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Crisis Management: My Top 10 Advice (1-5)
by
dreid
—
last modified
2007-01-26 09:41
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When a crisis hits, communicate directly, honestly and frequently.
1. Focus on safety and security first. If the crisis at hand has the potential to harm people, animals, property, the environment – make sure you do everything in your power to address, mitigate, reverse and/or compensate for this damage.
2. Develop a set of key messages, facts and figures and speaking points for the crisis and ensure these are rigorously adhered to. This is especially important if your crisis has any potential legal ramifications. While you need to communicate quickly and often, you don’t want to create more problems for yourself by saying things you should not!
3. Address key stakeholders – employees, board, customers and constituents – as immediately as you can. There will be certain times you can’t disclose all details right away, but the best and most important thing you can do is recognize publicly that there is a crisis and let people know what you are doing to deal with it.
4. Designate one or two key executives or board members to serve as spokespeople and make them available to answer questions from employees, donors, media, etc. Keeping your public front small but united helps you ensure the message you’re delivering is consistent and allows others in your organization to focus on their own job or role. A crisis is a stressful time and while everyone might want to help, a smaller, focused communications and response team is likely going to serve you better.
5. Be honest, straightforward and forthcoming in all communications. You may not know all the details and/or may have legal or other reasons for not sharing everything publicly, but do not lie, hide, spin or otherwise avoid telling the truth. Your reputation will never recover, nor will your employees’ or donors’ loyalty.
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Diana L. Reid, Conscious Communications
1. Focus on safety and security first. If the crisis at hand has the potential to harm people, animals, property, the environment – make sure you do everything in your power to address, mitigate, reverse and/or compensate for this damage.
2. Develop a set of key messages, facts and figures and speaking points for the crisis and ensure these are rigorously adhered to. This is especially important if your crisis has any potential legal ramifications. While you need to communicate quickly and often, you don’t want to create more problems for yourself by saying things you should not!
3. Address key stakeholders – employees, board, customers and constituents – as immediately as you can. There will be certain times you can’t disclose all details right away, but the best and most important thing you can do is recognize publicly that there is a crisis and let people know what you are doing to deal with it.
4. Designate one or two key executives or board members to serve as spokespeople and make them available to answer questions from employees, donors, media, etc. Keeping your public front small but united helps you ensure the message you’re delivering is consistent and allows others in your organization to focus on their own job or role. A crisis is a stressful time and while everyone might want to help, a smaller, focused communications and response team is likely going to serve you better.
5. Be honest, straightforward and forthcoming in all communications. You may not know all the details and/or may have legal or other reasons for not sharing everything publicly, but do not lie, hide, spin or otherwise avoid telling the truth. Your reputation will never recover, nor will your employees’ or donors’ loyalty.
###
Diana L. Reid, Conscious Communications
