Over the past seven months the media have relentlessly covered major crises ranging from a superstar athlete’s fall from grace, a massive vehicle recall because of safety problems, two fatal industrial accidents, military veterans exposed to contaminated dental instruments, the worst environmental disaster in the history of the U.S. and the financial emasculation of two of the world’s largest corporations.

In all these crises there have been “lessons learned” that can, upon study, reveal weaknesses in your crisis communications plan.

It’s also important to know details of recent crises when discussing crisis communications tactics with leaders in your organization.

Here are just three of the lessons learned.

1. Appoint a live spokesperson

Last spring a crisis was brewing at the John Cochran Veterans Administration Medical Center in St. Louis. Officials there discovered that some 1,800 military vets may have been exposed to HIV and other life-threatening diseases because of improperly cleaned dental instruments.

Although the hospital has been communicating and working with patients at risk since February, when contacted by CNN on July 1 for information about the story hospital officials refused an interview but provided a written statement.

In all but extremely rare cases — especially situations involving threats to people’s health — a spokesperson should be appointed to communicate for the organization. Sending the reporter a copy of a press release or initial statement either before or after the interview is good media relations procedure, but written material is not a substitute for a spokesperson.

Not providing a spokesperson, even if you distribute written statements, immediately triggers suspicion on the part of your stakeholders and the media. They can’t help but think, “what are they hiding,” or “it must be worse than they are saying.”

In a long-term situation that may attract media attention even if there are no new developments, such as the Cochran Veterans Administration HIV/AIDS scare, make certain a designated spokesperson is available on a daily basis.

Of course, spokespeople must be trained in media skills and possibly attend special training relevant to the issue. They absolutely must be from your organization, not consultants or PR firm employees.

With the media paying so much attention to the treatment of disabled active-duty military personnel and veterans these days, shouldn’t we expect our VA officials to respond quickly, professionally and compassionately to a situation like this?

Key learning: A competent and credible organization must provide trained spokespeople on any issue the organization may encounter.

2. Learn to maximize the effectiveness of outside consultants.

There may be times when you must work with an outside public relations consultant or firm. Such professionals can be of great help during a crisis. Here are some tips on maximizing their effectiveness.

Every organization has a unique culture and a certain way of doing things from writing style to conducting a press conference. It is helpful if an outside consultant or firm that may be called to help in your crisis can have some time to acclimate to that culture before he or she is called in an emergency. One way to do this is to invite your consultant to participate in crisis drills and exercises.

But not all contributions from outside PR practitioners are effective.

During May there was some controversy regarding who was in charge of the oil spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. CNN interviewed a public relations consultant who recommended that BP CEO Tony Hayward be seen on television using a shovel to clean up gobs of oil on a beach to demonstrate his commitment and leadership.

Does anyone believe the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world is spending his time shoveling oil and contaminated sand off a beach? Your primary audience – the families of the workers who lost their lives or were injured and other people affected by the spill – surely would identify this as a PR stunt.

The CEO does have a responsibility to communicate with people who are affected by the crisis and explain what the company is doing in its response. That can be accomplished by briefing reporters with cleanup operations in the background or talking to business owners at their facilities.

Key learning: Don’t resort to PR stunts; they will always backfire.

3. Don’t just “tell ’em whatever they want to hear.”

Some PR practitioners engage in the “tell them whatever they want to hear” style of consulting. If, for example, the owner of a company mired in a crisis lets it be known she does not want to “deal with reporters” a consultant may tailor his counsel to support that inclination.

What you want is a consultant who, like you, can give insightful and effective public relations counsel and provide management with recent examples of how certain tactics worked or didn’t work to defend organizations’ reputation.

Key learning: Don’t avoid communicating; it only makes the crisis worse.

If you haven’t already done so, follow coverage of the crises and disasters of the last seven months in order to evaluate them with an eye toward improving your crisis communications plan.

That’s why the Crisis Communications Team Leader and managers should view the organization’s website as yet another way to connect with your audiences in a crisis, a communications resource in which you control the messages.

A crisis homepage, also called a “crisis webpage” or “dark site,” takes the place of the organization’s normal website homepage in a crisis and is typically prepared, at least in part, before an emergency. That’s because, like a press release, the earlier it is deployed the more effective it will be in disseminating your messages.

However effective, deploying a crisis homepage does not negate the need for the Crisis Communications Team Leader to assign spokespeople to work with reporters covering the story.

A crisis homepage also sends a strong signal that your organization will be forthcoming with verified information about the situation and will be available to discuss your actions with the media. It also says something positive about your organization’s competency and transparency.

The absence of a crisis homepage also says something about your organization’s competency and transparency. Unfortunately, it’s not the kind of reputation you desire.

During the tragic West Virginia coal mine explosion last April, a daily check of Massey Energy Company’s website revealed a homepage designed for less tumultuous events. The page included information about why coal should play a lead role in America’s energy strategy and a link to an article highlighting Massey’s safety program.

What would you want to know if you were personally involved in that crisis? Your answer is a good starting point for determining what information should be on your crisis homepage.

It’s early in the crisis which means you don’t have much information. Share what you do know with your stakeholders.

• Situation synopsis
• Contact information
• Initial statement *

* Indicates linked item from crisis homepage

Situation synopsis

The situation synopsis is a short description of what your organization is doing to respond to the crisis. To be considered timely, the situation synopsis mustit be updated at least daily. For example, CPM Energy, a fictitious natural gas provider, could have posted this situation synopsis concerning an explosion and fire attributed to a contractor inadvertently striking a gas pipeline at a construction site.

