Crisis Communication

In today's world, with the eternal vigilance of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, almost anything can become a crisis to deal with. Are you prepared to respond to crisis situations? Have you sat down with your team and brainstormed about the kinds of things that could become a crisis for your organization? What if the CEO dies suddenly? Or one of your executives becomes involved in a scandal that starts a social media frenzy? Or lightning takes out both your data center and your back-up servers? No? Then perhaps you need to set up a meeting to do so ASAP. Your reputation and your survival could depend upon it.

Here are a few tips about how to brace for severe and volatile crises. (Item #1)   The crisis response is what management does and says after the crisis hits; research falls into two sections: the initial crisis response and reputation repair and behavioral intentions. (Item #2)   Instead of trying to create a locked-down plan, what you need is a process for quick decision-making. (Item #3)

It's important to understand that communication issues will arise, and that having a plan for addressing them will make life easier when they do. (Item #4)   Expect the unexpected, and then try to prepare for the most devastating possibilities. (Item #5)   The work of crisis communication is two-fold -- preparation and response. (Item #6)


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