Comm427 Midterm Review Foundations for Crisis Communication Five Truths About Crisis Communication 1 Crises are inevitable inevitably all companies can and will experience crises all organizations should take proactive steps to prepare for these inevitable crises planning for a crisis can affect the quality of communication during the crisis 2 Transparent and honest communication is key to effective communication dishonesty in the form of deliberate omission deceptions and strategic ambiguity are inappropriate from ethical standpoint also undermine not support crisis communication many companies people s first reaction to crisis was attempt to deny cover up lie short term positive effects but have long term negative effects 3 When in doubt follow a golden rule approach do to others as you would like done to you when communicating with audiences ask yourself these questions o What would you want to know o What would you need to know o How would you want the messages communicated to you o What channels would need to be available to you if you had further questions or 4 An organization s culture can determine crisis communication success comments about the crisis organizations culture is an organizations DNA creating and nurturing a culture that is conducive to effective crisis communication is first step when planning for a crisis 5 Crisis communication requires training and skill sets that people don t naturally possess effective crisis communication requires skill training practice and simulation just because you have the best info knowledge doesn t mean you know how to communicate it learn to communicate crises properly STICK S Skill in crisis communication T Transparency I Inevitability of crises and therefore pre crisis preparation imperative C Culture of an organization that will not undermine the crisis plan K Knowledge of the value of the gold rule principle Defining Crisis Communication Crisis an anomalous event that may negatively affect an organization that requires efficient organizational communication to reduce the damage related to the event atypical events that may be predictable but not expected can damage organization or individuals within organizations compels organizations to communicate with various audiences Issue Incident Risk Crisis Disaster Incident issue minor localized disruption isolated event only disruptive to a small part of an organization isolated minor only disruptive to part of an organization Risk has the potential to become a crisis if not handled in correct way presents possible issue crisis disaster but gives leeway in preventing it from happening Crisis definition above disrupts affect an entire organization and can result in negative or undesirable outcomes it is not isolated incident organization must all stop and rebuild respond not isolated affects entire organization organization based major crisis cannot become a disaster Disaster more large scale than a crisis it affects a community is not preventable disaster can become a crisis if not handled properly community based major Types of Crises Natural Disaster o ex hurricane flood Management Employee Misconduct o ex WorldCom executives accused of deliberately presenting inaccurate data about company Product Tampering Mega Damage Rumor o ex Chinese police arrested two brothers accused of adding dangerous chemical to milk they sold to a company that produced infant formula babies become ill 2 die o ex Exxon Valdez crashes the oil spill as a result into clean waters o ex Widow on Larry King claims cell phone cause her husbands death Motorola s sock drops precipitously Technical Breakdown Accident o ex computers storing information about applicants at a university crash losing all information university doesn t know who was admitted and who was not Technical Breakdown Not Entirely Accidental o ex Intel computers recalled because had program that did not calculate number correctly problem aggravated when revealed that Intel knew of this problem and did not immediately recall flawed products o ex Wal Mart confronted by consumer group that argues there is high price for low cost produces a movie about it and shows at various locations Challenge Human Error o ex car tires are defective driving accidents attributed to this problem Workplace Violence o ex worker murders co workers What crises communicators do Prepare for crises conceive create and disseminate messages to these internal and external receivers and prepare to receive and respond to feedback from these audiences o develop relationships with internal and external audiences o anticipate potential crises o consider ahead of time how to address types of crises that can be anticipated Identify audiences o consider who needs to receive information from the organization during times of crisis o will be internal and external Conceive and construct messages o identify units of information that company wishes to relay to identified audiences o create message that are composites of these units Select media medium for communication o evaluate methods for communicating select best method o be prepared to respond to feedback questions reactions from internal and external Respond to feedback audiences Evaluate success o after initial crisis has passed asses the effort discuss how they could be more effective record plans for activity if faced with similar crisis in future Crisis communication Skills o Speak well under pressure o Respond well to questions o write well o conduct meetings with crisis communication teams and members of stakeholder groups o use new technologies to complement traditional communication strategies and channels Crisis Communication Myths Crisis communication is only reactive o successful crisis communicator prepares for crises with proactive planning o preparatory steps enable an organizations to communicate effectively during crisis Crisis communication media relations o mass media is beneficial because it can communicate messages to mass audiences quickly and can sometimes assist with crisis communication effort but are not synonymous for two reasons if crisis communication and media relations are synonymous means organization will be ignoring other key audiences ex Virginia Tech shooting was more important to get in touch with important audiences other than the media students faculty families if synonymous assumes that it does not have a crisis unless the media become involved don t always want the media to be involved