An explosion and fire injured one person and damaged three vehicles at a construction site in West Valley this afternoon.

West Valley Police spokesperson Marie Williamson said the accident occurred while a worker operating a bulldozer struck a natural gas pipeline at 3167 N. Catalpa St., the flood control area construction site.

The injured worker was taken to University Hospital where officials have not released the person’s identity or condition pending notification of family members.

The fire department has extinguished the blaze and CPM Energy workers have turned off the flow of gas in the area.

Contact information

This section should contain phone numbers and e-mail addresses of people in and outside your organization who can provide information about the crisis and, if appropriate, provide assistance.

During the fictitious natural gas explosion used in the discussion above CPM Energy’s crisis homepage could list contact information for:

• Fire Department
• Police Department
• CPM Energy Emergency Service
• CPM Energy claims department
• CPM Energy media department

Initial statement

The initial statement you provide the media should contain the confirmed information your stakeholders need. As a matter of fact, the statement is the key element of your crisis homepage’s first iteration.

As more confirmed information is discovered add it to the homepage. That could include:

• Updated synopsis
• Current press release*
• Appropriate executive’s comments*
• Videos*
• Relevant media coverage*

*Indicates linked item from crisis homepage

Updated synopsis
Update your synopsis daily, at a minimum. Even if there are no new developments or confirmed information, you can freshen the statement. The CPM Energy document below is a good example of an updated synopsis.

CPM Energy technicians today completed inspecting the 36 construction sites – both active and completed – operational during the last 90 days in the West Valley area near natural gas pipelines. All 36 sites were in compliance with operating standards and showed no evidence of leaks or damage.

If you detect a natural gas odor call CPM Energy at 555-1200 immediately and follow the emergency service specialist’s instructions.

Current press release
Replace the initial statement with the current press release. It should be posted to the crisis homepage the moment it is released to the media. Post subsequent press releases to the crisis homepage.

Executive’s comments
Have an executive with the appropriate job title and rank explain how the organization is responding to the situation. Those comments can be either written or on video.

Please allow me to repeat: Posting those comments in no way relieves you from the obligation to provide spokespeople to work with reporters covering the emergency.

Videos
Feature videos of your employees working to accomplish what your executive in the video above described to show that your organization is mobilized and responding.

Relevant media coverage
When appropriate, post copies and videos of media coverage of the crisis to keep your stakeholders informed.

Test your prototype crisis homepage in crisis exercises. After you’re satisfied with its performance – you should be able to deploy or update it within one hour – demonstrate the concept to appropriate management and develop guidelines for its use.

A crisis homepage is an excellent communications tool with which to ensure your stakeholders are receiving information about the crisis directly from you, uncut and unedited.

From a high-ranking government official to the owner of a local car repair business no one is immune from misspeaking in an interview, especially in the high-pressure environment of a crisis. Thankfully, there are measures you can take to minimize the chance that something your spokesperson says or does during an interview could damage your organization’s reputation.

I was present at such a moment a few days before the first Gulf War began.

As a member of an oil company’s public relations communications team I routinely facilitated interviews about our products, operations and positions on a variety of business issues. Since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990 and the Allied response was primarily about who would control Kuwaiti oil the media was interested in information for stories about how a war would affect oil prices. They wanted to talk to the industry decision-makers.

As a result, one morning I was sitting next to an ABC-TV cameraman in the office of the executive responsible for our company’s crude oil supply. Our executive was explaining to a business reporter the benefits of a then-new online system allowing subscribers to track oil prices in real-time.

After the interview the reporter, a former stockbroker, asked our executive to explain a few more features of the system, which he gladly did. After five minutes the reporter said, “Thanks. I’ve taken up a lot of your time so I’ll let you get back to work.”

“No problem,” our executive replied patting the top of his desktop monitor, “I have to get back to manipulating the price of oil.”

Horrified, I glanced at the microphone control and, sure enough, it was still on. In other words, the entire post-interview conversation was recorded, not with any “got you” trickery in mind, but our executive’s attempt at humor while discussing a serious issue was now in the public domain.

Needless to say there was a crowd at the public affairs conference room late that afternoon watching the ABC World News to see if the reporter used any of the material from the post-interview discussion.

To everyone’s relief he didn’t, but the point is, he could have within the bounds of journalistic standards.

That incident prompted us to make some changes in our two-day spokesperson training program that Crisis Communications Team Leaders might consider adding to your media training plans.

Some of those changes included:

Attitude

Regardless of what you think about the media, the quickest way to disseminate information about a crisis or emergency situation to your stakeholders is through the broadcast and online capabilities of media. Yes, reporters and their crews can be pushy and brusque at times but remember they are working under deadline pressure to gather the news and deliver it to millions of people.

Don’t consider an interview a waste of time or an attempt to somehow make your organization look bad. Rather view it as a welcome opportunity to reach out to your audiences.

Your, or your spokesperson’s, attitude can make the difference between connecting with your audiences or casting doubt over your organization’s competence and credibility. Audiences make judgments about attitude and credibility within a few seconds which doesn’t give your scowling, huffy spokesperson much of a chance.

We added this and other information about making a good first impression and, for lack of a better term, body language to the seminar. While you don’t want to devote the entire workshop to these topics they deserve mention.

Practice

Time and situation permitting, practicing delivering your messages out loud can give you a boost of confidence. Knowing what you want to say can help settle the butterflies.

