In 35 years as a communication professional, I have learned many lessons. Among the most important are those learned the past several years as a crisis management consultant.
We’ve seen poor communication exacerbate so many crises recently, it is helpful to keep these fundamental principles top of mind.
1. Effective crisis management requires sponsorship and support from the board. Even the best crisis plan will fail without executive support.
2. Failing to plan for a crisis is planning to fail in a crisis. You can prepare and prevent, or repair and repent. The latter is considerably more expensive—in dollars and reputation—than the former.
3. The biggest obstacle to effective crisis preparedness is management denial.
4. Every organization needs a ‘crisis culture’—of nonstop readiness for the unexpected and where everyone—everyone—knows their role.
5. The opportunity to provide a crisis narrative is short-lived. If you don’t communicate now, someone else will, and they’ll tell a story you don’t want told.
6. Don’t wait until you have all the facts to communicate to stakeholders. Share what you can confirm, as soon as possible. Delay runs the risk of losing the narrative and trust of your stakeholders.
7. Fight misinformation with facts.
8. But…don’t pick a fight with people who buy bandwidth by the petabyte.
9. Risks and vulnerabilities change over time. Companies must constantly scan the environment to identify new or evolving risks so that they can prepare.
10. There is no longer ‘traditional’ and ‘social’ media. It’s just media. Traditional, or mainstream, media has a strong presence on social platforms.
11. A sterling reputation that took years to build can be tarnished badly and quickly when you respond to a crisis slowly, without empathy, honesty and transparency.
12. Choose spokespersons carefully. Addressing an audience of 500 can be markedly easier than talking to one aggressive reporter, on camera. Commit to regular media training and cultivating the ability to speak with compassion, confidence and competence.
13. There is no such thing as ‘off the record’ or ‘internal communication.’ Technology allows anyone to record anything, anywhere, anytime and share it with the world. Exercise caution.
14. Although it can be painful, conduct a post-crisis review. Understand what worked and keep doing it. Examine what failed and fix it. Every crisis is an opportunity to improve for next time. And there will be a next time.
15. Don’t hesitate to call for help. In fact, make sure you have experienced crisis communication consultants on speed-dial.
–Deb Hileman
Deb Hileman, SCMP, is president and CEO, Institute for Crisis Management