How to assess crisis management skills

Crisis management skills refer to a person’s ability to identify and respond to situations that disrupt and threaten a company or organization. An individual with these skills can prepare for the unexpected and take action to minimize disruption. 

The skills required for crisis managers are transferable to various jobs, and every business can benefit from having a crisis plan in place. Even small companies can suffer devastating effects from unforeseen events, from changes in personnel to financial loss.

Hiring the right candidate can help safeguard your company and ensure business continuity in unstable times. Discover how to evaluate the appropriate skills for crisis management, so you can onboard genuine leaders you can trust.

What is a crisis management skills assessment? 

A crisis management skills assessment is a process employers can use to evaluate a candidate's capabilities when responding to crises. These crises are in relation to unexpected or emergency events that may negatively affect an organization, from natural disasters to market volatility. 

Since such scenarios require fast action and intervention, it demands a responsible employee with the relevant skills, such as:

• Situational awareness

• Decision-making ability

• Adaptability and keenness to adapt

The assessment targets these skills, serving as a pre-hire evaluation to ensure a candidate has what it takes to succeed in a crisis management role. It comprises different tests to determine their critical thinking, decisiveness, adaptability, cooperation, and other relevant abilities to mitigate the negative impact these events can bring. 

Ultimately, you can reveal a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses before offering them a position at your company. Equally, it removes the guesswork from hiring and provides a bias-free means to shortlist candidates. 

Why are crisis management skills important? 

The primary goal of crisis management is to minimize damage and increase recovery when your company is facing intense difficulty or danger. Prioritizing crisis management skills in candidates is vital because it means hiring somebody who can handle complex situations and protect your company. 

Here are seven key reasons why these skills benefit your business:

1. Manage unforeseen circumstances

Although businesses can use processes like forecasting and market analysis to predict future outcomes, there are certain factors they can’t control. Events such as cyber attacks, data breaches, and accidents in the workplace are impossible to predict. If they do occur, an employee with crisis management skills can take action to solve these challenges. 

For example, when facing a data breach, a crisis manager might change access codes, add extra layers of authentication, and try to contain the issue using situational awareness. The result is minimal disturbance to usual operations. 

2. Minimize loss and damage

Crises can result in losses. For example, if a product recall crisis arises, a failure to act swiftly, communicate effectively, and execute a successful recall process may cause financial losses from legal expenses or a drop in market sales.

In the case of workplace accidents, such as the improper use of machinery, applying crisis management skills can ensure the safety of workers and reduce property damage. 

3. Protect reputation and trust 

Reputational damage can wreak havoc with your company’s success if it leads to a loss of confidence, revenue, employees, and stakeholders. Candidates with strong crisis management skills can move quickly to protect the company image and maintain good relationships and trust among consumers, team members, and investors. 

For example, if allegations of ethical misconduct arise in the company, a crisis manager can respond by: 

• Performing an internal investigation to determine if the allegations are true

• Taking disciplinary actions where necessary

• Reassuring clients and stakeholders of the company’s dedication to ethical standards 

• Continuing to build trust through ethical practices 

4. Accommodate changing circumstances 

Companies and employees must constantly adapt to changes in the business landscape, such as new technologies and changing consumer trends. Candidates with crisis management skills can embrace change and respond accordingly. For example, they could modify business practices in response to technological advancements, increased sales, or growing competition.

5. Keep employees safe

Situations like cyber attacks or industrial accidents can put employees at risk. A candidate with the right skills will be able to devise strategies and implement them when a threat occurs to ensure the safety and well-being of the team. Having these plans in place can instill trust in your employees in uncertain times because it shows you are taking their safety seriously and prioritizing their welfare.

6. Ensure business as usual

Your business shouldn’t grind to a halt when a crisis emerges – with proper crisis management, it won’t have to. A candidate’s capabilities can keep business running as normal, despite uncertain conditions. Those with expertise in crisis negotiation, risk assessment, and leadership can create strategies that ensure productivity. 

For example, if there are technological failures or cyber attacks that impact the functionality of the business, a candidate should have the crisis management sub-skills, such as problem solving, to resolve it. The outcome is that your company can still perform well after the crisis.

7. Prevent legal liabilities 

Crisis managers use attention to detail, communication, and problem solving to prevent legal issues. These skills help them ensure compliance and assist companies in navigating legal requirements and regulations. In turn, they can help companies avoid liability issues and hefty legal expenses.

Which skills and traits are important for crisis management? 

Crisis managers need skills that equip them to act appropriately in uncertain and sometimes desperate times. They are mindful, sensible, and proactive leaders who work conscientiously before, during, and after a crisis. 

