The aim of this briefing is to provide some useful tips to handling emergencies as well as to outline the dangers of not employing good EDM

1. Mike Shama

2. AIM
The aim of this briefing is to provide some useful tips to handling
emergencies as well as to outline the dangers of not employing good EDM

3. CONTENTS
• Critical Operational Situation
• R.C.D.I.
• Recognise
• Control
• Diagnose
• Initiate
• The OODA Loop

4. Critical Operational Situation
• You have a big 24hr sales promotion going live that has been heavily
marketed
• You’ e withi 24 hou s of the lau ch whe a key pa t e ale ts you
team that they are having a problem with the sales platform.
• On checking your team finds that there is a critical issue that could
cause service interuption on the platform
• What actions do you take? What should you do first? What does the
Staff Operating Protocols say?
• The following tips will help improve your decision making process

5. R.C.D.I.
• Firstly: DO NOT RUSH
• A rushed poor decision can make your situation far worse
• The following acronym will help order your actions:
• R – Recognise
• C – Control
• D – Diagnose
• I – Initiate

6. Recognise
• What has happened?
• Do I know? Maybe? Don't guess or make quick assumptions
• Does my team know? Do my managers know?
• Warn them with the symptoms, not diagnosis
• "Platform not registering new users", "Payments not
co pleti g", Pa t e i fo atio ot displayi g co ectly
etc.
• Jumping to conclusions will slow you down rather than speed up
your response

7. Control
• Contain the immediate situation
• Communicating vital information to key personnel is
critical
• Activate relevant account manager/s
• They will handle partner relations
• Initial Management briefing
• Key managers briefed with critical information asap
• Allows for a measured, coordinated response
• Ensures key resources will be made available

8. Diagnose
• Now the initial situation is under control let's understand
what is going wrong
• Use Staff Operating Protocols (SOPs)
• They will provide easy to follow flow charts
• They are focussed on making sure the right information
is flowing to the right decision makers
• Get the relevant specialist to issue a diagnosis of the
problem and critical consequences
• Use your team resources regardless of your seniority

9. Initiate
• What now? What are we going to do?
• Ensure key personnel have the information &
resources they need to fix the issue
• Ensure Account Manager/s have all they need to be
effective
• If you have spare capacity see where you can be
supportive
• Effective Communication is CRITICAL
• A good plan now is better than a perfect plan never
• The only way to fix the situation is to ACT!

10. Remember
• If you are acting in a critical situation you need to make
sure you operate smartly in order to be effective and not
to make the situation worse
• Numerous examples of good businesses making critical
errors by acting hastily
• When under pressure keep this in mind
• D – DIAGNOSE
• D – DOUBLE CHECK
• D – DO
• Stop, think, check, and make sure, ACT!

11. The OODA Loop
Another method that is used is referred to as the OODA Loop.
• Observe
• Orientate
• Decide
• Act
The idea is that the above forms a decision making/action loop, and
as you act you are immediately beginning the loop again.
The key is to tighten your OODA loop in order that your decision
aki g/actio cycle is tighte o uicke tha the situatio o
competitor behaviour, and in so doing you emerge victorius from
any situation

12. SUMMARY
• Don't Rush: Think R.C.D.I.
• Recognise the symptoms and Warn the team
• Control and contain the situation: Get into a controlled
operational configuration
• Diagnose. Use SOPs
• Diagnose, Double Check, Do
• Initiate: A good plan now is better than a perfect plan never
• The consequences of not applying a measured approach to an
emergency situation will only lengthen your response time and
potentially result in your response to fail

13. Mike Shama