I just read an article from CIO online titled, “How to Communicate in a Crisis” by Kathleen Carr. Carr reported what Edward Flynn, the former Massachusetts public safety secretary, told CSO magazine in 2005 shortly after he handled a media crisis related to a potential dirty bomb in Boston. All of what Flynn said is right, but what struck me was what he didn’t say. I have practiced corporate PR for 25 years and had my share of communications crises (environmental spills, accidental deaths, outraged community activists and angry shareholders). Flynn is right to say, provide accurate information, answer questions, tell the truth, be prepared, get involved, but in my opinion, he left out several very important steps. I would add to Flynn’s list: Set up a shadow crisis Web site in advance. When your company is in the midst of the situation, your web team can put it up and provide real-time updates. The recent Virginia Tech crisis is a good example. Journalism students kept the site up to date and the site became one of the primary communications tools for students, parents, professors and interested parties.

Set regular times for media updates. Schedule press conferences and let your media contacts know that you’ll provide updates hourly, twice a day, daily or whatever the situation calls for. Make the schedule widely known so that others in the company or in the situation can tell reporters when they will receive an update. Post the schedule on the Web site.

Name in advance who your spokespeople will be. Have a minimum of four or five identified. Tightly coordinate activities between spokespeople and information gathers and fact checkers.

Apologize. My legal friends will call me out on this, but if the situation is in any way your company’s fault, APOLOGIZE, completely and sincerely. If the incident results in human harm, contact immediately the families and friends, and apologize face-to-face, offer all the help you can to mitigate their pain and loss. There are many documented cases of the affected parties forgiving companies that admit to mistakes and correct them, the Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol crisis for example. What the public will not tolerate is a company that refuses to acknowledge responsibility.

I’m sure that there are more tips for crisis situations but these were the ones that stood out to me. The most important advice that Flynn and I agree on is to BE PREPARED. It’s not just for the Boy Scouts. Companies that have a crisis communications plan will recover more quickly and more completely from a crisis than companies that haven’t planned ahead.

Laura Field
Public Relations Director
ClearEdge Marketing