive and flexible in the face of rapid change.
Ray stated, “It’s critical that operations take into account horizon scanning, which is the process of identifying potential threats to business continuity.” Additionally, processors need to think about the distinct risks to their operation and how each.