Imagine if a reputation-destroying crisis comes calling at
your company, are you prepared to handle it confidently? Do you have an
existing Crisis Communications Plan, or a well-trained crisis management team
to help tackle the crisis effectively? Like any other business in the world,
every organisation, big or small, is prone to experience a crisis at anytime,
anywhere. Therefore, advanced planning and deliberate preparation are the keys
to survival in the event of crisis. Check out our recent interview with Craig J Selby, Metanoia Ltd’s Director, who provides
his expert insights on crafting a crisis communications plan.
1.
What are the types of crises that may occur? That said, can
you really plan for a crisis?
A crisis is anything that brings negative attention towards
your business or your business outcomes. It may be the result of an internal
fault, eg; the recent issues with Samsung or VolksWagen; or it may be the
results of external forces, eg; Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 where there is
still extreme uncertainty. Crisis may be real or perceived. It may be caused by
staff or by customers, or by third parties.
Yes, you are right that this is wide. But, it can be planned
for. Whilst we cannot forsee every potential issue, we can identify categories
of issues, and use this identification to help us develop a plan, or scenario,
for when something similar happens.
We all hope that it doesn’t happen, but at times, things
will occur. Sometimes these things fall outside that of what we have planned.
However, the planning process itself is what helps us here – our mindset is
already reshaped into the required paradigm; thus making our response to a crisis
much more succinct. Ultimately, that’s what the public need to see – an
organisation with a clear focus who appear to be on top of things – even if, in
reality, they are not.
2.
What is a Crisis Communications Plan; and how does it come
into play during a crisis?
A Crisis Communications Plan is an organisation-wide
document that spells out roles and responsibilities during a crisis, protocol
for action, and even details best practice models for moving forward. It is
unique to each organisation, but the commonalitles mean that a company can
ensure aall of its team are trained to handle a negative situation, and that
the voice of the company is one, rather than many.
It comes into play as a guide for dealing with situations.
By setting protocols, it helps ensure consistency of message; and it also helps
to give focus to the teams involved.
3.
What are the key elements of an effective Crisis
Communications Plan, and how can we craft content for each of these elements?
A Crisis Communications Plan has many elements. But the most
important are the roles and responsibilities, communication channels,
protocols, and approaches to possible scenarios.
Crafting relevant content for each is an indepth process. It
should involve interviewing team members at all levels of the organisation; to
better understand internal processes and communication standards.
Ultimately we seek plausible and actionable plans for times
of crisis which resonate well with the organisation. But these come from within
first.
Additionally, we need to learn from past mistakes. Maybe the
organisation has had previous issues which we can learn from. What worked well,
and what didn’t. Furthermore, we can look outside of the organisation to
understand how other businesses, be it within the same industry or further
afield, have worked on addressing crises of a similar nature.
Once the content is crafted to the detail required, the most
important step becomes training the teams to understand how to respond, and how
to work together to survive the situation.
4.
Why do you advocate that every company develops a Crisis Communication
Plan?
Forewarned is forearmed.
As simple as that. I advocate the development of plans to
get team members focussed on possibilities; to remind them that the status quo
may not always be as smooth, and to get people involved in pro-active problem
solving.
5.
How can an organisation identify and assemble a crisis
management team?
A crisis management team does not always have to be all
senior management; but senior management need to be actively involved. By
understanding the organisation through research, one can see key pivotal roles
and communications channels, and it is through here that core members of the
crisis management team can be engaged.
A thorough understanding of the organisation, its structure,
its key issues, and its culture is essential in identifying and developing a
team for such circumstances.
6.
Who are the significant stakeholders that should be
addressed in a crisis, and why?
The answer to this varies depending on the organisation and
the nature of the crisis. It may be as simple as dissatisfied customers, who
can be addressed and worked with on a face-to-face level; or it may be deeper
and involve third parties.
Once something becomes identified as a crisis, media are
likely to be involved. However, not every crisis is of interest to media – but
your response to the crisis may be. A popular KL bakery discovered that when it
faced a dissatisfied customer. The customer complained online regarding service
standards and prices. The bakery management responded with unflattering
comments and insults, which in turn were shared first with marketing industry
media, and then picked up by mainstream media. The initial cause of the crisis,
an unhappy customer, would not have gained media traction, but the bakery’s
inappropriate response, did.
Thus, different stakeholders may emerge throughout the
crisis experience, either adding to the scenario, or helping to limit it.
As a basic rule, first and foremost address affected parties
and customers first; then shareholders and quasi-related parties. If media
become involved, focus your attention towards showing media how you are
addressing the matter for affected parties. Do not disproportionately shift
your attention to parties who are less or not affected. Do not go for the easy
option.
7.
When a crisis strikes, what do you think is the main
ingredient in an incident media statement to respond to the public?
Be sincere. Be genuine. Be honest.
