PR Crisis Management - Tell It All, Tell It Fast And Tell The Truth

I turned on the television news recently to learn that one of our top football teams may have lost an important match because of illness, the story being brought to us by a reporter stationed outside the hotel where the players enjoyed lunch prior to the game.

In the car, this was the lead story on the radio news with the story read by a reporter, again said to be outside the hotel. He confirmed that the Police had collected samples from the restaurant to pass onto the health authorities.

Guess what? The story was also the lead in the tabloid newspapers sat on my desk when I reached the office. Photographs of the hotel in question usually supported the story.

As a public relations professional, I reflected on what the hotels PR people are going through this morning. This is a prestigious hotel group with a well-crafted brand image of quality at the premium end of the market. Here they are, in the spotlight for all the wrong sort of reasons!

They will surely have a documented Crisis Management Plan or, in softer terms, a PR Communications Plan. But it is not only global companies who need to devise a plan in advance. Being in business, or even running a not-for-profit organisation, exposes everyone to the risk of a PR crisis.

No organisation is very far from crises and their resulting media attention. Their reputation can be washed away or seriously damaged in an instant. A crisis is any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of your company, usually brought on by adverse or negative media attention.

These situations can be any kind of legal dispute, theft, accident, fire, flood or manmade disaster that could be attributed to your company. It can also be a situation where in the eyes of the media or general public your company did not react to one of the above situations in the appropriate manner. This definition is not all encompassing but rather is designed to give you an idea for the types of situations where you may need to follow this plan.

Crisis management is a complex subject, but here are five tips to get you started. And, start, you must.

1. Don't wait. Many organisations only get their crisis plans underway once a disaster has struck. Instead, brainstorm possible scenarios or types of disasters that could happen, and start planning for them. In fact, I have found this to be a positive process as bringing together key executives to share ideas and examine scenarios often brings out a range of issues that they can take forward.

2. Realise that crises take a wide range of shapes. As I say, this can be anything from the hotels crisis to a legal dispute getting out of hand to customer dissatisfaction aired on the Internet. I even recall a weekend phone call from a Scout leader whose campsite had been washed away in storms with some children being injured; the media were on the telephone badgering her for the story! They will all require slightly different responses. Brainstorm and prepare for as many as you can imagine.

3. Develop a PR communications plan. A barrage of media attention may swamp you within minutes of the news breaking. Also, think about how you will get information out to staff, supporters & investors, and customers yes, remember to get your side of the story out to customers as soon as you can. Internal communication is as important as communication to the general public.

A physical plan has to do with getting everyone out of the building in case of an earthquake. A communications plan involves identifying a spokesperson, developing press releases, setting up a media hotline, and finding a place where you can have a press conference.

4. Be prepared to speak to the media and to your constituents. Even if you can't say much because your lawyer is concerned about liability, plan to say what you can as soon as you can. Be concerned, show concern, speak concern, and always tell the truth. That doesn't mean you have to tell everything all at once, but never, never lie.

5. Provide media training for senior management. Do this before a disaster strikes. Make it a regular part of board and senior employee training. Media training needn't cost a lot if you have someone on your board working in public relations or someone who is a member of the media. The key is to do it regularly so that new people are always trained and others don't grow stale.

Don't delay your crisis planning. Don't ruin your hard-won reputation by handling difficult situations badly! The directors and PR team of that hotel this morning went to bed last evening little knowing the blast of unwelcome publicity that was facing them this morning. Hopefully, their PR Communications Plan will be a trusted aide today!

Suggested reading

1. "Crisis in Organizations: Managing and Communicating in the Heat of Crisis," by Laurence Barton.

2. "You'd Better Have a Hose if You Want to Put Out the Fire: The Complete Guide to Crisis and Risk Communications," by Rene A. Henry.

John Hicks is a Marketing and Press & Public Relations Consultant supporting small to medium sized businesses in the UK. He specialises in the manufacturing, leisure and retail sectors. His company is Headline Promotions Press & PR.

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Three Great Mind Power Practices

Your mind power is not your IQ. It is not the innate potential of your mind, but the actual and habitual use and development of that potential. In other words, it isn't how smart you are that counts, but how you use it. Here are three things you can do to make your mind more effective.

Brain Exercises

Regular use and "exercising" of the brain has been shown to generate new neuronal growth, and even halt the decline of mental function that often comes with age. Try numerous brain exercises, and when you find the ones that you enjoy, make doing them a habit. A study will someday prove that old people who do their crossword puzzle every Sunday morning maintain their mental function longer. Some other ways to increase that mind power:

- Do mental math while driving.

- Look around at things and redesign them in your mind.

- Sing a song, inventing the lyrics as you go.

- Learn a memory technique and use it daily.

Discipline Yourself

A recent study, reported in the journal Psychological Science, found that while IQ level did correlate with academic performance, there was actually a much stronger correlation with self discipline. Those students with high self-discipline have much better grades than high-IQ students. They also found that there was no correlation between IQ and discipline (they varied independently).

Again, this shows that it isn't how smart you are, but how you use it. Self discipline doesn't necessarily mean willpower, by the way. It can be accomplished by starting with simple and easy steps and creating good habits over time. A great mind power practice is to get in the habit of regularly building good habits.

Train Your Body

It has been shown that activities which involve timing and coordination cause dendrite growth in the brain. More dendrites mean more possible connections in your brain. More connections mean your thinking and learning can be more flexible and efficient. Physical exercise, then, of the right type, is also mind power exercise.

The activities most likely to help include any athletic activities that require a lot of coordination and timing, such as basketball, soccer, and tossing around a frisbee. Other good mind power activities are playing musical instruments, especially when it requires precise timing (piano playing), and painting or drawing, which involve hand-eye coordination.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For more Mind Power Practices, and to get the Brain Power Newsletter and other free gifts, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com

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