In a crisis, it’s permissible for a spokesperson to refer to notes during the interview; especially when discussing key messages. You might say, “I have some important information for the residents in the area and I’d like to refer to my notes to make certain I cover all of it.”

We carved out a five-minute practice session for each participant before their on-camera interviews. This gave them one more chance, in private, to fine-tune their message and practice delivering it. Just before or immediately following those interviews our role-playing reporters would engage in some informal discussion with the spokesperson.

For example, during training for Gulf War interviews one reporter would say, “I’ll bet you’re getting tired of doing all these interviews.” That could be answered by the company’s view of communicating; “It’s important that our customers have the facts about this situation.”

And furthermore

Here are a few more do’s-and-don’ts that can make your next media training workshop or interaction with the media a success. By the way, a successful interview is one in which you reach your selected audiences with the information they need to know regarding the crisis or situation.

• The mic is always on. Consider every microphone, camera, tape recorder and mobile phone camera in the area to be “on” the entire time reporters or technicians are present.
• You never know who’s listening. Never discuss the issue you are working on in the midst of people you don’t know, for example, in an elevator, taxicab, airplane or restaurant.
• What you say is fair game. While technicians are making final adjustments before the interview or packing up afterward the reporter might strike up some friendly chit chat. Be careful what you say; it’s all on the record.
• Never go “off-the-record”. Except in extremely rare cases, there is no such thing as “off-the-record” in a crisis. OTR and exclusives should never used especially in the early stages of a crisis. Granting special access and information during the crisis will jeopardize your relationship with reporters from the outlets that are not part of the arrangement.
• It’s not funny. Any attempt to use humor in a crisis will be viewed as tasteless and may indicate your organization is not taking the situation seriously.
• Stand up. When participating in a telephone interview, stand up. Standing can help you project your voice. It also serves as a reminder that you are engaged in a media interview, not a normal conversation.
• Don’t speculate. If you don’t know the answer to a reporter’s question say you don’t know, even if your intent is to calm people down. Tell the reporter you’ll get back to her or him with the answer as soon as possible.
• Don’t lie. Further elaboration is not necessary.

Finally

Remember, from the time you see a media truck’s headlights appear until the taillights disappear, everything you do and say is on the record.

Good luck in your interview.

For example, the ongoing Toyota recall crisis has provided a bonanza of crisis management lessons, all of which belong in your crisis communications notebook, if they’re not there already.

If you haven’t been able to watch this landmark case study unfold in media of all forms from print to social, let me bring you up to speed. The developments beginning in the middle of February yielded particularly interesting crisis response learnings.

Toyota’s Crisis Communications Troubles

Toyota Issues Confusing Information to Media

Auto giant Toyota, long renowned for its high-quality vehicles, surprised industry insiders and consumers alike by recalling 8.8 million vehicles for safety defects. One of those defects is called a “runaway accelerator,” also called “unintended acceleration.” In this situation, the car’s accelerator pedal is jammed open and the driver cannot slow or stop the car.

With literally millions of Toyotas being repaired and Toyota executives testifying before a U.S. House Community regarding the situation, a company official announced, “The parts we are installing may not be fixing the acceleration problem [in our vehicles].”

The announcement, which was true and needed to be made as soon as possible, literally destroyed any further credibility the company had with customers and regulators.

Crisis Response Lessons

Before you or a spokesperson releases a statement on behalf of your organization make double-certain every single word, letter and punctuation mark in the statement is accurate. Ensure that the information it contains is verified by the organization and any other entity that is involved in the crisis.

Ensure your crisis response plan includes a “boilerplate”outline for this type of statement.

If you don’t know, say you don’t know.

Toyota Crisis Communications: Company’s Priorities Became Confused

During the last week in February, Akio Toyoda, the company’s president, apologized for the grief and concern caused by Toyota vehicles in thousands of accidents. The “priorities” Toyoda cited were a set of business principles the company adopted in April 2001.

“These priorities became confused,” Toyoda explained at the congressional hearing, “and we were not able to stop, think and make improvements.” According to Google Media, this statement was picked up by some 58,000 news and information outlets within six hours.

Crisis Response Lesson

In all seriousness, a statement like this should call into question the type of organization for which you are working.

Crisis communications professionals have two audiences during an event.

The first audience is, of course, people affected by the crisis. For corporate or agency communicators, the second audience is comprised of the news directors, editors, reporters and other media professionals who tell your story.

Your accomplishments, achievements and, most importantly, your honesty, professionalism and reputation become your resume in the in the communications business.

If you ever find yourself in an organization whose CEO has just said over a live microphone or in front of a camera, “those priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements…” make your next call of that day to a headhunter.

That depends on which stage your communications efforts are in:

• Initial Stage
• Primary Stage
• Recovery Stage

Let’s take a look at communications in these three stages.

Initial Stage

Making a Favorable First Impression

Just as in social situations you only have one chance to make a favorable first impression in the early moments of a crisis. The Initial Statement is how your organization makes that first impression on the jury in the court of public opinion comprised of your stakeholders.

Not to put too much pressure on you but you absolutely must get this right. So, here is a short table-top exercise to demonstrate how this is accomplished.

Tabletop exercise

You are the communications director for Elmwood City Energy (ECE), the local utility company that supplies electricity and natural gas in your area.

You just received a phone call from the company’s operations manager. Twenty minutes ago an explosion demolished a house in your service area. Fortunately, no one was home at the time of the explosion. When the fire department arrived they reported a strong odor of natural gas.

