Tips for a Crisis
The Key Elements of Crisis Communications:
1. Identify Your Crisis Communications Team
A small team of senior executives should be identified to serve as your company's crisis communications team. Ideally, the team will be led by your CEO and consist of your director of communications, general counsel and possibly other key executives. You may also choose to retain an agency or independent consultant with the appropriate expertise and media experience. Other team members should be the heads of major company divisions, including finance, personnel, security and operations.
TIP: In regard to legal counsel, we all know corporate communications and legal strategies may be in conflict from time-to-time. That's why crisis communications training, regular meetings and role-play are important. The team will be familiar with consensus strategies worked out in advance of an actual crisis. Therefore, it is not a bad idea to invite legal counsel to the crisis communications workshop.
2. Identify Spokespersons
Within each team, there should be individuals who are the only ones authorized to speak for the company in times of crisis. The CEO should be one of those spokespersons, but not necessarily the primary spokesperson. Some chief executives are excellent business people but not very effective communicators. Since communication skills and quick thinking are the primary prerequisites in choosing a spokesperson, those executives that do not have the skill sets should not be used, unless absolutely necessary.
Other potential spokespersons include the director of corporate communications, VP, CFO, marketing director, etc.
TIP: It is advisable to conduct spokesperson self-evaluations and interviews prior to and after the seminar.
3. Spokesperson Training
Spokesperson candidates typically fall into one of three categories:
(1) "I am petrified of the media. They are animals and usually take what I say out of context." This typifies the untrained, inexperienced manager who has been thrown to the "wolves" in the past.
(2) "I am an excellent public speaker and get along with just about everyone." This comes from an over-confident executive with no media experience. He hasn't met the "wolves" yet.
(3) "I've gotten to know whom to trust and whom not to trust. My objective is to be prepared with a sound strategy that will ensure we are prepared to control the message. I don't pull the trigger until I am prepared." This is from media savvy executive.
Spokesperson training is a very wise investment for any company, institution or facility that either pursues or is pursued by the media. It teaches management to be prepared and to be ready to respond in a way that maximizes the chance of a positive outcome.
One major media relations faux pas can devastate a business, which may take years to overcome. Always consider how your various audiences will view your message. Audiences might include:
- Employees
- Customers
- Board of Directors
- Vendors
- Industry at large
- Community at large
- The government and its oversight agencies
Expert spokesperson trainers with extensive media experience are invaluable resources.
4. Establish Communications Protocols and Policies
Most important: Who is authorized to speak on behalf of the hospital? What happens if a reporter calls a staffer? After taking a minute or two to explain things and answer a few questions from a reporter, you will read about it in tomorrow's paper or see it on the 11 o'clock news. You may even see it on a web portal.
Who should be notified, and where do you reach them? An emergency communications "tree" should be established and distributed to all company employees, telling them precisely what to do and whom to call if there appears to be a potential for or an actual crisis. In addition to appropriate supervisors, at least one member of the crisis communications team, plus an alternate member, should include their office, cell and home phone numbers on the emergency contact list.
Some prefer not to use the term "crisis," thinking that this may cause panic. Frankly, using politically correct phrases synonymous with "crisis" will not fool anyone. Particularly if you prepare in advance, your employees will learn that "crisis" doesn't necessarily mean "bad news," but simply, "very important to the organization, act quickly."
Even though someone may be on-site to deal with the media and prepare a statement or news release, it is always wise to confer with other team members via phone to bounce ideas off one another.
TIP: Another set or two of eyes and ears will provide you with the necessary perspective to develop a clear, straightforward strategy that will help you stay on-message.
5. Identify and Know Your Audiences
Who are the audiences that matter? Most organizations care about the media, employees, customers, boards of directors, vendors, the industry and community at large. Local, state or federal regulatory agencies are also very important.
You must have pre-prepared media lists with up-to-date contacts and full contact information to facilitate rapid communication in time of crisis. You also need to know what type of information each audience is seeking.
6. Anticipate Crises
If you're being proactive and preparing for crises, gather your crisis communications team for long brainstorming sessions on all potential crises that could occur at your facility. There are two immediate benefits to this exercise:
1) You may realize that some of the situations are preventable by simply modifying existing methods of operation; and 2) you can begin to think about possible responses, best case/worst case scenarios, etc. This is far better now than when under the pressure of an actual crisis.
TIP: In some cases, of course, you know that a crisis will occur because you're planning to create it. e.g., to lay off employees, or to make a major acquisition. Then, you can proceed with steps 7-10 below, even before the crisis occurs.
7. Assess the Crisis Situation
Reacting without adequate information is a classic "shoot from the hip" scenario, which can have disastrous results. But if you've done everything above first, it's simply a matter of having the crisis communications team on the receiving end of information coming in from your communications "tree." This ensures that the right type of information is being provided so you can proceed in determining your reaction.
Assessing the crisis situation is the first crisis communications step you simply can't deal with in advance. But if you haven't prepared in advance, your reaction will be delayed.
TIP: Define your various publics and stakeholders and customize your messaging and delivery methods to each of them.
8. Define Your Key Messages
What do you want them to know about the crisis? Typically, the K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, Stupid) principle applies. Keep it simple - have no more than a few main messages for all audiences, and maybe a few others for specialty audiences.
Boardroom Communications' seminar leaders will provide examples of several situations and develop the key messages as a group.
9. Decide on Communications Methods
There are many different ways to communicate about a crisis situation, internally or externally. Employees can be briefed in person; sent letters, newsletters or e-mail messages; or be updated via blog postings or website updates. Note: Today news moves much more quickly than even a few years ago. Things simply won't wait a day or two or until the weekend. News moves at the speed of the web. Finally, you used to keep an eye on a few newspapers and a handful of televisions; now it might be hundreds of bloggers and social media participants.
The media can receive press releases and explanatory e-mails or faxes, or attend one-on-one briefings and press conferences. Each of these options has a different type of impact and must be evaluated based on the pros and cons of these various methodologies as applied to your needs, and the specific crisis.
10. Practice-Practice-Practice
No matter what the nature of a crisis...no matter whether it's good news or bad...no matter how carefully you've prepared and responded...some media may not react the way you want them to.
It is a good idea to conduct at least two role-play sessions with your executives and to fine-tune your crisis communications plan and media policies.
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