Today, many companies turn to interim management firms in times of crisis. Crisis management is an integral part of interim managers’ skills. But which crises are we talking about?

Generally speaking, the same types of crises affect companies:

• Site closures ;
• Setting up a Plan de Sauvegarde à l’Emploi (PSE) ;
• Buyout of groups or subsidiaries with staff reductions ;
• Scandals, media crises (communication) ;
• Serious accidents.

Times of crisis are double-edged. A crisis can be good for business if it’s under control. Cleverly controlled, it goes from “crisis” to “change”. A company in the midst of a crisis needs to be able to count on the right management, capable of overcoming difficult times while keeping the objective in sight: to restore the situation, or even improve it once the crisis is over.

Transition Management calls on the skills and knowledge needed to balance a company in crisis. He or she knows how to prioritize certain areas over others. Its main qualities include :

• Leadership: where the manager takes the stick with both hands when the plane takes a dive;
• Empathy: he or she has a keen sense of listening skills, which accounts for 50% of successful crisis resolution;
• Disruption: she or he is capable of making tough decisions when necessary.

Following a crisis, many managers are left with concerns. Will business resume as before? Is the company’s image affected? If so, to what extent? Is there a standard deficit to be expected after a crisis? It’s important to decipher the phases of a crisis so that a company is able to manage the short and medium term once the crisis is over.

This analysis should also enable new processes to be put in place for future crisis management. One of the first steps is to recognize the existence of a crisis: “Prevention is better than cure…”. Then it’s time to take action. Just like a medical crisis, the aim is to prevent the spread of symptoms: anxiety among employees, strike action, PSE, impact on productivity…etc. Then comes the reconstruction phase. The shorter the period, the smaller the impact of the crisis. A lengthy rebuild is detrimental to a company’s profits, because time is often expensive.

Once the crisis had passed and productivity had recovered, a new era of enterprise was born. Management and staff need to start afresh. Once the objective has been reached, the crisis must be used as a lever to go further and aim higher. Crisis management interim managers set up new business, marketing and financial action plans (depending on the situation) to sustain the post-crisis period.