Don’t make a drama out of a crisis 10 tips for effective management
1. Analyse risk
ABCD Potential crisisLikelihoodSeverityTotal Risk Assessment A x B = C Rank 1RTA (minor)3133 2Serious/fatal RTA2361 3Hotel fire (minor)2242 4Serious/fatal hotel fire Food poisoning/virus outbreak = low 2 = medium 3 = high
2. Prepare defensible positions
Health and safety record Employee training Investment and growth Awards and accreditations Quality control Financial strength Customer service standards
3. Establish communication channels
Your website (dark pages) Social media Mainstream media and journalists Internal communication Customer and supplier database
4. Agree your chain of command
Develop a media policy Include briefing protocol 24-hour contact details Nominate spokespeople
5. Train your spokespeople
Your best communicator might not be the most senior Who are your experts? How quickly can they be available / on site? Invest in professional media training
6. Media monitoring
Define keywords Monitoring agencies (Precise, Cision) Google Alerts
7. Practise scenarios
Test procedures at least once a year Learn from test and refine process
8. First steps
Establish the facts What do we not yet know? What do we need to do? Agree initial statement Consider Q&A for possible issues Brief spokesperson What’s the positive news?
9. Media handling
Establish the parameters Subject & likely questions Live or pre-recorded Print, TV or radio Where, when, how long? Other interviewees? Who is doing the interview? Style and tone Who are the audience? Getting their interest / addressing their concerns
10. The Daily Mail Test