As a precaution, about 35 people in the neighborhood were evacuated to a local middle school gymnasium. The Red Cross is in the process of establishing an evacuation station there.

ECE has turned off the delivery lines in that area.

Selecting your audiences

A good rule of thumb is to address no more than three audiences with the Initial Statement. Are there other important audiences in this situation? Sure. However, you can address them later.

Don’t forget, the media is not your audience in most cases. The media is a conduit through which you can reach your audiences. To determine who they are start at the center of the crisis. Who is most directly impacted by the event? Undoubtedly you would select the owners of the home that was demolished as the most important audience.

Using your professional communicator’s judgment determine the emotions people are experiencing and their needs. Based on that analysis the next step is to develop a message for the homeowners that addresses their emotions and needs. This audience profile is useful in creating effective messages.

If these messages don’t address or acknowledge your audiences’ concerns, emotions and needs in the statement you’re just talking not communicating.

Then identify the next audience. That should be the people who were evacuated. They are concerned about safety and want to know when they can get back into their homes. By the way, they are probably mad about what’s going on.

The third audience might be customers near the area who are concerned about safety. The message you should give them is about what the company is doing in response to the explosion and what they should do if they detect natural gas.

Creating the Initial Statement shouldn’t take very long because at this stage of the crisis there is little confirmed information. Your media training program must include instructions on how to prepare an Initial Statement, a task that should take a trained spokesperson no more than 15 minutes to create.

Only use confirmed information. Don’t speculate or try to minimize the situation. During the interview if you don’t know the answer to a question say you don’t know then tell the reporter that as soon as that information becomes available you will let him or her know.

Initial Statement example

We are thankful no one was injured this morning. We are working with the fire department to determine the cause of the explosion and will meet with the homeowners later today.

As a precaution, we have shut off natural gas delivery to homes within a two-block area around the explosion.

We are also working with the fire department to determine when it is safe for our neighbors to return to their homes.

We know an incident such as this is unsettling. If you smell natural gas please call our Emergency Response Center at 555-5555.

When we have more information we will inform you by this process and it will be posted on our website at www.ElmwoodCityEnergy.com.

The Initial Statement should be delivered by a spokesperson distributed to the media and, if appropriate, posted on the homepage of your organization’s website no later than one hour after you are notified of the incident.

In a situation like this, it’s permissible for the spokesperson to refer to notes during the interview. In fact, he or she might say, “Let me refer to my notes so I can ensure our neighbors receive this important information.”

Primary Stage

Presenting a Broader Picture

The Primary Stage is a broader response that connects with more audiences and addresses a wider variety of issues than the Initial Response, especially in a fast-breaking incident.

Typically a crisis enters the Primary Stage, from a communicator’s perspective, when enough information becomes available to present a broader picture of the incident.

This will require you and your team to decide how to disseminate this information. Depending on the situation, your employees, local officials, state and federal government officials, suppliers, contractors and neighborhood organizations could be included in your communications.

Each new audience must be analyzed for their emotions and needs regarding the crisis and the best way to reach them with targeted communications must be determined.

Don’t forget your original audiences; they may still have needs and concerns or have new needs as the crisis develops. That has to do with the crisis center-of-gravity which will be discussed in a future article.

Recovery Stage

Repairing the Damage

The Recovery Stage supports your organization’s business resumption plan and repairs damage to its reputation. It is the time to communicate with appropriate audiences regarding what was learned through this situation and what, if anything, will change because of it.

Use the same process described above to identify audiences, their needs and concerns. In some cases the media won’t be the primary method for disseminating these messages. This is another instance where your professional judgment is important.

Some people affected by the crisis — for example the people who lost their home in this example — may never reach the Recovery Stage and your communications must be sensitive to that reality.

Situations like these are some of the most difficult a communicator can face because they inevitably come down to a balancing between personal privacy and organizational damage control. For a variety of reasons, especially the public’s seemingly insatiable appetite for sordid details about people in power, this type of crisis invites intense media scrutiny.

Do high-visibility personalities facing personal problems deserve a measure of privacy? Of course they do; but only to an extent.

People whose success is based on public approval owe their stakeholders – be they fans lining the fairways, tees and greens of a golf course, constituents who vote or attendees at a charity dinner and auction – an explanation of the crisis and their role in it.

However, the longer a personality waits to communicate the harder it will be to connect with his or her stakeholders. If those stakeholders don’t receive information from the personality involved in the crisis they will assume the worst.

With the exception of criminal activity, in which case the authorities often determine what information can and cannot be discussed, you must say something, anything, to acknowledge the situation and explain what you are doing about it. Use your professional judgment to determine which details should be made public and which should remain private.

Depending on the scope and nature of the crisis the personality should be able to address the public within 48 hours. After that, you and your client are navigating in uncharted, shark-infested waters.

The Tiger Woods Crisis

Early on the morning of December 2, the day after Thanksgiving, golf superstar Tiger Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade, first into a fire hydrant then into a tree, precipitating one of the most widely covered sports stories of the decade.

Stories of the accident flashed around the world with no personal response from the golfer. Seven days into the scandal there were more than 57,000 stories about his infidelity and 80,100 in three weeks.

Later that day Woods and his communications team posted a statement to his website with the awkward headline, “Tiger Comments on Current Events,” that raised more questions than it provided answers. Unfortunately there was no mention of a spokesperson to answer questions and clear up the ambiguities in this statement. There was also no mention of a press conference.

