Crisis communications – got a plan?

Whether it’s an earthquake at an overseas factory or a local scandal about a top executive, a crisis is an emergency event that requires a quick response. To minimize uncertainty and stress – and threats to your organization’s reputation – make sure you have a crisis communications plan in place before anything actually happens.

You can’t afford to wait
What will you tell your employees? How will you communicate with external stakeholders, including customers, investors and partners? And most importantly, how will you deal with the media?

Dealing with a crisis is stressful enough without having to make every decision about how to communicate. That’s why developing a communications plan from scratch after a crisis has occurred is simply too little, too late.

Thinking ahead
To help you create an effective plan – or update an existing one – here’s a list of essential steps:

1. Assign responsibility
Set up a crisis communications team with a clear chain of command and set of procedures. That way, when a crisis occurs, your organization will know exactly who will do what and how it should be done. This can include assigning a designated spokesperson, for example.

2. Prepare for the worst
Your team should imagine all possible scenarios that could cause a crisis in your company and create a generic communications plan for how to address each one. If a crisis occurs, these plans will only need fine tuning to fit the specific situation. This can even include writing fill-in-the-blank press releases.

3. Take control – of the message and the media
Act, don’t just react. When a crisis occurs, make every effort to predict the reaction of the media – and always stay one step ahead. Before anyone else spins the story out of control, hold a press conference to get your well-planned message out. The message you communicate should:

• Stick to the facts, dispel rumors and stay consistent
• Work toward ending or mitigating the crisis
• Protect your organization’s reputation
• Reduce tension within your organization, with stakeholders and with the media
• Demonstrate a commitment to your organization’s established values
• Be communicated quickly and continuously to maintain control of the flow of information

4. Emphasize transparency
Honesty leads to forgiveness. Lies are never forgotten. No matter the positive twist you try to put on a story, be up front about taking responsibility and blame for mistakes or misdeeds. In the end, this will not only help save your company’s reputation, but might even improve it.


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Did you know...?
There is actually a mathematical formula for dispelling rumors.