BUILDING A BIONIC CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
You may wonder what does the term "bionic" has to do with crisis communications. Well, beyond our fondness for saying the term itself, "The Six Million Dollar Man" television series focused on how bionic parts made the protagonist of the show even better than before. During crisis situations, you've got to have a communications plan that's easy-to-use and effective when time is of the essence. That's why we've put together these six steps to make your crisis communications effort as bionic as possible even without the involvement of a secret government agency or six million dollar investment.
1) Generate Advance Buy-In.
Educate your executive team about the importance of
having a crisis communications plan before a crisis ever strikes.
Build support and a sense of
ownership by asking for their input about potential crisis situations.
Once your written plan is created, share it during a group meeting with
these key influencers (many of whom will be part of your crisis response
team).
2) Create a Crisis Response Team.
Membership should include subject
matter experts and key decisions makers in the areas most likely to be
affected by crisis situations. For example, you should include
representatives from operations, human resources, legal, risk
management, customer service and a number of other departments.
Organize a group meeting to discuss crisis response team roles and
responsibilities. Schedule one-on-one follow-up meetings with the
crisis team members to learn more about potential crisis scenarios,
response steps and messaging.
3) Establish specific crisis guidelines for your organization.
Remember the story of "Chicken Little?" You certainly don't want to
constantly predict that the sky is falling during every situation.
Create a definition as to what constitutes a crisis for your business
versus a significant situation.
4) Brainstorm responses for the prospective scenarios identified.
Describe the circumstances surrounding the incident, key audiences
impacted, communication response steps, message points and appropriate
spokesperson (s) for each issue.
5) Create a written plan.
Content could include an introduction
reflecting the needs of your organization, list of crisis team
membership and contact information, an overview of the different kinds
of crisis scenarios that could happen along with response steps, etc. In
addition to electronic files, also create a printed binder as a backup
in case power is lost during a crisis situation.
6) Make crisis communications an on-going priority.
Schedule crisis team meetings, either twice yearly or on an annual basis, to discuss
issues and train members on new procedures. Consider practicing your
crisis plans with a simulation drill.