Business Continuity NewsBriefs - May 29, 2019
These NewsBriefs are produced and delivered regularly by Attainium to keep our friends and clients current on topics relating to Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Crisis Management.

Crisis Communication

May 29, 2019 - It's a crisis and your response has to help prevent the situation from going from crisis to chaos or worse. Your communication plan could help with this, but have you developed it enough to be useful in the current situation? Do you know what to do first and second? Or might there be another alternative to your current plan? (see Item #3) All of these articles talk about what to do and how to do it if a crisis occurs.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"...when there is a difference between perception and reality, perception always wins."
-- Steven Fink, Crisis Communications: The Definitive Guide to Managing the Message --

1. The essentials of good crisis communications

No organization is perfect. You may be the best in the business, but something can still go seriously wrong. Dealing with an unexpected crisis is the ultimate test because how you respond shapes what others think of you.
https://www.espo.org/Spotlight/News-And-Articles/2019/The-essentials-of-good-crisis-communications

2. Crisis Management in 2019: What to Expect and How to Prepare

Remember that strong communications during any kind of crisis serves your mission by helping strengthen public safety efforts. The better your communications, the more likely you are to be able to improve safety and save lives. In turn, you bolster your organization's capacity to weather crisis and your reputation.
https://www.onsolve.com/blog/crisis-management-in-2019-what-to-expect-and-how-to-prepare/

3. A Crisis Primer for the Social Media Era

In the digital-social media age, scandals are spread and remain memorialized a few clicks away. Examples are all around us. These debacles metastasized across the web as memes, acquiring a life of their own that companies could do little to stop. Indeed, today every crisis is digital, moving at a velocity that could tarnish even the most pristine brand halo, despite an organization's best efforts to respond. Yet the average PR team clings to the old mission of "controlling the narrative" by communicating the corporate story early and often.
https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/12358/2019-04-12/crisis-primer-for-social-media-era.html

4. Crisis Communication is a Key Business Continuity Component

Information is critical during catastrophic events and emergencies. Precise, timely, and relevant information is essential for businesses to maintain trust and credibility; for employees, customers and vendors, it can help in decision-making that may affect personal safety or productivity. Most importantly, it is vital to help provide rapid and appropriate assistance to those who need it following a crisis. Given its important role, crisis communication must be part of an effective business continuity plan, and not come as an improvised afterthought.
https://disastersafety.org/ibhs/crisis-communication-is-a-key-business-continuity-component/

5. The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications

The basic steps of effective crisis communications are not difficult, but they require advance work in order to minimize damage. So if you're serious about crisis preparedness and response, read and implement these 10 steps of crisis communications, the first seven of which can and should be undertaken before any crisis occurs.
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/the-10-steps-of-crisis-communications/

6. Seven Tips to Improve Apologies During A PR Crisis

At some point during your career, your company will likely face a PR crisis. Regardless of the situation, an apology, especially if you're in the wrong, can make all the difference. Letting people know that your company is aware of the issues, as well as addressing where things went wrong, will go a long way toward solving the current problem.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/06/14/seven-tips-to-perfect-apologies-during-a-pr-crisis/