Crisis management - where do I start?

published 2002

What is crisis management?

A crisis is a situation or set of circumstances that will normally put an immediate public focus on an organisation.

It is usually caused by an event or threat that is related to range of circumstances such as product recalls, equipment failure or accidents.

Crises typically have a strong human aspect to them which means they can become the focus of intensive media scrutiny.

Having plans in place to manage the information that is given to the public and the media - appointed spokespeople, contingency plans, key messages - is called ‘crisis management’.

Why do I need to think about crisis management?

Planning for and developing techniques to handle crises is now becoming a normal operational consideration for many organisations.

It can mean the difference between a company emerging from a crisis with reputation and customer loyalty largely intact, and fighting for survival. 

There’s been a range of high-profile crises in Australia in recent years ranging from product tampering and recalls through to gas explosions.

What is the role of public relations in crisis management?

A public relations consultancy can identify issues or potential crises, develop strategies to deal with them, and help manage them as they occur.  Too often management hopes that the issues will simply not develop - or that they will go away.  It is not uncommon to leave them for the competitors to handle.

There are a number of procedures an organisation can undertake to help prepare for possible crisis situations.  For example, a good place to start is with a table such as the one below:

Your organisation can then decide which events could affect you, and the probability.  From there, you can begin to develop plans to deal with each eventuality.

Other areas that would need to be considered include Plant or Office Operations; Environmental Effects and Liaibilities; Employee Safety and Health; Social Controversies; Labour Relations; Investor/Financial Relations; Employee/Management Misconduct; and Government Affairs.

If any of those things happen in my organisation, I’ll be far too busy solving the problem to worry about what messages to send to the media.

If someone in your organisation doesn’t talk to the media and let them know what is going on and what is being done to solve the problem, then either your competitors will talk to the media, or the media will simply report what they see - be it contaminated product, employees with no jobs, or polluted rivers.

There is very little point in devoting all your time and energy dealing with to the problem, if once the crisis is over your customer base is gone.

Remember:

• Crises can happen to anyone - even you;
• An incident can become a crisis if not properly managed;
• You can’t anticipate all crisis scenarios, but -
• Your organisation must be ready to deal with the unexpected.