That’s why in the modern workplace it’s imperative that businesses and organisations have a crisis management plan in place to deal with a crisis; if and when it hits.
If you’re wondering, a crisis is just about anything that can cause reputational damage and financial loss to a business or organisation, or even in some cases, an entire industry.
For instance, for a pharma firm it might be a product recall; for a construction firm, a workplace fatality; for a licensed premises a brawl among patrons or a food poisoning scare; or for a professional services firm, staff misconduct such as bullying, harassment or fraud.
Make no mistake, no sector is immune from a crisis.From a PR perspective, a crisis management plan assists in dealing with a crisis before it results in serious reputational damage to the brand.
A crisis management plan outlines the framework for managing the crisis internally and externally and prepares a business or organisation for intense scrutiny from regulators, stakeholders, customers and clients and the wider public, as a result of negative media coverage sparked by the crisis.
Preparing a crisis management plan
There are a number of key elements that should be followed:
Assemble a core crisis team, including members of senior management and staff specialists, which will deal with a crisis. The team’s first task will be to draft protocols on how a crisis will be dealt with internally and externally.
Next, designate a spokesperson who will conduct all media interviews. It’s important to ensure that this spokesperson undergoes media training – teaching them the “Dos and the Don’ts” of dealing with the media.
Pre-draft templates that can be used for media releases, or public statements to be issued to regulators and/or the public if a crisis strikes.
Update contact lists for all senior management and staff. You’ll need to be able to contact them whenever, wherever. Also, if you don’t have in-house counsel, have the contact details of a lawyer on hand.
Finally, the core crisis team should conduct a mock crisis scenario workshop at least once a year. As they say, practice makes perfect.
Dealing with a crisis
Act quickly and decisively in the first 12 to 24 hours. You need to minimise the negative impact on the public’s perception.
Contact the relevant authorities and regulators; organise counselling for staff, their relatives or members of the public (if the crisis requires it); ensure public safety and confirm all other protocols have been adhered to. After that, find out the facts.
It’s crucial that the business or organisation gets on the front and communicate effectively through the media.
There should always be one line of communication from the business or organisation, with no unauthorised comments made to the media. Any miscommunication throughout the crisis can prove costly.
And these days, working within a 24/7 news cycle, giving a “no comment” simply isn’t good enough.
The business or organisation must draft a holding statement and/or a media release, ensuring the media has some information to report on, however brief.
Prepare the spokesperson for a media conference. It’s inevitable that a media pack will descend on the site or on the head office.
The spokesperson, who has already been media trained, should be as honest as he or she can be, without referring to prejudicial information and should never, ever speculate or tell half-truths.
Regularly update the media on the crisis by issuing media releases and/or statements in relation to workplace injuries or other serious incidents.
Ensure that internal communication is carried-out to ensure staff are kept up to date and part of the process post-crisis.
After the crisis
Learn from the whole exercise – before, during and after the crisis.The core crisis team should conduct a thorough and transparent debrief.
The business or organisation should also continue to monitor mainstream and social media for any lingering negative coverage of the crisis; just in case.
Moving forward, you should honour any internal or external commitments made during the crisis. A positive media campaign should be considered to start reassuring stakeholders and repairing the brand.
Finally, just remember, the way you respond to a crisis says a lot about your business or organisation.
You can contact Richard at info@premiercomms.com.au