Then on December 11 another statement, “Tiger Taking Hiatus from Golf,” was posted. Once again the statement provided no details about the crisis, didn’t name a spokesperson – frankly nine days into the crisis that spokesperson should have been Woods, an eloquent speaker – and did not disseminate information about a press conference.

Rather than admit the scope of the problem Woods and his communications team opted for what many communications experts call “Death by a Thousand Cuts.” Whenever another of Woods’ paramours came forward the media went into a feeding frenzy and most of their stories ended with the question: Could there be more women?

While Woods was in hiding, the media had little trouble locating crisis management practitioners who gladly offered their opinions regarding what Woods should do. Their advice covered the spectrum from continue hiding and don’t say anything to sit down with Oprah Winfrey and tell his story to the popular television show host and her 7 million daily viewers.

One month into the crisis we still haven’t heard from Woods or a spokesperson. According to The Cleveland Leader, his approval ratings have been “dropping off faster than a car driven off the side of a cliff” from 80-percent two years ago to 60-percent the day after his accident to 34-percent on December 23. A December 16 Los Angeles Times story headline blared, “The Tiger Woods Story Gets Bigger and Juicier.”

About this time allegations of Woods using performance-enhancing drugs surfaced. Then, on December 27, MSNBC aired a program titled, “The Rise and Fall of Tiger Woods.”

What might have been a more effective way to communicate in a situation like this?

Go ugly early

In the early moments of just about any crisis a statement from the person or organization involved should be issued defining the situation, explaining what is happening and what’s being done about it. If nothing else, that statement establishes the individual or the organization as a source of information.

Don’t attempt to sugar-coat or “spin” information, blame other people for blowing things out of proportion or attempt to minimize the situation. A short statement is better than rambling on about how the media is out to get you or your organization. It’s naïve to think that by of gravity story becomes one of veracity.

Silence allows the story to develop without your perspective and information. By the time you get ready to communicate the story’s direction will have already been determined written and it will be a monumental task to dig yourself out from under the media stories that already have been written or broadcasted.

There is a discussion about the Initial Statement in an article describing the crisis management communications writer.

Media training

Succeeding in this high-pressure environment requires special communication skills because a media interview is not a normal conversation. That’s why top people in any organization, regardless of size or purpose, must have media training. For further information, see the Media Training page on this website.

Plan and rehearse

Deciding on a course of action while a personality-driven crisis is raging is almost always fraught with internal conflict and panic. Although it might be difficult to imagine such a scenario occurring at your organization, you and your management team should discuss how they will respond.

The discussion should be followed by a tabletop crisis exercise based on a plausible scenario. Don’t forget to update your crisis communications plan based lessons learned during this exercise.

Sage crisis response advice

The best crisis response advice I’ve seen is on the masthead of the Aspen Daily News, “If you don’t want it published, don’t let it happen.”

But ask anyone who has responded to a crisis, even a “small incident,” and they will tell you there are myriad administrative events and developments that fall outside those roles that can overwhelm the communications team. From implementing the media triage plan to ordering meals for the team someone must have the flexibility and authority to handle these critical tasks.

That person is the Administrative Coordinator.

Tasks and responsibilities: From media triage to web support

The types of tasks the Administrative Coordinator might be asked to accomplish include:

Media triage
Answer phones, prioritize return calls based on media triage parameters, distribute information to the appropriate spokesperson/spokespeople.

Although the Administrative Coordinator doesn’t conduct interviews, he or she puts reporters in touch with the organization’s spokesperson or spokespeople or makes return calls, even if it’s just to say, “Someone will get back to you with the information you need as soon as possible.”

When reporters call your organization for information about the crisis, they should speak with a person, not an automated answering machine or voice message.

Tip: During crisis exercises and drills have an appropriate statement ready for reporters who may call asking for information about your training activities. It does happen.

Prepare for a press conference
The preparations for a press conference should take no more than 30 minutes. During quarterly crisis table-top exercises the Administrative Coordinator should ensure the necessary items, such as current background information about your organization, pads of paper, pens spare batteries for the clock and a spare bulb for the projector are in the room. While you’re at it, make sure the projector works.

Of course, when not in use during a crisis the press conference room can be used for its intended purpose.

Tip: To prevent reporters from overhearing conversations about the crisis, the press conference room you select should not be near where the crisis communications team is working. Reporters and camera/support crews should always be escorted when they are in your building.

Outside support
Have relevant information in the plan for contacting outside support such as the public relations agency with whom you work, media monitoring services and governmental agencies if appropriate. This prevents the Administrative Coordinator from wasting time during a crisis looking for the information.

Tip: Reinforcements don’t have to come from outside. Have contact information for members of your organization who have completed media training and who could act as spokespeople or perform other communications team roles. That contact information should be in, you guessed it, the crisis communications plan.

Make travel arrangements
Making travel reservations these days can be a real hassle. Whether you use a travel agency or do it yourself, make sure the relevant contact information is included in the plan.

Tip: In this age of heightened travel security the crisis communications plan should include the precise name and other information of all team members needed to facilitate obtaining travel documents.

Catering
Napoleon observed, “An army travels on its stomach.” The same can be said for a crisis communications team. Arrange catering for the team when appropriate and, please, go easy on the junk food.

Tip: Avoid placing food and beverages near where the crisis team, especially your spokespeople, are working. People tend to congregate and gab around food which could cause a distraction. That area must remain quiet.

Accommodations
If it looks like response efforts will continue beyond normal business hours arrange accommodations for team members. With the Team Leader, determine staffing requirements for extended operations.

