Summary
What is crisis? Crisis is a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change. The crises in an organization include tangible devastation, such as the destruction of lives or assets, or intangible devastation, such as the loss of an organization’s credibility or reputation damage. These crises which caused by human error, negligence, or some times, malicious intent, could have prevented in the first place. Therefore, how to correctly and quickly dealing crises by using crisis communication is very important. Organizations should have a detailed communication plan for crisis in order to retain their reputation in time.
There are six main points of preparations which need to be prepared ahead of crises:
- Assess the risk for the organization
- Set communication objectives for potential crises
- Analyze channel choice
- Assign a different team to each crisis
- Plan for centralization
- What to include in a formal plan
Every crisis is different; below there are eight steps of suggestions for communicating during the crisis:
- Step 1-Get control of the situation: The first step is to get control of the situation as soon as possible. Everyone in the organization should to know who need to contacted, but unfortunately, this is often unrealistic for large organizations.
- Step 2-Gather as much information as possible: As information becomes available, someone should be assigned on gathering this information. It is because the company spokesperson should communicate with media and constituencies right away, or the crisis will expend very quickly.
- Step 3-Set up a centralized crisis management center: A crisis center should be created at the same time of gathering information, and provide a comfortable location for media to use during the crisis.
- Step 4-Communicate early and often: The company should communicate early and often in order to reduce the damages which caused by the crisis.
- Step 5-Understand the media’s mission in a crisis: Because all the members of media want to get the story first than other competitors, organizations should use this advantage presenting positive to the media.
- Step 6-Communicate directly with affected constituencies: using media to get information out is good, but the organization should also communicate with constituencies directly and consider the contact order of constituencies.
- Step 7-Remember that business must continue: Organizations must continue their business even a crisis exists. Managers need to think through other questions related to the ongoing business.
- Step 8-Make plans to avoid another crisis immediately: Organizations should develop a plan as soon as possible after a crisis is solved by the lesson they learn from the crisis therefore to avoid similar issues in the future.
This video talks about the steps one should take in communicating to the public during a crisis.
A "classic" crisis communication event can be found in the "Tylenol scare" of the early 1980s, when drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson announced that some of its pain relief capsules had been laced with cyanide. The company immediately put in place a plan to protect its customers, remove its product from store shelves, investigate the problem, deal with the media, and protect its corporate reputation in the market place and with the American public.
During my part-time job in the pharmacy, one of the cosmetic products was found to include an illegal ingredient, a large number of consumers wanted to return the product and asked us for a quick solution, which caused big trouble for us. Fortunately, the cosmetics company came to the press conference and explained the whole thing the next day, which disencumbered this disorderly circumstance.
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References:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695219642,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbC2clUC0ss
http://ohioline.osu.edu/~hcrd/agcomm/crisis2.html
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