A Crisis or Just a Bad Hair Day?

  By Allen Caudle, Executive Vice President, Crisis & Issues Management

Twenty years ago when Tony Shelton and I opened the doors on the crisis and communication training practice here in the Southwest, identifying a crisis was easy. We would literally get calls from company CEOs asking, “Do I have to talk to the TV crew in the lobby or can I have security escort them off the property”.

Now in 2012, corporations have become much more aware of the need to communicate with their various stakeholders. Most corporations take the time to think through how a stakeholder group might react to facility closures or expansions, labor negotiations, embezzlement, sexual harassment, whistleblower accusations, product recalls, regulatory investigations in addition to the media favorite’s death or injury of an employee, neighbor or customer or the threat of environmental damage.

How can you ever anticipate which crisis to get prepared for, when the permutations of likely disasters seem endless?

The answer is twofold:

• First-identify your likely crisis in advance by simply asking yourself, what has the company experienced in the past and what do we think is most likely? I can’t tell you how many crisis trainees we’ve talked to after they’ve experienced a real crisis who thought we were soothsayers because the crisis scenario we trained them on was what actually happened. Employees know where the risks are-- we just have to ask them.
• Second-use this general definition of a crisis to understand if you are really having a crisis or just a bad hair day: a crisis is any non-routine situation that:
• Interferes with normal operations, such as a serious accident, or
• Has attracted, or has the potential to attract, unwanted attention from outsiders, or
• Could jeopardize the company’s reputation and profitability.

Gone is the news cycle that allowed time. Today, if you talk to a reporter over the phone they may be composing their online post as you speak. It will be a matter of minutes before you are breaking news on the media website.

What can you do?

Plan and practice.

Every company needs a crisis plan. But wait, you might say, I’m not a manufacturing company, I’m not going to blow anything up, I’m not going to have a product recall, I’m not going to cause an environmental disaster, nothing I do threatens anyone’s life, my company doesn’t do anything that will seriously impact others.

I’m sure the worst thing that any community bank president thought could happen to his bank was an armed robbery, until the collapse of the mortgage system. I’m sure Penn State Trustees never thought they’d be called to speak to the media, much less regarding an alleged pedophile.

You can never anticipate every crisis. You can put in place internal systems to respond. I promise your operations, HR and facilities people have given thought to how to keep your company in business given a variety of scenarios. The same thought should be given to communication.

• Who will speak,
• who will gather information,
• who do we need to speak to and when,
• what can we say, what should we say,
• who’s writing the messages,
• who must approve what we say,
• where would we gather to speak,
• who will monitor traditional and online media,
• who will be the online voice, the list goes on.

The key to success and ability to respond in a timely fashion is having thought it through before it happens.

CEOs are the fastest learners I’ve had the pleasure to train. They know their company, they know where they want to go, they have a plan for how they will get there and in today’s business, have had a chance to tell that story. Often, what they haven’t given time to are the negative questions that may come from outsiders. And frankly, out of respect for the person and the position, insiders will rarely ask a CEO a tough negative question.

Whether or not you have a plan in place, at a bare minimum, declare a spokesperson and give them a chance to practice in a non-threatening environment. The number one thing our stakeholders want from us in a time of crisis is to know that someone of authority is working to resolve the problem. That requires confidence. Confidence comes from practice and experience.

As the Boy Scouts say: Be Prepared.