Tip: Crisis response is high-pressure work. If possible, shifts should last no longer than six hours, four during the initial response phase.

Information Technology (IT)
Whether your IT support is from internal or external providers, the crisis communications plan must include specific contact information in the plan for Information Technology support.

Tip: Crisis exercises and drills are the perfect time for the Administrative Coordinator to review the plan and ensure critical IT contact information is included and current.

Website support
During a crisis your organization’s website can provide stakeholders with timely information about the situation. Posting information can be tricky in the best of times and a source of frustration during a crisis. Make certain your plan contains up-to-date contact information for the providers of this critical service.

Tip: One of the most important decisions within the first hour of any crisis is whether to activate the “website dark page.” A dark page typically takes the place of the homepage and reflects statements from the initial statement and updates to provide another source of confirmed information for your stakeholders and the media.

Selecting the right person

The Administrative Coordinator must have a working knowledge of the crisis response plan, the organization and how to accomplish the multitude of tasks needed to support the crisis communications team. The person you select must be able accomplish several tasks, sometimes simultaneously.

In large organizations the Administrative Coordinator must have knowledge about how to navigate through policies and procedures to accomplish tasks quickly and precisely. In many cases that person could be an Administrative Assistant, preferably one who works with the communications function on a daily basis.

Select a primary and alternate Administrative Coordinator; both of whom should participate in all crisis drills and exercises.

For more information about crisis management communications see When the Balloon Goes Up: The Communicator’s Guide to Crisis Response by Bob Roemer.

What kind of person voluntarily steps into such mayhem?

If you are a member of a Crisis Communications Team that person might very well be you.

Even if you aren’t going to face the bright lights and microphones, as a communicator you will undoubtedly play a role in preparing the person who will tell your organization’s story to its stakeholders: your spokesperson.

Communicating in a crisis – not an option

There is no question that, at first blush, crisis management principles seem counterintuitive. With controversy swirling and few facts to go on the need to communicate what you do know about the situation is critically important.

Refusing to comment or merely issuing a written statement does not constitute communicating and raises doubts about the credibility and competency of management. It also causes your stakeholders to wonder what the organization is hiding or whether the crisis is worse than was thought.

The first step in preparing your crisis plan is to obtain senior management’s commitment to communicate and be accessible to the media.

The role of the spokesperson is to implement that commitment.

Selecting a spokesperson

Select the appropriate number of spokespeople based on the size and nature of your organization. It’s a good idea to appoint a primary and backup. Of course, you’ll include their contact information in your crisis communications plan.

For example, if you have multiple facilities you may want to appoint spokespeople for each location and the company headquarters. If you are a local not-for-profit group you probably only need two spokespeople.

Job description and title aren’t important when selecting a spokesperson, especially for interviews early in the crisis. At that point, reporters then are looking for basic facts and background information. As long as your spokesperson is available and credible they’re satisfied.

Depending how the incident develops someone from senior management may be called upon as a spokesperson. Situations involving serious injuries, fatalities or significant property loss almost always call for a senior management spokesperson.

Bringing in a senior management spokesperson is always a question of timing and visibility. Involve them too soon it looks like the situation is worse than it is, wait too long and it looks look like they are aloof. There are no universal right answers; as with many issues in crisis management it’s a factor of your organization, the nature of the crisis and your professional judgment.

Spokesperson qualifications

Here’s what you are looking for in a spokesperson:

• Sincere, credible on-camera presence
• Can simplify technical information
• Knowledge of organization and products/services
• Completed media training
• Must be an employee/member of organization (see below)

There are two important caveats to the above guidance: if at all possible, don’t use attorneys or outside consultants as spokespeople.

If your spokesperson is identified as an attorney the underlying message you will send to stakeholders and people affected by the crisis will be all about legal issues. If your spokesperson is identified as an outside consultant that sends a strong signal you don’t have anyone competent enough or responsible enough to represent your organization. As we’ve noted in previous articles in this series there are roles for outside consultants – analyst, writer and administrative assistant – other than serving as a spokesperson.

You should include attorneys and consultants in crisis response drills, exercises and media training to understand – and buy-in the case of attorneys – the organization’s crisis response plans and procedures.

How it works

In the early 90s the oil company for which I worked had a crude oil pipeline leak in a remote stream in Colorado. The district manager, who had attended media training two months prior to the incident, worked with reporters on the scene. A public relations staff member acting as the writer for this incident helped the district manager prepare his key points on which our initial statement and press release were based.

During the first four hours of the incident the manager participated in three interviews; two were live on-the-air telephone interviews for radio stations and the other was for a TV news crew at the location.

The district manager was confident he could handle in any further interviews at the site. Meanwhile, we appointed a second spokesperson in our Denver office to work with Denver media. She participated in two interviews and provided updates as more confirmed information became available.

Altogether we had five interviews that day and two follow-up radio interviews the next day. Those follow-ups were handled by the public relations staff in Denver.

Media training is a must

Our article about the basics of media training provides an overview of this subject but it can’t be said enough that people identified as potential spokespeople must be trained.

Effective media skills are not inherent, no matter how many interviews a person has watched on TV or listened to on radio. In most of those interviews the newsmaker performs poorly.

The training must be designed to give the attendees the confidence they need to represent the organization to its stakeholders through the media.

“Media training allows you to identify who’s an effective spokesperson in general, and who, specifically, may be better for different types of interviews: TV, radio, print or online. And who, perhaps, should not be a spokesperson.” From Keeping the Wolves at Bay: A Media Training Manual by crisis management expert Jonathan Bernstein.