8.
An organisational leader has to learn to handle media
interviews or press conferences during a crisis. Can you highlight on the
importance of media training to ensure effective communications during a crisis
outbreak?
Facing the media at any time can be a daunting task for any
spokesperson. Training the spokespeople in advance helps to ensure that they
can handle the interaction with grace and professionalism, whilst still
ensuring that the sincerity, genuinity, and honesty from above comes through.
Empathy goes a long way, but quite often, the defensive mode kicks in during
difficult times, and we need some element of training to help keep us on a level
field.
9.
How often does an organisation need to review its crisis
communications plan? With that, what are some of the ways that an organisation
can communicate the plan internally to staff?
There is not a fixed time, but a good systems auditor would
ensure that a review is at least annually. I personally believe that the plan
should be reviewed more frequently; as changes happen within an organisation,
key personnel change, or as major external crises offer us key learnings to
help strengthen our own plan.
Staff meetings, periodic training sessions, and internal
newsletters / communiques are important tools to help communicate the plan.
Just like a regular fire drill, we need to keep the team involved. For her
hires, the plan should be discussed during their induction, and then followed
up during other appropriate team opportunities.
10.
Case studies in crisis communication offer us examples of scenarios
to prepare for crises. How do we craft a relevant case study that can help
prepare an organisation for effective and efficient response when a crisis
happens?
Absolutely they do, as mentioned earlier. Case studies give
us an opportunity to armchair (or swivel chair) critique scenarios, and to
think through what we would have done, what went wrong, what went right, and
whether the same thing could happen to us. It’s an easier leap than one might
expect.
Crafting the case study is a different story. There are so
many ways to do this, that there is no one answer. But as with all cases, an
understanding of what happened, its chronology, the outcomes, key learnings –
these become essential elements. It’s important not to hand everything to
yourteam on a plate – let them think, and take ownership for coming up with
ideas too – as this will become a valuable contribution to your own
organisations key learnings.
11. Social
media has become a central part in our daily lives now. Should organisation
respond to crisis in their social media platforms? If so, are there any
specific guidelines or protocols of using social media in crisis situations?
Rule of thumb – if your organisation uses social media
platforms to promote itself, then it should use these to respond.
Social media is an embedded business component for many
businesses these days. As such, it becomes a primary point of contact between
customer and organisation; therefore, it is naturally expected that social
media will be used to communicate through.
However, as much as we should use this channel, do not throw
the baby out with the bathwater and forget traditional channels. When
communicating with media, stll ensure that press releases are disseminated to
trusted media contacts through your organisations usual ways, we well as
uploading them to social media. Recent trends have been to use only social
media, and media outlets who upload their source from social media channels
tend to be more negative about a situation than those who had direct contact
from the organisation itself. Just a point to consider, as we need to look at
multiple channels for communication.
Try to avoid insincere, automated responses. These are
obvious, and can turn a curious customer into a very dissatisfied one quite
quickly.
Sometimes, your social media platforms will be overwhelmed
with feedback, and this will exceed team capacity. This is normal, and not
everyone expects a personal reply. Where possible, for agitators and those
with genuine concern, take the conversation offline at the earliest possible
opportunity.
Avoid shutting down your social media channel – nothing says
guilt faster than hiding. Curtain University experienced this a few years back
when it offered an honary PhD to the Malaysian Prime Ministers wife – the
phenomenal negative feedback overwhelmed the University to the point that it
took its social media channels offline. This did nothing to pacify the
situation – it only made certain quarters angrier, and prolonged the scenario. Shutting
down your social media has to be a last resort, but consider it carefully.
Good planning would create protocols for these scenarios.
For example, at first sign of issues, protocol might be to disable comments on
social media platforms, thus limiting the opportunity for the public to flood
your platform with negativity. This is of course a case-by-case scenario, and I
can’t advocate this for every or all business; but our Crisis Communications
Plan research will take into account social media users interaction with the business,
and the best way to guide and control this during a crisis scenario.
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Source:
blogs.netintegrity.net
Craig J Selby | Craig is a long-time proponent of structured and measured change. His early career saw him teaching marketing and management at a variety of Universities and PTE’s in his native New Zealand, where he quickly climbed the management ladder to head several private sector institutes. Needing to do that little bit extra, Craig formed his own consultancy firm and was engaged by many in the sector as a trouble-shooter - responsible for internal auditing, restructuring and redevelopment of many departments and institutes in order to remain competitive in a highly contested market. This involvement motivated him to branch out and work with other industries - focussing on change and development as a core theme in business survival. When Craig moved to Malaysia, he went back into the Education sector to share his ideas with local private sector educational facilities. In 2009 Craig co-founded Orchan Consulting Asia, an award-winning Public Relations agency. His areas of specialisation are Crisis Management Communications and Change Management.
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