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In
an Instant - Your Worst Nightmare Comes True
A snag falls, the
wind shifts, a tire catches the treacherous edge of the road,
a crew driver decides to pass and in an instant, your company
is in crisis. How you respond can make all the difference
in the survival of all you have worked to build.
Companies
in the firefighting industry who have suffered such crisis
know all too well the agony of trying to locate next of kin,
bringing home and laying to rest their fallen firefighters
and consoling the families and crews. They have endured the
strain of hordes of media, investigations, and making hundreds
of decisions under incredible pressure while keeping their
companies running. The exhaustion of crisis is bone deep.
The memories last a lifetime.
What would
you do if that phone rang for YOU today? Are you prepared?
Crisis is never easy, but preparing now while you are not
staring down the barrel of a full blown incident will help
you and your company survive.
Take the
test below to assess your state of readiness to handle a crisis.
- Do
you regularly ask employees where the company is vulnerable
so you can reduce or eliminate the problem before it becomes
a crisis? (One client had great safety policies, but found
that employees weren't following them.)
- Do
you have a written crisis response plan? All employees should
have a copy and it should contain a checklist of assigned
tasks.
- Does
your plan have contingencies for action if you are not available?
- Do
you have a trained crisis response team. One will be assigned
to handle media and other external communications. One is
responsible for internal communications.
- Have
you and your assigned spokespersons been trained in how
to do interviews with media, how and when to release information,
how to keep track of the deluge of media, how to protect
your employees and the families, etc.?
- Do
you have a complete and accurate list of all employees,
including names of next of kin, addresses, phone numbers,
etc.? (I have had clients who found that these lists are
often out of date, incomplete and inaccurate--in a crisis,
that is devastating.)
- Do
you know how to develop key messages about the incident
to use in communication to employees, the public, and the
media? Good communication can help preserve the health of
your company in spite of crisis.
- Do
you have a plan for communicating crisis information to
employees who are at dispersed sites?
- Do
you have the number of a crisis communication expert? This
person can advise you over the telephone of what to do and
what to say to media and employees? (Then you can decide
if you need professional help with media or if it can be
handled in-house. Handling aggressive media while under
the stress of crisis requires special skills.)
If you
can answer yes to all of these questions, you will have a
better chance of successfully leading your company through
a crisis.
*By Leslie Habetler, Canadian Silviculture Magazine, Fall,
2003
Home | Crisis
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©2004
Dynamic Communication Strategies | 541.954.1231 |
leslie@dcsconsulting.biz
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