Crisis Communications

With the JetBlue incident last week and a number of other crises in the recent past, we should be thinking more about crisis communication. Do we have a workable plan? Have we tested it? Have we covered everything we should? Whether you're just starting to work on a plan or need to review yours, this week's articles should help your efforts.

What you don't do about crisis communications will surely come back to haunt you. (Item #1)   Don't wait for that communications crisis to take place before planning for how you'll handle the fallout when something bad (inevitably) happens. (Item #2)   Here are some steps to improve your crisis communications. (Item #3)  

A business must be able to respond promptly, accurately and confidently during an emergency in the hours and days that follow. (Item #4)   Here are some tips from branding experts on how to handle the public's outrage with grace and style. (Item #5)   Have a plan so you can communicate in a quick, credible and effective way with media and other stakeholders affected by the crisis. (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications

Every organization is vulnerable to crises. The days of playing ostrich are gone. You can play, but your stakeholders will not be understanding or forgiving because they've watched what happened with Bridgestone-Firestone, Bill Clinton, Arthur Andersen, Enron, Worldcom, 9-11, The Asian Tsunami Disaster, Hurricane Katrina and Virginia Tech.
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/docs/
the_10_steps_of_crisis_communications.html

2. Crisis Communications for the Social Media Age

We've all learned that good news travels fast online, but bad news travels faster. Now, with social networks, blogs and microblogs, the speed with which bad news can travel online is staggering, as everyone can get in on the conversation almost instantly. What can any of us - individuals, organizations and companies - do to handle a social media communications crisis?
http://gigaom.com/collaboration/crisis-communications-for-the-social-media-age/

3. Five Steps to Better Crisis Communications

In the past five years, I have been directly involved with spinach, lettuce, tomato, strawberry, and dairy operations dealing with food crises. In most cases, trouble at one operation seriously damaged an entire industry. The lessons I learned about rebuilding reputations and brands can be applied to almost any company involved in a crisis, food related or not.
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2010/sb20100831_024818.htm

4. Crisis Communications Plan

When an emergency occurs, the need to communicate is immediate. If operations are disrupted, customers will want to know how they will be impacted. Regulators may need to be notified and local government officials will want to know what is going on in their community. Employees and their families will be concerned and want information. Neighbors living near the facility may need information-especially if they are threatened by the incident. All of these "audiences" will want information before the business has a chance to begin communicating.
http://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/crisis

5. The Ultimate Crisis-Communications Checklist: 6 Steps to Master Your Disaster

Whether you're digging your way out of a negative PR avalanche or simply need to scrub a less-than-squeaky-clean outburst, here are tips from branding experts on how to handle public outrage with grace and style.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1814399/your-ultimate-crisis-communications-checklist-six-points-to-master-for-disaster

6. Communicating your way out of crisis

Crisis communication seems to be the hero of today's times in salvaging the face of the brand and has now assumed heightened importance, with the recent incidents of Airtel and BlackBerry. It is advisable for every company in the manufacturing or services businesses to have a crisis management plan to handle all possible types of crises that the business could face and have a separate team to execute it.
http://www.exchange4media.com/news/story.aspx?Section_id=9&News_id=44918