principles of crisis communications: preparedness
TRANSCRIPT
Developing issues and crisis Q&A
Agenda… Understanding Issues & Crisis Why a Q&A Doc? What do you need? How Do You Respond?
Issues Vs Crisis!
Ahoy, you have an issue Can turn positive or
negative Could impact on
functioning Demands care - timely
response Potential incident or a
crisis
U r in crisis dude!!! Immediate action needed Financial & legal
consequences Attract media and public
attention Harm reputation and
business prospect
Why a Q&A Doc?
Because!
Consumers wants to know Shareholders wants to know Administration wants to
know Government wants to know
And most importantly
Organisation’s position/ PoV Reduce internal communications gap All speaking the same language Inform stakeholders – reduce scope for
speculations/ rumors
Q&A: A ready reckoner
What do you need?
Client briefing o What has happened?o Background/ historyo Any diagnosis?o Any corrective action taken?o The action plan?
Ideally speaking!
The hard reality! No brief Poor brief Defensive brief Concealing brief
Saviour! Your home work o Researcho Probable questionso Suggest ideal response!o Ask for review
Questions? is the problem?has it happened?was the management when this happened?
are you solving the problem? does it happen despite your measures?
will you act ?will the the responsible be punished?will you conclude audit?will more information be available?
happened? What went wrong?are the facts? What is your policy?are you doing about it?is your action plan? What next?can you do to keep this from happening again?
is responsibleis to blame? has been affected?should be taking action?
did you fail to detect problems ahead?have you not acted on the responsible yet?
Framing the Responses
The Best Practice?
The Thumb-rule!
The Finger Rules!
Stay Positive Keep it shortHighlight strength
Be repetitive Express empathy
Stay away!!!
From starting answers with 5Ns: No, Not, Never, Nothing, None
From repeating allegations
From discussing speculative situations
From getting into an Attack mode
From using loaded words – until ABSOLUTELY SURE
KEEP CALM
AND HOPE FOR THE BEST