Year: 2010

Crisis: an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs whose outcome will make a decisive difference for better or worse (Webster’s New Collegiate).

How many public relations spokespersons does your company have?

The correct answer is, “as many employees as we have.” Sure, any organization can and should have a policy whereby only certain individuals are “officially” authorized to speak for the record. If a reporter calls and you have a designated spokesperson policy, the call will be probably be routed correctly — but that doesn’t prevent your secretary, an intern or a junior executive from giving their version of the facts to family members, friends, PTA members, golfing buddies and anyone else they know.

Internal audiences are as, if not more, important than external audiences during a crisis, and yet those who aren’t actually on the crisis response team often receive the least consideration when the stuff hits the fan. It is vital, during the crisis communications planning process, to formulate key messages not only for employees, but also for others who are close enough to the organization to be considered “internal” — e.g., regular consultants and major vendors. They’re the ones who are going to be asked first, by external audiences (including reporters, when they try to go around you), “what’s going on?”

Here are some tips for preparing internal audiences to be an asset to crisis response:

Develop one to three key messages about the situation which are simple enough for everyone to understand, remember and use in their day-to-day affairs. In an extremely sensitive situation, messages might be nothing more than reassuring statements and “nice no comments” — e.g., “our day-to-day business is completely unaffected by this,” “we know this is going to come out well for us when all the facts are known,” or “we’re a damn good company and I’m proud to work here.”

Brief all employees in person about what’s happening and keep them informed on a regular basis. In-person briefings say “we care about you” in a manner which no memo or internal newsletter can accomplish, although sometimes written communications are the only option. And you don’t want internal audiences to read facts, or alleged facts, in your local newspaper first!

Identify your best “unofficial spokespersons” and your “loose cannons.” The former are employees who you know are loyal, know when to speak and when to keep their mouths shut, and who are admired by their peers; if they feel that they’re receiving accurate information and are being cared for, they’ll pass that feeling on to others along with the key messages you’ve shared. Loose cannons are those who just don’t know when to shut up, whose feelings — sometimes disloyal/disgruntled, sometimes zealously loyal — lead them to communicate not only facts, but rumors and innuendo. During crises, loose cannons need to receive gentle, but firm extra counseling about appropriate communication and/or be particularly well isolated from sensitive information.

Create a rumor-control system. Provide means by which internal audiences can ask questions and get rapid responses. You can designate certain trusted individuals (white and blue-collar) as “rumor control reps” who will field questions and then obtain answers from someone on the official crisis response team. And it’s important to also have an anonymous means of asking questions, such as a locked drop box combined with a bulletin board on which answers to anonymous questions are posted. All employees can be encouraged to use either communication method without fear of reprisal.

Successful implementation of an internal communications program will carry your key message better, longer and farther than most external communications, while a lack of internal communications can completely undermine even the best external strategy. The two can, and must, go hand-in-hand.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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Crises can be divided into three categories:

1. Creeping Crises – foreshadowed by a series of events that decision makers don’t view as part of a pattern.

2. Slow-Burn Crises – some advance warning, before the situation has caused any actual damage.

3. Sudden Crises – damage has already occurred and will get worse the longer it takes to respond.

It is not uncommon for what seems to be a sudden crisis to have actually, first, been a creeping crisis that was not detected. Appropriate measures, early in the process, can often prevent or, at least, minimize the damage from slow-burn and sudden crises.

Below are some examples from the healthcare industry. From this, readers in other industries should be able to develop comparable lists.

1. Creeping Crises

• Lack of a rumor-control system, resulting in damaging rumors.
• Inadequate preparation for partial or complete business interruption.
• Inadequate steps to protect life and property in the event of emergencies.
• Inadequate two-way communication with all audiences, internal and external.

2. Slow-Burn Crises

• Internet activism
• Most lawsuits.
• Most discrimination complaints.
• Company reputation
• Lack of regulatory compliance – safety, immigration, environment, hiring, permits, etc.
• Major operational decisions that may distress any important audience, internal or external.
• Local/state/national governmental actions that negatively impact operations.
• Official/governmental investigations involving your healthcare organization and/or any of its employees.
• Labor unrest.
• Sudden management changes – voluntary or involuntary.
• Marketing misrepresentation.

3. Sudden Crises

• Patient death – Your healthcare organization perceived to be liable in some way.
• Patient condition worsened – Your healthcare organization perceived to be liable in some way.
• Serious on-site accident.
• Insane/dangerous behavior by anyone at a location controlled by your healthcare organization.
• Criminal activity at a company site and/or committed by company employees.
• Lawsuits with no advance notice or clue whatsoever.
• Natural disasters.
• Loss of workplace/business interruption (for any reason).
• Fires.
• Perceptions of significant impropriety that damage reputation and/or result in legal liability, e.g., publicized involvement of company employee in a group or activity perceived to be a threat to the U.S. government or society; inappropriate comments by a “loose cannon;” business activities not officially authorized by management.

Typically, reviewing a list like this triggers thoughts of other situations that need to be addressed during the crisis planning process.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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The best information on this topic comes from a recent discussion at the npEnterprise Forum, the 7000-subscriber official listserv partner of the Social Enterprise Alliance.

From Esther Kim:

“Our basic rule of thumb is that:
* it’s a social cost if it’s incurred to accomplish a social mission;
* it’s a business cost if it’s incurred by a similar for-profit business in the same industry;
* if all social costs are taken out, the remaining cost structure should be comparable to a for-profit business in the same industry.

“Many social enterprises approach this differently, making benchmarking difficult. The third point above is especially helpful in this case – because if you’ve allocated your social costs correctly, you actually DO have a place to benchmark: that is, a comparable for-profit business. Many for-profit businesses publish benchmarks of costs and cost drivers across specific industries/functions (worker efficiency, $/sq ft, etc). Even if they aren’t published per se, consulting an industry expert is a great way to get ballpark estimates.”

And then a response from Don Palmer:

“Very logical, however, it is not always so black and white. Example: We operate a catering social enterprise with a work force composed of disabled workers. Training costs and food wastage is higher than for the majority of the industry (we have a yet not been able to identify the industry standard for either), however we know our costs are higher than our competitors, therefore in our view the difference between our cost and the industry standard would also have to considered a social cost.”