Below are some skills and traits to look for when you begin screening applicants: 

Decision making

Managing a catastrophe calls for logical decisions, often in high-pressure environments. A candidate should have the confidence, logic, and initiative to make choices that deliver positive outcomes, such as reducing long-term damage to the company.

This process requires a thorough understanding of the company’s goals to determine the best approach to a situation. It also requires quick, rational thought to weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of a plan and the potential outcomes that might follow.

For example, in a case study of the messaging company Slack, employees managed to make decisions to handle service outages with honesty and tact. The outcome was minimal damage to the business and a strong client-company relationship despite this issue.

Analytical skills 

Analytical thinkers handle complex challenges by breaking down the information into smaller chunks to draw conclusions. Using multiple skills, including critical thinking and logical reasoning, they can pinpoint root causes and determine the best course of action.

Testing for analytical skills in your hiring process will uncover candidates who can make quick decisions driven by the information they have available. This process is essential in the modern business environment where pressures remain high.

Risk management

Risk management is a requisite for anybody who desires to be a manager and is an integral part of crisis management. Although crisis management is about responding to adverse events in the moment and recovering in the aftermath, risk management is about preparing for these events before they happen. 

In the event of financial issues, crisis managers use risk management skills to assess financial risks, such as economic downturns, before they impact the company. They might create recovery plans, invest in advice from other experts, and alter the budget to protect the company’s finances. 

Strategic planning 

Crisis managers need strategic planning skills to generate effective strategies to react and recover from crises. Strategic planning may include developing crisis management plans, allocating resources, and analyzing past situations to learn, enhance strategies, and avoid repeating mistakes. 

Strategic planning can lead to positive outcomes. For example, if your company faces a cyber attack from malicious software, the crisis manager can use their pre-made crisis management plan to activate a fast response from the cybersecurity team to contain the virus and prevent it from reaching other systems, thereby minimizing the impact.

Communication

Crisis communication is fundamental to successful crisis management. It ensures those associated with the company, both internally and externally, know what’s going on and stay up to date. This exchange of information happens between employees, stakeholders, customers, and, where necessary, press relations. It also ensures smoother processes because clear communication stops errors and misunderstandings. 

Candidates should also show their professionalism when sharing information during a crisis. Attributes like composure and poise when relaying information fosters calmness, confidence, and understanding among teams.

This outcome is especially true when it comes to public health interventions. In the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, effective communication ensured proper information management, media management, and supportive action at an incredibly unnerving time.

Leadership

When things take a turn for the worst, companies need somebody to take charge and bring them out of the crisis on the other side. Strong leadership skills are essential for crisis management, fostering confidence, offering guidance, and encouraging collaboration among team members to tackle problems. 

For instance, they inspire people from different departments to pull together and build a united front to combat the crisis.

Teamwork 

While crisis managers are leaders, they must also work well within a team. Team players are essential for collaborating and coordinating efforts among various people in the company. Teamwork enables cross-communication, fresh insights, and improved decision making to fare better in times of turmoil.

Empathy and emotional intelligence 

Crises can be tough-going and emotionally demanding. Candidates with emotional intelligence can handle their emotions, making them better able to think rationally, make decisions, and communicate effectively with others. These abilities make them reliable, ensuring you can count on them to behave appropriately and combat problems. These are critical traits for anyone working in crisis management. 

They also need empathy to engage with others and provide comfort and support to colleagues and stakeholders during challenging times. These traits can help calm situations, maintain staff morale, and boost safety measures. 

Empathy in managers can also increase work engagement. Research shows that 76% of employees with empathetic senior leaders report being more engaged at work, compared to 32% of those with less empathetic leaders.

Resilience 

When facing adversity, you need a manager who can remain calm and collected. There are many threats to a company, and the right decision is not always clear. Candidates need resilience to stay in control of their emotions and recover quickly from challenges. 

For instance, if your company faces an ongoing public relations crisis, your crisis manager must demonstrate resilience to remain professional while enduring constant pressure from media outlets, focus and create strategies that restore the company’s reputation, and continue communicating and adapting to new developments. 

Adaptability 

Since crises are usually unpredictable, look for candidates who can adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. There might be a crisis management plan and a great deal of preparedness, but adhering to the plan isn’t always guaranteed. Your crisis manager might have to alter their strategies and make quick decisions as events unfold, continuously assessing and responding to risks.

