Crisis Communication & Crisis Planning

“It Can’t Happen To Us”

Crisis Communication Expert Definition Any situation that is threatening or could threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business, significantly damage reputation and/or negatively impact the bottom line. Jonathan L. Bernstein Crisis Communication Expert

Crisis, what crisis? Every organization is vulnerable to crises. The days of playing ostrich – burying your head in the sand and hoping the problem goes away – are gone. You can try, but your stakeholders will not be understanding or forgiving because they’ve watched what happened with Tiger Woods, Volkswagen, FIFA, and Lance Armstrong.

Damage Caused by Crisis If you don’t prepare, you will incur more damage. Organizational leadership often does not understand that in the absence of adequate internal and external communications: Operational response will break down Stakeholders will not know what is happening and quickly become confused, angry, and negatively reactive The organization will be perceived as inept, at best, and criminally negligent, at worst. The length of time required to bring full resolution to the issue will be extended, often dramatically. The impact to the financial and reputational bottom line will be more severe.

Planning for a Crisis The basic steps of effective crisis communications are not difficult, but they require advance work in order to minimize damage.

10 Steps of Crisis Communication Planning PRE-CRISIS 1. Anticipate Crises 2. Identify Your Crisis Communications Team 3. Identify and Train Spokespersons 4. Spokesperson Training 5. Establish Notification and Monitoring Systems 6. Identify and Know Your Stakeholders 7. Develop Holding Statements POST-CRISIS 8. Assess the Crisis Situation 9. Finalize and Adapt Key Messages 10. Post-Crisis Analysis

Summary Potential Issues can arise… Audiences: Identify & determine their need for information Identify who is best able to communicate with that audience Messages Goal: to move from reacting to the incident, to managing a strategy, to overcome the incident Aim: to ensure consistency of message Pre-scripted: approved but nimble Action Resources are available without much hustle Move quickly but surely