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creating a Crisis Response Plan that is an exact aided, as a consequence of their trials in the
fit for your organization, one that includes court of public opinion.
both operational and communications com-
ponents. The remaining steps, below, outline 3. Identify and Train Spokespersons
some of the major topics that should be addres- Categorically, any organization should ensu-
sed in the communications section of the plan. re, via appropriate policies and training, that
only authorized spokespersons speak for it.
2. Identify Your Crisis Communications This is particularly important during a crisis.
Team Each crisis communications team should have
A small team of senior executives should people who have been pre-screened, and
be identified to serve as your organization’s trained, to be the lead and/or backup spoke-
Crisis Communications Team. Ideally, the or- spersons for different channels of communi-
ganization’s CEO will lead the team, with the cations.
firm’s top public relations executive and legal
counsel as his or her chief advisers. Invite your All organizational spokespersons during
insurance consultant too. If your in-house PR a crisis situation must have:
executive does not have sufficient crisis com- The right skills
munications expertise, he or she may choose The right position
to retain an agency or independent consul- The right training
tant with that specialty. Other team mem-
bers are typically the heads of your major The Right Skills
organizational divisions, as any situation that I’ve met senior-level corporate executives
rises to the level of being a crisis will affect who could stand up in front of a 1,000-person
your entire organization. And sometimes, the conference audience without a fear and per-
team also needs to include those with special form beautifully – but who would get virtual
knowledge related to the current crisis, e.g., lockjaw when they knew a camera was poin-
subject-specific experts. ted their way for a one-on-one interview.
Let me say a word about legal counsel. I’ve also known very effective written com-
Historically, I used to have to do a lot of arm- municators who should probably never
-wresting with attorneys over strategy and do spoken interviews because they’re way too
messaging. They were focused strictly on the likely to “step in it” using that format.
court of law and, of course, a crisis manager These days, spokesperson responsibilities
is focused primarily on the court of public invariably include online communication,
opinion. More and more lawyers understand and social media is a very easy place to make
that the organization in crisis can be destro- a mistake.
yed in the court of public opinion years be- Matching potential spokespersons’ skills
fore the legal process plays out. And attor- with their assignments as a member of the Cri-
neys have also come to understand that, sis Communications Team is critical.
while “no comment” translates as “we’re
guilty or hiding something” to the public, The Right Position
there are a lot of ways to say very little wit- Some spokespersons may naturally excel at
hout compromising legal matters, while still all forms of crisis communications – traditional
appearing responsive to those seeking more media, social media, B2B, internal, etc. Others
information. may be more limited. Only certain types of
Remember this — entire countries and highly sensitive crises (e.g., ones involving sig-
causes have had their ambitions thwarted, or nificant loss of life) virtually mandate the chief
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