Crisis Communications Management Taking Advantage of the Calm Before the Storm

Matt Tidwell, APR Nonprofit Connect – Dialogue Series July 10, 2012

What Have I Learned?

 Crisis communications planning is not a “nice to do” … it is a “have to do”

  It’s our job in PR/Communications to push this agenda so that we can classify ourselves as a “crisis prepared” entity

What is Crisis Communications Management?

 The practice of communicating during an organizational crisis with certain goals – chiefly to preserve reputation

 A management function, as well as communications

 Pre-planned   Integrated and comprehensive

A key difference

“Crisis communications” vs.

“Crisis management”

Crisis Typology

Internal Issue that rises to crisis status and originates from within the organization

External Issue that rises to crisis status and

originates from outside the organization

Financial misconduct or misappropriation

Employee misconduct

Medical error or deliberate malpractice

Internal deliberate IT Security breach

Fire

Tornado, flood or other severe weather Violent perpetrator (gunman, hostage)

Workforce unrest or work stoppage

Massive IT infrastructure failure Chemical/biological agent spill exposure Supply shortage Facility failure (e.g. elevators, food service)

Regulatory sanctions

External investigation by govt./reg. agency

Out-of-town workforce accident/fatality

Chemical/biological terrorism

Massive utility failure (electric, gas, etc.)

Epidemic/pandemic

Mass casualty incident

Radiologic/chemical exposure

A Crisis Strikes, and You Are Prepared

 Your plan will be“turn-key”  You will know... ◦ what to do ◦ who will do what ◦ when you will do it

Getting Started

 Define your crisis scope: ◦  Identify the types of crises your organization

will face ◦ Determine the range of potential responses

required to defuse a crisis and preserve reputation ◦ Obtain leadership buy-in to sign off on the

value of crisis communications planning

Who’s involved in planning?

◦  PR/Corporate Communications ◦  Facilities ◦  Legal ◦  Security ◦ HR ◦  Information Technology

Comprehensive and cross-functional

Set Goals, Deadlines, Milestones

 Define accountabilities on the team   Set milestones and goals for plan

completion  Establish the “post-plan” timeline to keep

the plan a living document

The four-phase approach as a template for a crisis

communications plan

Phase I Issue identification, reporting & ongoing training

Phase II Crisis communications response strategic planning

Phase III Response and tactical execution

Phase IV Evaluate

Case Study

USAirways Flight 1549 Watch for: ◦ Coordinated and integrated response ◦ Changing nature of how the news “flows” ◦ Not just preserving reputation—but

enhancing it

Thank you!

Matt Tidwell Email: mtidwell@saint-lukes.org

Phone: 816-932-4894 Twitter: @matt_tidwell