Anyone who has
ever been in a crisis
knows just how fast
things can spin out of
control. Once you're in
a crisis, planning is a
luxury you can't afford.
Taking proactive steps
to safeguard your
reputation becomes
harder, as you scramble
to react to each new
revelation or
accusation.
As a result, many
organizations
reflexively 'shut down'
taking a 'head in the
sand' approach with the
public. Others rapidly
shift from one strategy
to the next, shopping
for something, anything
that will resonate with
the public.
In fact, so many
high-profile gaffes have
occurred, the public
might be forgiven for
wondering just who if
anyone is in charge of
the nation's leading
institutions and
corporations.
From the failure of the
former Director of FEMA
to acknowledge the
suffering evident to
anyone with a television
screen in flood ravaged
Louisiana and
Mississippi, to the
unintelligible or
unbelievable statements
of baseball legends
called before
Congressional committees
investigating the use of
steroids; the forehead
slapping moments ('What
were they thinking?')
continue to preoccupy
us.
So what can executives
learn from such
high-profile blunders?
First and foremost, it’s
that crises don't HAVE
to leave reputations in
ruin. It's not the
crisis as much as the
way you react to it that
deeply impacts your
public reputation.
That means the time to
plan your crisis media
response is before your
crisis occurs.
But how do you plan for
the unexpected?
There are a few key
steps every organization
can take to safeguard
your hard-earned
reputation in a crisis
CREATE A CRISIS MEDIA
TEAM
This group of first
responders has to be
large enough to get the
job done, but not so
large as to be unwieldy.
Include only essential
decision makers.
ASSIGN CLEAR TASKS AND
LINES OF COMMAND
Make sure everyone knows
the job they've been
assigned during a
crisis, who they'll
report directly to, and
how often. Key positions
include handling
internal and external
crisis media
communications with key
stakeholders. Detailed
record keeping by each
member of the crisis
media team is essential.
Repeatedly ensure that
contact information for
each member of the team
is updated and that
modes exist for two-way
communication.
APPOINT A CRISIS MEDIA
SPOKESPERSON
Limit the number of
people speaking during a
crisis, particularly to
outside parties. Make
sure the crisis media
spokesperson is a member
of the crisis media team
and is kept
well-informed on an
on-going basis.
ESTABLISH SYSTEMS OF
CRISIS MEDIA
COMMUNICATION TO THE
PUBLIC AND TO THE MEDIA
Temporary websites,
hotlines and direct
crisis media outreach
are proven methods of
keeping the media and
the public informed
during a crisis. Make
sure you have a crisis
media kit at the ready
containing information
about your company or
organization, as well as
a list of approved
contacts. Make sure
anyone answering phones
understands to forward
all inquiries to the
appropriate parties.
DECIDE ON A CRISIS MEDIA
RESPONCE
Agree on and establish
crisis media messages
early and review them
often as events unfold.
Seek to tell what you
know, when you know it.
You simply cannot wait
until everything is
known to issue your
crisis media response.
It's essential that
people and safety issues
are addressed first in
every crisis media
communication.
Know that every
stakeholder will want
questions answered about
what happened, why it
happened, and what will
happen next.
DON'T LET OTHERS DELIVER
BAD NEWS FOR YOU
If there's bad news,
make sure your key
stakeholders and the
public hears it from
you, not from
regulators, the news
media or others. Get the
bad news out quickly and
at once, rather than
slowly and piecemeal.
By: Aileen Pincus
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