Skills and traits tests

You can discover the best candidate for a crisis management role by testing their hard and soft skills. Doing this before the interview stage gives you an advantage because you’ll know the candidates you meet face-to-face are qualified for the job. Plus, you can stop second-guessing whether a candidate is good at communicating, solving problems, and prioritizing safety.

Create a practical crisis management skills assessment using the most relevant tests. Some of the best TestGorilla tests for crisis management are as follows:

Leadership and people management

Find your next leader with our Leadership & people management test, which covers candidates' ability to influence and guide others. From delegating authority to supporting the development of team members, this test ensures you find an influential individual to scale your company’s potential.

Communication 

TestGorilla’s Communication skills test will help pick out the strong communicators among your applicants. It determines if an applicant can understand, use, and interpret written and verbal communication and convey information using professional etiquette. It also tests active listening skills, another vital communication skill for crisis managers because it shows they can not only hear the words but interpret them, too. 

Problem solving 

An ideal candidate can respond to complex work problems promptly. The Problem solving test asks candidates time-sensitive questions to determine how quickly they can counter problems without making mistakes. It shows their ability to understand a problem, break it down, and solve it using creative thinking and analytic skills.

Critical thinking 

The Critical thinking test is ideal for testing crisis management skills because it evaluates how people interpret information, make judgments, and formulate methods to solve challenging issues. It comprises single or multiple statements and asks candidates to study the information and identify the correct answer. Hiring those with strong critical thinking skills will assure you of their abilities to manage crises. 

Verbal reasoning 

The Verbal reasoning test helps you find candidates who can find meaning in words and draw accurate conclusions. It determines their capacity to handle written information, confirming their grasp of language and further contributing to their communication skills.

Attention to detail (textual) 

With the Attention to detail (textual) test, you can ensure your next hire has a keen eye for detail when reading written information. Regardless of the profession, an individual with crisis management skills must always remain alert, continuously checking for misinformation and any details that might indicate an issue. Spotting errors or inconsistencies early, no matter how small, can help with crisis prevention. 

Crisis management skills assessment FAQs

If you’re still wondering about how to assess crisis management skills, review the frequently asked questions below.

Can crisis management skills develop and improve over time? 

Individuals can strengthen and hone their crisis management skills through training and first-hand experience. Crisis managers continuously learn throughout their careers because they deal with various events and become more resilient. Nevertheless, you might prefer to employ an individual who can already show they have strong skills to bring to your business.

What are the most important crisis management skills to look for in candidates?

During the pre-hire process, look for candidates who can show they use a confident decision-making process, critical thinking, clear communication, leadership, and the ability to remain calm under pressure. These are some of the most critical skills and traits to ensure a person can navigate difficult situations with confidence and professionalism. 

How can candidates display crisis management skills during the application process?

To discover more about a candidate’s management skills during a crisis, you can ask them to provide examples of times when they have dealt with challenging events. You can do this during the interview phase or implement a skills-based hiring process to assess specific relevant skills, such as decision making, problem solving, and communication. 

Can crisis management skills apply to all roles and industries?

Although crisis management calls for a particular set of skills, these skills are universal and, therefore, relevant to a broad range of roles and industries. Whether working in customer service, healthcare, or media and public relations, an employee with the ability to act, take charge, minimize disruption, and deliver positive outcomes when catastrophe strikes is crucial.

How TestGorilla can help you find the right candidate with crisis management skills

TestGorilla offers various tests to identify the specific skills of candidates. These tests prove that your candidates can deliver in high-pressure situations, applying their knowledge and experience to combat problems and safeguard the company. You’ll also find people with the personality to thrive in such conditions because they have traits like empathy, emotional intelligence, and resilience. 

At TestGorilla, we have tests that reveal if your candidates have the skills you’re looking for in your next hire. You can develop an assessment that will test pertinent skills like leadership, problem solving, and critical thinking, among others, to refine your hiring strategy, ensuring only the most suitable candidates make it to the final stages. 

Explore the TestGorilla test library and discover the skills you want to find in your future employee. 

Find a crisis management expert with TestGorilla

Crisis management skills are highly desirable in the everchanging and often unpredictable business world. Crisis managers can apply their skills to various industries, including corporate, public relations, healthcare, government, technology, and education sectors. 

Although crises differ among industries, the same skills apply because the end goal is the same – to react accordingly and decrease damage to organizations. 

Enhance the efficiency of your hiring process today with TestGorilla’s expert tests that confirm suitability. Try a free TestGorilla plan and join the thousands of other employers in the search for experts. The plan gives you access to 10 free tests, including all personality tests, and the option to create custom essay-style and multiple-choice questions. Get started with TestGorilla today and see how easy hiring can be.