Organizing and Completing A Plan That Works
 

Why You Need A Crisis Communications Plan

Whether big or small, no organization should be without a crisis communications plan.

Crises happen all of the time: it could be a fire, it could be a robbery, it could be a high-profile sexual harassment case, or it could be a major safety issue with one of your products. Whatever it is, it’s highly likely that some kind of crisis is going to hit your company sometime in the next couple of years.

There are many aspects to being prepared for a crisis, many of which, frankly, are not worth preparing for in advance, either because of their low probability of occurrence (alien abduction of your entire management team), or the fact that many crises require more real-time attention that a crisis plan simply can’t prepare for in advance.

But almost all crises have a consistent element, which you can, and we believe, must plan for in advance – how your company will communicate with the media during and after the crisis.

Why? Because how well your company manages the media during a crisis could determine your whether your company gets hurt, or even sometimes, grows as a result. Many companies who do not handle these issues suffer the ultimate fate – the death or reorganization of the company.

Think about the rash of recent corporate scandals – WorldCom, Enron, Martha Stewart… and how those company’s bottom lines have been affected.

And while you’re at it, think of the ultimate example of excellent crisis management – the original poisoned Tylenol case, where J&J came out more strongly positioned with the public than they were before the crisis happened.

Another great example of how excellent crisis management can build, rather than destroy is the success that former New York Mayor Rudi Giulaini has enjoyed since his excellent handling of the press (and many other factors) during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Much of this success came as a result of their relationships with the press during the disaster.

The Two Elements of a Crisis Plan

There are two key elements of any crisis plan:

The crisis plan itself (how your company will deal with the issue at hand, to minimize loss and downtime.)

The crisis communications plan (how you will communicate with the press and the public about the crisis that is occurring.)

Many companies prepare one without the other. Unfortunately, both are vitally important.
Keep in mind that most company crises never get reported in the press. Sometimes that happens because the story was not newsworthy, but oftentimes is happens because the company handled the situation skillfully enough that it never became visible to the press.

Other times, a crisis may be significant enough that it is both newsworthy and gets attention in the press. But that attention either lasts for a very short period of time, or it is so well handled that the company grows as people see how well they handled the crisis.

A key element in making sure that this happens is the development of a crisis communication plan in your organization.

Even if you don’t elect to create a crisis plan (not recommended, but most companies don’t have one), it is vitally important that you put together a plan to effectively communicate with the press and the public when the inevitable crisis occurs.
In other words, an effective crisis communications plan may be the most important part of your crisis planning process.

This report is designed to help you create a plan that works.

Here is a list of crises that could happen that could be a viable part of a crisis plan:

Government investigation

Controversial law suit

Accusation of discrimination based on race, sexual preference or gender

Product recall

Serious injury to someone within or outside of the organization

Protest

Strike

Physical violence between co-workers

Insider trading scandal

Theft by an outsider (ideas or physical assets)

Embezzlement

Hostile takeover

Outbreak of food poisoning caused by your company (maybe even at your company picnic – this just happened this week in our area and the Country Club where it occurred is getting hurt in the media)

Death of top executive

CEO gets arrested for drunk driving

Natural disaster

Plane crash

Books were cooked

Congressional hearings make something that was legal illegal, and your company is used as an
example

Plummeting stock price

Major interruptions in service

Computer system crash, causing you to lose all data

One of your employees is accused of a high profile crime

Sexual harassment case

Fire

Explosion

Rape on your premises

Dramatic downsizing causing significant job loss in a geographic region

Chemical spill

Radiation leak

A major competitor has a huge crisis, throwing attention on your company

Caught in a lie

False advertising accusation

Celebrity spokesperson embroiled in personal scandal

Oil spill

Closing of a facility

Production sourcing internationally or at a non-union facility

Union grievance

And, of course, alien abduction of your entire management team (it has occasionally occurred to me that this might be a good thing…)

Want to know more?

This step-by-step training manual takes you through each of the steps involved with creating a crisis communications plan that works. In it you’ll learn:

Why you need a crisis communications plan

How it differs from a crisis plan

How to identify crises likely to hit your company

How to sell the process to management

What should be in your plan?

How to organize, store and communicate your plan within your organization

Exactly what you should have prepared in advance, ready to hand to the media when the crisis occurs.

And much more!

Source: Don Crowther link