How businesses communicate during a crisis impacts bottom line

By Mary Hemlepp   ·   Columnist: Public Relations   ·   Back to Resources

Although most organizations develop strategic plans, marketing plans and yearly budgets, many neglect one aspect of business that could cause all of their other plans to become moot. What they are forgetting is a crisis communication plan. For those who have spent the time to create a plan, some have put it on a shelf and let it gather dust for years. That’s probably because deep down, most people don’t think their companies will ever face a crisis.

What defines a business crisis? A textbook definition is: A significant business disruption that has become known to any key audience, such as employees, investors, or regulators. It could have a political, legal, financial or governmental impact on an organization.

Americans have seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to communicating during a crisis. Not being prepared when a crisis hits could wipe out all the good feelings consumers have about a company, especially if the crisis is not handled well by management. Remember Exxon? It fits into the bad and ugly categories.

A crisis communication plan is one of those things managers sometimes don’t think about until they need it. That may be because they think of a crisis as a sudden event, like a fire or flood. Research shows that’s not true.

Most crises are simmering in the background for sometime and are caused by some type of mismanagement. They often are overlooked, or unknown, by those who could do something to stop them. At some point, the simmer comes to a boil and then a full-blown crisis erupts. The banking and housing debacles of the last year are excellent examples of this.

Although businesses can’t plan for a crisis the way do for other matters, they can prepare. There are three steps to crisis communication: preparation, priorities and process. Here are a few ways any organization can make sure crisis communication is handled well.

Preparation

• Keep a customer call log and look for persistent problems.
• Have frequent staff meetings and listen to your employees.
• Pay attention to the grapevine and address rumors.
• Monitor social media networks and blogs. Address any inaccuracies that have been posted.
• Create a good system of checks and balances for your financial system.

Priorities

Your main priority is not money, saving face, or keeping things quiet. The priorities should be:

• Safety – The safety of employees is number one. Facilities and records are secondary to people.
• Awareness – Determine who needs to know and the best way to reach them quickly. Provide frequent updates.
• Prevention -- What are you doing to make sure this doesn’t happen again?

After priorities have been determined, managers must determine their key messages – the main points they want to make with their audiences. Examples of key messages might include a general summary of the situation, concern for those affected, and again, an explanation of what steps are being taken to prevent a future crisis.
 
Process
This is where the crisis communication plan comes in. The plan should be so comprehensive that no matter who picks it up, the plan can be implemented.

Before developing a crisis plan, it’s best to create an internal crisis team made up of folks from a variety of departments. This leads to discussions that many companies never have and helps everyone understand how a crisis affects the company as a whole. It’s a wonderful cross departmental learning opportunity and reveals what crises may be possible companywide.

The plan should identify roles, responsibilities and tasks for key staff members and has the following components:

• Updated contact list of management, staff & board
• Contact information for local and state media
• Scenarios for several types of crises & key messages for each
• Sample news releases and distribution channels, including the company website and social networking sites
• Potential media questions and answers
• Updated media kit about the organization – mission, vision and values, management bios and photos, short history of organization, funding sources, etc.
• Check lists and evaluations

Within the plan, there should be overall communication strategies that clearly define how the company will implement various steps. When releasing information, keep the following in mind:

• Train switchboard and other administrative personnel how to deal with an emergency as well as media calls and interview requests.
• Get the news out quickly. Bad news never smells better with age.
• Be honest and forthcoming.
• Communicate directly with as many internal and external audiences as possible. Employees and other key audiences should never hear bad news from the media first.
• Speak with one voice using a predetermined company spokesperson with support from other prepared individuals as appropriate. Disseminating information from one source helps ensure messages are consistent and accurate.

No one can predict when a crisis will strike, and it’s a fact that bad things happen to good companies. Recently, consumers have become more skeptical of business and business leaders. Showing that you know how to handle a crisis in an honest, forthcoming way could be one of your best marketing tools. If you don’t have a plan, get started today.

Mary Hemlepp, APR, is co-owner of the Lexington-based public relations firm Wiser, Hemlepp & Associates. Contact her at mary@wiserhemlepp.com.

Oct 2009