What to Do When Things Go Wrong

Whatever the dimension and importance of the event or project that we are working on, it is best to get comfortable with the truth straight away: the chance that everything is going to run smoothly, without hiccups is very low. From a sudden change in the weather, to an unexpected blackout during America’s famous Super Bowl, the likelihood that something is going to wrong is high and an action plan that only covers everything working out for the best, is simply not going to cut it. The way to come out of a sudden crisis unscathed and prevent it from turning into a disaster is to be prepared to manage it properly.

Over 25 years of a career in managing massive sports events and relative contingency plans have helped Frank Supovitz to develop an action plan to make any event disaster-proof, or at least to try. His method is split into five phases, to be implemented in chronological order at different times, from the planning phase, to the end of the project:

1. imagine
2. prepare
3. execute
4. respond
5. evaluate

By following an imaginary path through these actions, we can foresee and deal with all nature of crises without giving in to panic and we can respond to emergencies with clarity and focus, preferably coming out unscathed.