Inviting local officials such as police, fire, staff and administrators to attend media training is an excellent way to build positive relationships.

By the way, your crisis communications team members should also attend media training, perhaps in a special session just for your team. It’s been my experience that many communicators are good writers but could use some help with their television and radio interviews skills.

Availability is key

Once appointed, speaking to reporters about the crisis becomes the spokesperson’s full-time job. Nothing is more exasperating for a reporter than to be given a spokesperson’s contact information only to discover that person is unavailable. If this is an ongoing crisis, enough spokespeople must be available around the clock and on weekends and holidays.

What should the spokesperson say?

The spokesperson must focus only on confirmed information. Speculating is absolutely forbidden. If you don’t know, say you don’t know. Then promise the reporter you’ll get back to him or her with the confirmed information as soon as possible.

Although usually your audience is not the reporters – it’s your stakeholders – it’s important that reporters regard your spokesperson as a responsible, professional and reliable source of confirmed information who understands what’s needed for a news story.

Media query information

If at all possible, ask your spokespersons to maintain an informal log, sometimes called a media query record – or simply media-q – of the interviews he or she does.

Include the following information:

• Reporter’s name
• Media outlet affiliation
• Contact information
• Questions asked
• Answers given
• Questions for which you had no answers
• Issues raised
• Tone of interview

Your analyst will appreciate these “intelligence tidbits.”

Introduce the pressure, fear, panic and uncertainty a crisis creates and you’ll understand why writing crisis response communications is so challenging.

Not to overstate the case, but every word you produce and disseminate over a variety of formats will be scrutinized by your stakeholders including employees, customers, detractors, competitors, neighbors, public officials… this environment is no place for a rookie.

But in a crisis you don’t always have the luxury of finding the perfect person to fill this critical role. This is where your Crisis Response Plan can help.

Planning and exercises: Simplicity and specificity

When it comes to crisis communications plans, two elements will make or break their implementation: simplicity and specificity.

Your plan should be written so that the most junior member of your team can implement it with confidence that he or she is responding appropriately. The plan should not be a philosophical discussion about crisis management. It should be a concise guide to responding to a crisis with specific actions, decisions and information.

To achieve that the plan should be written in a checklist style with specific information needed to implement each particular action. For example, if the plan calls for issuing a press release, information about how to do that should be adjacent to that action, including:

• Distribution service (e.g. PR News wire)
• E-mail address
• Phone number
• Names and contact information of pertinent staff
• Your account number
• Detailed instructions from the vendor about issuing a press release on their system should be included in Annex

Give junior or new members of your crisis communications team an opportunity to practice implementing the plan during a crisis tabletop practice exercise, but only if they have had a chance to review and study the plan and have participated in their assigned role in exercises. This will build their confidence.

Boilerplates: Help relieve writer’s block

Some of the most important pages in your Crisis Response Plan are those that contain “boilerplates.” Boilerplates are templates for the statements the writer might create in the crisis. They provide the structure on which the statement is based.

Crisis response writing must be crisp, unambiguous and to the point. Don’t even think about extolling your organization’s vision, values, safety record or other self-serving statements. To save time, especially with the initial statement, you should have management approve the boilerplates in advance of a crisis. The first hour of a crisis is no time to discuss whether you should communicate even though you won’t have all the facts.

Now, you have one hour to write, have approved an issue the initial statement. Your phone is ringing off the hook. People are asking you questions regarding what happened. Your boss needs to see you. The clock is ticking.

This is why boilerplate statements are invaluable.

Here is a sample boilerplate for the all-important initial statement from When the Balloon Goes Up: The Communicator’s Guide to Crisis Response.

Initial Response Statement Format

Note: Use only confirmed information in this statement. Although it is unlikely you will have all the facts, it is critical to communicate your primary concerns and what actions the organization is taking to respond to the situation.

Your most important audience in this statement is the people directly impacted by the incident.

Headline

A concise statement about what’s happening, for example:

RPM CORP. RESPONDING TO SMITHVILLE FIRE

Date/city of origin

What happened?

RPM Corporation can confirm at (date/time) (described the incident/situation).

Who or what is affected?

Are/is people, property or the environment in danger? If so, what should people do (e.g., shelter-in place, return the product to their local grocery store for a refund, if you smell natural gas odors contact our emergency response department at 555-1111, do not swim at the Scott Beach until further notice, etc.)

What are we doing about it?

State primary concerns (e.g. the safety of our neighbors and employees, the supply of components to our customers, protecting the Lincoln Nature Preserve, etc.)

Provide details about the actions the organization is taking to respond to the incident. Address stakeholders/audience concerns (“We are working with the fire department to ensure the area is safe so that people who were evacuated from their homes can return as soon as possible).

If appropriate, mention a toll-free telephone number or website where people can obtain more information.

Provide appropriate background information.

Company/plant/facility/product background is useful here, e.g. RPM employs approximately 250 people at the Smithville plant, built in 1977, where we produce seats and interior trim products for the automotive industry.

As is the case with most elements of crisis response this data must be prepared before it’s needed and updated regularly.

How/when/where will you provide updated information?

We will provide updates through this briefing process at this location as more details become available. Updates and company information are also available on our website: www.rmpautocorp.com

Media contact

Contact information for an RPM Corporation spokesperson

Other boilerplate statements you may wish to include in the plan are:

• Media advisory for press conference/other information
• Information update
• Injuries and/or fatalities
• Press release
• Product recall
• Product tampering
• Website “dark page” with information about the incident

Website dark page: Design in advance

A website “dark page” is a pre-prepared website page that page that can be quickly tailored to the situation and posted on your website to disseminate information. You must use your professional judgment regarding when to implement this communications tool.

