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October 13, 2008 |
Crises come in all shapes and sizes, but in terms of severity the harshest crisis involves physical injury and/or fatality. Whether the problem is rooted in deliberate malfeasance or a genuine accident, the resulting damage can rupture the reputation of a company or organization. And this type of crisis will not go away quickly or easily, as a toxic combination of media sensationalism, police and/or regulatory investigation and litigation can make the situation drag on for a torturous period.
While it is often impossible to prevent these types of situations from occurring, it is extremely possible to ensure you don’t get caught off-guard. In preparing for crises of life and death, here are some important points that need to be considered:
BE PREPARED. Yes, the Boy Scouts knew what they were talking about when they coined their motto. Having a crisis communications plan in place is essential, and regular practice runs to face a variety of potential liabilities is highly recommended.
“Train your organization to be ready,” says Tom Hanley, director of public relations for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford. “Develop a crisis team before you need one. Test ways to communicate with staff and develop backups. Doing drills gives you the opportunity to show you are a professional.”
Greg Brooks, principal at West-Third Group in Plattsburg, MO, echoes Hanley in noting that a well-rehearsed crisis communications plan in place will enhance the risk management policies. “Smart companies understand that having a crisis communications infrastructure in place is part of smart risk management,” says Brooks.
WORK WITH YOUR LAWYERS, NOT AGAINST THEM. PR professionals and lawyers are the ultimate chalk-and-cheese combination: One group is constantly thinking of ways to present a message to the general public, while the other group would prefer less public communications. While clearly working from opposite viewpoints, the two groups need to find a common ground in a crisis of life and death – especially when public perception becomes poisonous.
“It is important to bridge a partnership with your legal division or the outside law firm working with your company or client,” says Mike Paul, president of MGP & Associates PR, New York. “If they don’t get it, your job will be next to impossible to do.”
CONSIDER THE FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES. Too often, PR people are so focused on the communications message (particularly in a crisis mode) that they forget there is an even larger problem: The financial dilemma. For public companies, the mishandling of crisis communications in situations of life and death can result in significant chaos with investors.
“One problem with the PR industry in general is that we’re a bunch of hammers that see everything as a nail,” says Greg Brooks. “The C-level concern is not: ‘Do I say the right thing to the press in a crisis?’ Their concern is: ‘How do I not muck up my stock price and expose myself to further liability and risk?’ That is the essence of crisis communications.”
That also applies to nonprofits. In February 2005, an infant at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center died following an accident created by a seven-year-old visitor. The fatal accident at the hospital resulted in threats by some local lawmakers to withhold state funding pending the outcome of an investigation. But Tom Hanley’s crisis communications plan took this into consideration, and the hospital did not lose any state funding thanks in large part to Hanley’s ability to balance the state investigators’ needs with a public message of full cooperation into the inquiry.
SHOW REAL FEELINGS. Do not lose track of the reality that genuine pain has been created and will linger for a long time to come. Showing a cold public face in times of crisis will brand the company as being without feeling or concern.
“Not having empathy is a very bad thing,” says Mike Paul. “And don’t just have two sentences of empathy and have the rest of your statement as being defensive or trying to limit liability. If you don’t show full empathy without being defensive, you lose.”
DRIVE THE STORY, DON’T LET THE STORY DRIVE YOU. A proactive approach to a crisis of this sort, as opposed to a reactive approach, will show that responsibility and concern is a genuine factor here.
Leon Berman, principal with the IGB Group, New York, points to the now-classic handling of the Tylenol bottle tampering crisis as a sterling example of a company that displayed a take-charge attitude in the face of a genuinely lethal tragedy. “The one that works out well is when people are out front on the issue,” says Berman. “Tylenol took corrective action and maintained visibility and transparency the whole time.”
DON’T THINK A LOCAL STORY WILL STAY LOCAL. In today’s media environment, there is no such thing as a purely local story – especially when it involves accidents or death.
Hanley notes that while the aforementioned infant death took place in his Connecticut hospital, the news found its way across the country. “We did a Google search at the time and found coverage of the story as far away as the Seattle newspapers,” he recalls.
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Contacts:
Tom Hanley, thanley@ccmkids.org; Greg Brooks, gregb@west-third.com; Mike Paul, mpaul@mgppr.com; Leon Berman, lberman@igbir.com. |
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