Week 13 – Crisis management What is “crisis management”?  It is not managing external influences or organizations.  A PR professional can only manage the response.

You must thoroughly understand: Public and political environment Culture and inner workings of the organization Human nature  Which people and groups will be involved?  How are they most likely to react to the crisis?  How will they attempt to alleviate it?  How will they react to solutions, communications, activities?

Crisis management How people typically react  Zealots (2%)  Wait and see (90%)  Opinion leaders (8%) Opinion leaders will influence the rest  Should be the major focus Resist the temptation to capitalize on the zealots who support your view.  They tend to anger anyone with more tempered views.

What a good plan provides A path out of the crisis and back to normalcy  Approved step-by-step program  Alternative courses of action  Recommended actions to address political, legal, financial, business and governmental impacts of the crisis  Suggested timetable for actions and responses

What a good plan provides An understanding of key roles and hierarchy within the organization  Who is responsible for what and when? Reassurance for the affected publics  Relief from panic  Reasons to feel reassured

Types of crises Acts of God  Storms, earthquakes, etc. Mechanical problems  Ruptured pipes, metal fatigue, etc. Human error  Wrong valve opened, miscommunication about what happened and what to do, etc. Management decisions, actions or inaction  No serious societal implications

Classes of crises Sudden crisis  Comes without warning  Employee injury, death of a key official, oil spills, product tampering, etc. Smoldering crisis  Generally not known internally or externally until it goes public and generates negative media coverage  Organizational weaknesses, bad practices, other discoverable or predictable timebombs

Common mistakes in handling crises Hesitation  Leads to perception of confusion, callousness, incompetence and lack of preparation Obfuscation  Leads to perception of dishonesty and insensitivity Retaliation  Increases tension and intensifies emotions rather than reducing them Prevarication or equivocation  There’s no substitute for the truth. Period.

Common mistakes in handling crises Pontification  Creates vulnerability, fails to address the issue.  Plus, it ticks people off. Confrontation  Provides other visibility that keeps the issue alive  Gives them a platform and more to respond to Litigation  Guarantees even greater visibility (usually negative)  May eliminate opportunities for more reasonable solutions

Fundamental guidelines 1.Anticipate the unexpected.  The greatest obstacle to effective preparation is management denial that a crisis can occur. 2.Institute and practice a crisis management plan.  Recruit widely and review broadly.  Keep it up to date. 3.Train employees to recognize a crisis and how to react.

Fundamental guidelines 4.Use a single spokesperson to deal with the organization and media during the crisis.  A single source of interaction is most reliable.  It eliminates overlap and mixed messages. 5.Use another spokesperson to work directly with opinion leaders and elected officials. 6.Establish an Information Center. 7.Never speculate about the cause, cost or anything else.