Two hours after an airplane crash I went to the website of the airline involved, who shall remain nameless in this example. The homepage was filled with travel deals but no information about the tragedy.

As with other crisis response documents the dark page must be designed prior to an incident. If you decide to activate the dark page the only preparation that should be needed is specific information pertaining to the current situation.

Management buy-in is essential

To speed the process of composing and issuing statements, especially the initial statement, you must have management’s approval for what you’re going to say. There isn’t time to obtain such approval during the early moments of a crisis. It behooves you to gain management approval of the basic structure and boilerplate messages before trouble strikes.

Imagine mayhem that can ensue from discussing what should be done while reporters call or arrive at your offices with questions.

Hint: Involve management in crisis drills and exercises where statements and content can be discussed and approved.

The writer is in demand

As we’ve discussed, boilerplates are time-savers especially when the writer can be asked to expand his or her role to include preparing communications for customers, public officials, Non- Governmental Agencies and industry groups.

Then there are special projects such as opening statements for press conferences, talking points for briefing the Board of Directors and preparing text for video news releases.

Depending on the crisis you might consider having more than one writer.

Bring in outside assistance

Fortunately resources from outside the organization can assist your writer or take on the role completely. Of course, this arrangement must be planned in advance. If possible outside vendors should participate in drills and exercises to learn the organization’s culture and writing style.

Share your crisis response writing anecdotes

If you have any anecdotes about crisis response writing you’d like to share with our readers please submit them.

When the Balloon Goes Up: The Communicator’s Guide to Crisis Response is available at Amazon.com.

An Important Crisis Management Role

The analyst gathers and interprets data about the crisis from several sources to determine the effectiveness of the organization’s response and makes recommendations based on that data about how to improve reaching stakeholders with important information about the crisis.

The analyst also maps the progression of the crisis to ensure the appropriate audiences are included in the response and whether there are changes in the crisis center of gravity requiring adjustments to the organization’s communications. There are discussions about the various stages of crisis in When the Balloon Goes Up: The Communicator’s Guide To Crisis Response.

Throughout the crisis the analyst also adjusts the data sources to obtain the best possible information about the crisis and the response. For a sample of these reports visit Media Monitoring: A Look Outside Your Organization.

Monitor for Mistakes

As if your analyst didn’t have enough to do, he or she should also monitor coverage for substantive errors, mistakes in important facts and discrepancies. If the errors are about your organization someone on the team should contact the editor or news director and ask for a correction. Do this judiciously; editors are usually very protective of their reporters and stories.

For example, I was the spokesperson for an emotional situation involving the eviction of a service station dealer who was six months in arrears in his rent.

A consummate marketer, the dealer convinced about 40 of his customers that this was a classic case of “David versus Goliath” and persuaded them to walk around the premises carrying signs reading “Down With Big Oil” and “We Love Sam” – for purposes of this example the dealer’s pseudonym – when the media arrived.

In a newspaper article the next morning a reporter wrote the dealer “owned” the facility. Although seemingly a trivial point, the owner of the property was the heart of the issue. I called the reporter to explain the situation. He thanked me for clarifying the issue and said he would fix the “mix up.”

His follow-up story read, “There is some confusion about whether the dealer owns the station or leases it from the oil company.” My next call was to his editor who corrected the situation.

…But Ignore Small Mistakes

Sometimes it’s best to ignore small mistakes that don’t change the essence of the story.

One night lightning struck a crude oil storage tank at one of our refineries creating a spectacular fireball. Fortunately there were no injuries and the tank was located where there was no danger to our neighbors.

A television reporter did a live report with the burning tank in the background. She was complimentary about how the refinery emergency team responded, saying, “Thanks to the company’s quick response this tanker fire has been confined to the immediate area.”

Some of the engineers at the plant were upset because she confused a tank with an oil tanker ship. They wanted the refinery’s public affairs manager to call the TV station to correct the error. He explained because the error didn’t change the essence of the story he wasn’t going to press the issue with the news director.

Test Your Skills as an Analyst

To understand the pressure the analyst is under try this exercise:

• Choose an actual breaking crisis to monitor – it doesn’t have to be in your industry.
• Select a media source such as Google News.
• Visit the Crisis Response Communications website article Media Monitoring: A Look Outside Your Organization and complete the updates and reports it suggests to track your selected crisis.
• Analyze the effectiveness of the response based on the data you collect.
• Produce an hourly update regarding the effectiveness of the response.
• Rate the organization’s response efforts.
• What did it do well; what could it have done better?
• Does your crisis communications plan include the items and tasks the organization did well?

By the way, the formats for recording analyst reports should be included in your Crisis Communications Plan. The early hours of a breaking crisis is no time to be discussing what information is needed and how it should be presented.

Don’t Fly Blind

How you staff your Crisis Communications Team is a factor of available people, the type of crisis and your professional judgment. However, the role of the analyst must somehow be incorporated into any effective response. Someone from outside the organization, for example, a public relations or communications consultant, could fill. It could also be combined with the writer’s duties (more on that in next month’s article).

Without the metrics and feedback provided by careful analysis of your communications and the progression of the crisis you are flying blind.

Share Your Experiences

Do you have any experiences analyzing a crisis response? Please share them with our visitors by sending them to Contact and we’ll feature them in our website’s “Articles” section next month.