stedavies.com - communications consultant

Every organisation, no matter what size, should be thoroughly prepared for a time of crisis. The PR team should be fully aware of any possible dangers that they could potentially face if the inevitable were to happen. The occurrence of a crisis is not limited to any particular reason and can happen from numerous possibilities depending on the organisation’s line of work and/or other external factors.

Crisis management is an essential component of the public relations profession and when in practice, must be used as comprehensive and meticulous as possible. The benefits of good PR and crisis management can literally save lives, save money and save an organisation from devastation. Any organisation that isn’t prepared for a crisis will be constantly at risk.

Preparation is essential when dealing with any crisis, so a Crisis Communication Plan (CCP) should be an integral part of an organisation’s communication management and should be used as a clear and coherent way to limit any damage that an organisation might face.

A CCP is important to determine which crises an organisation is likely to face and the possibility of each. To do this, a ‘crisis inventory’ should be drawn up to demonstrate the risks involved and should rank each crisis as follows:

0 – Impossible
1 – Nearly possible
2 – Remotely possible
3 – Possible
4 – More than possible; somewhat probably. It may have happened to competitors before.
5 – Highly probable. May or may not have happened before, but warning signs are evident.

Again, a rank for the potential damage a crisis could cause can be viewed as:

No damage – Not a serious consequence.
Little damage – Can be handled without much difficulty.
Some damage – Slight chance media will be involved.
Significant damage – But still not a major issue.
Considerable damage – Would definitely be a major media issue.
Devastating – Front page news. Could put company out of business.

Thus, by determining these possible risks, the devastation they could cause and ensuring preparation and planning is carried-out beforehand, an organisation can reduce damage or, in fact, stop it from happening altogether.

A CCP should be well thought-out and systematically structured in step-by-step form and should detail everyone (stakeholders, publics, and media) and everything (pre-gathered information, key messages, control centre involved, equipment, supplies etc).

It should state every detail of what to do in any likely event of a crisis and have reference to any key contacts that are involved. All of this must be done prior to a crisis and should be rehearsed frequently by all staff.

From a PR point of view, there are various stages of a crisis. These are:

Detection

Before an issue develops into a crisis, there is time to do something about it. Good groundwork in advance by way of the CCP can help identify and deal with any issues before they grow. The detection stage is crucial to eradicate any possible crisis.

Preparation

If a problem begins to grow past the detection stage then it is vital that the tactics planned in the CCP come into play. A media management plan (MMP) should have been devised along with the CCP and ready to use if the issue grows. The MMP should have a list of all key media contacts and should identify which staff should talk to the media. The public’s first reaction to a disaster is shock, which quickly turns to anger if an organisation is not seen to be taking action, so a quick response in any crisis is vital.

Containment

In the event of a crisis situation, it is imperative to contain the situation so to stop the public’s and the media’s imagination running wild with speculation. To do this, the MMP should be followed thoroughly to establish what the media need to help them cover the story accurately and comprehensively. It should be made as easy as possible for the media to gain any information they might want. This could mean background information, statistics and spokespeople.

If the media want to talk to spokespersons, it is important that key people involved are at the focus of the crisis and ready to answer all questions as thorough as possible. In a two-way symmetrical model, if you will.

If an organisation refuses to talk to the media, a news story will be made using the information they do have – this could prove disastrous if it is full of one-sided stories, lies or half-truths. The answers to media questions should go along the lines of:

• We know and here is all the information.

• We don’t have all the information yet, but here is what we do know.

• We have no idea but we will find out.

A spokesperson should never answer a question with a “no comment” or “we can’t tell you”. If there is an answer that cannot be revealed the spokesperson must say “we can’t tell you because….”

A typical objective of crisis communications is to show the public you are doing your utmost to rectifying any problems relating to them. It is paramount your key messages support this, along with other issues such as the environment, property and money (if affected).

Of course, depending on the situation, different issues may be affected. It is up to the PR team to make sure that the priority issues are being dealt with.

It is also a point to note that other stakeholders of the organisation need to be aware of all the facts. Every organisation will have different stakeholders, so part of a crisis management plan would be tailored to them – depending who are involved for that particular organisation.

Recovery

PR professionals should be constantly informing the media, public and other stakeholders what they are doing to turn everything back to normal. Information should be frequently relayed to all parties. Various PR tools can be used such as media relations, newsletters, websites, etc to ensure the message is delivered across various channels.

Evaluation

After the crisis has been fully dealt with, it is imperative to find out what was lost (and gained) through it all. Public opinion is important to establish how good an organisation’s reputation is and should be measured by way of other PR tools such as, focus groups, questionnaires, surveys etc.

Not only this, the PR team can evaluate how effective the CCP was through the situation. They can find out what worked, what did not work, what could be improved and what else could have been done to make the plan more efficient.

Why?

We repeatedly hear in the news about “PR blunders”, “PR nightmares” and “PR gaffs”. Truth is, nine times out of ten, if good PR was involved from the beginning, the blunder, nightmare and gaff would not have happened.

To some people, PR is often seen as an inferior discipline in comparison with advertising and other marketing elements. What they fail to recognise, is that good PR, consistant communication and ethical practice can indeed enhance reputation, increase share price, and create a better understanding between an organisation and its publics.