How To Move Beyond ‘Crisis As Usual'

As forensic consultants, we keep hearing about financial institutions in Asia Pacific having four crisis meetings a week for every practice. In many cases, these meetings have been going on for more than two years. And it makes us wonder. If 'business as usual' is now 'crisis as usual', how does anyone plan for the long-term?

By definition, companies in crisis mode are operating minute-to-minute, making rapid decisions to solve short-term problems. In this environment, strategic long-term planning goes out the window. But when does long-term planning return? At what point - and how - do we move beyond crisis and start operating and planning in a relentlessly volatile world?

In our view, the point is now. Crisis response is now a well-formed habit in your institution. This means companies' crisis responses are now habitual. They no longer represent a crisis.