Public Relations During Times Of Crisis

Public Relations During Times of Crisis

Crisis is . . .

“ A nonroutine event that risks undesired visibility that in turn threatens significant reputational damage”

Credit: Doorley & Garcia, p. 328

4 Types of Crises

Meteor

Predator

Breakdown

Lingering

Credit: Shel Holtz @ http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/crisis_communication_fundamentals/ Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittymeetsgoat/1373562566/

Sparks of a Crisis

Environmental

Technological

Terroristic

Criminal Misconduct

Managerial

Accidental

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liberato/2521884271/

Benefits of Planning

Reduce Stress

Demonstrates Goodwill

Flow of Information

Involves Stakeholders

Business Continuity

A list of the members of the crisis management team

Contact information for key officers, spokespeople, and crisis management team members

Fact sheets on the company, each division, each physical location, and each product offered.

Profiles and biographies for each key manager in your company

Credit: Don Crowther at http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/7_musthave_elements_.php 7 Must Have Elements in Your Crisis Communication Kit

7 Must Have Elements in Your Crisis Communication Kit, cont’d

Copies of your company, division and product logos, your press release format and the scanned in signature of your CEO on disk

Pre-written scripts answering key questions that you have generated through your crisis scenario analysis

Contact information for each of your key media contacts both locally, nationally, and if appropriate, key financial press and analysts.

Credit: Don Crowther at http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/7_musthave_elements_.php

Environmental Scan: Search for the Negative

Google Alerts

search.twitter.com

For-fee services like CustomScoop

From Brian Solis: http://www.briansolis.com/2008/11/reinventing-crisis-communications-for.html

The “Suck OR Die” Factor

“ product+sucks”

“ company+sucks”

“ die+company”

“ i+hate+company”

From Brian Solis: http://www.briansolis.com/2008/11/reinventing-crisis-communications-for.html

3 R s of Crisis Communication

R esearch

R esponse

R ecovery

Photo by Christopher.Woo, Flickr

RESEARCH

Relationship Building

Environmental Scan

Emergency Personnel

Notification Procedures

Communication Procedures

Practice

Building Relationships with Stakeholders

Emergency Personnel Team

Spokesperson (1-2)

Phone team

Researcher and writer

Business continuity

Decision maker

Legal council, if applicable

Notification Procedures

Emergency Personnel Team

Board of Directors

Employees

Members

Other Stakeholders

Communication Procedures

Platform

Priority

Policy

Spokespersons

Interest and Empathy

Honesty and Authenticity

Responsive and Proactive

Open to Criticism

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/presta/142795058/

Bridging

Don’t Know: I don’t know, but I can tell you…

Time: That may have been the case in the past. Now we are…

Importance: That once was important. What is most important now is…

Completing: I think you would have a more complete picture if you considered…

Yes and No: No, let me explain. Yes, and furthermore…

RESPONSE

Emergency Notification

Gathering Information

Releasing Information

Stages of Crisis

4 Stages of a Crisis From Communication Overtones

The Golden Hour Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nonny/486487/

The Golden Arches Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atbaker/101335636/

The Rule of 45 Minutes, 6 Hours, 3 Days, and 2 Weeks

Notification

Gathering Information

Releasing Information

Tell It

Tell it all

Tell it fast

Tell them what you’re doing about it

Tell them when it’s over

Get back to work

Credit: Doorley & Garcia, p. 336

RECOVERY

Follow up

Proactive storytelling

Solidify relationships

Adjust plan

YOUR TURN

Executive Director

Sexual Predator

Death of Child

Terrorist Incident

Executive Director is Critically Injured in Rollover Accident with Kids You are in charge of communications for the Boys and Girls Club. You are working late and you get a call just before 9 p.m. on your cell phone from your Executive Director’s husband. He tells you he has gotten a call from the hospital that your Executive Director has been in a terrible car wreck. You head to the hospital right away and learn from family member that there has been a rollover crash with another SUV and that she was not alone in the car. Several children were also with her, but you still are not sure who they were. Taken from real incident in Simi Valley, Calif.

After-School Program Employee Charged with Sexual Assault of a Child An employee at the Boys and Girls Club was arrested today as he worked and charged with sexual assault and indecency with a child. The employee underwent a background check when hired and passed it. He has also never had any disciplinary problems. The child in the case was a 10-year-old girl who told her parents about the assault, which allegedly occurred a the center. Her parent then called the police. A few hours after the arrest, concerned parents, who have heard the initial reports through the grapevine start to arrive and angrily demand answers as to how this could have happened. Taken from an amalgamation of real incidents in schools

Child Dies in After School Program You are the executive director of a Girls and Boys Club. One of your kids who comes on a regular basis has some special needs but has never been disruptive. Today when he arrived after school, he seemed troubled and incoherent. He started to bang his head against the wall, and while you called 911 support, one of your male staff members held him down to keep him from hurting himself and others. While waiting for emergency personnel, the worker realized the boy was not breathing. He started to administer CPR and you called emergency services back to apprise them of the situation. Once EMTs arrived they continued acute care, but the child did not survive. The cause of death is unknown. Taken from real incident in San Antonio, SW Mental Health Center

Shooter Enters Boys and Girls Club, Kills 2 and Injures 5 A gunman has entered your building and killed one employee, one child and has injured two more employees and three students. The scene is chaos, and your office is being cordoned off by the police as a crime scene. You are not allowed to return to get anything. You are not injured, but two of your crisis team are, and you are already getting calls from media on your cell phone, which thankfully was on your person when the shootings began. You have no idea who the shooter was, but the police are starting to interview witnesses and staff.

Measuring “Success”