By Fraser P. Seitel
The Cleveland Clinic is a world renowned medical institution, to which not only Americans but foreign dignitaries have visited for quality medical treatment.
Befitting such a healthcare focal point, the Cleveland Clinic over the years has witnessed its share of crises – everything from power outages and bursting water pipes to helicopter accidents and hospital shootings.
Directing the crisis command center at the Cleveland Clinic is Heather Phillips, director of corporate communications and a healthcare PR pro for 17 years. Phillips is a crisis pro, who recommends that planning is a key to getting the crisis “right.” She counsels preparation, refining and enhancing the crisis plan, practicing and training, and conducting an “after action” crisis post mortem as keys to managing crisis.
As to what, specifically, a crisis manager – whether at a hospital or any other organization – should consider primary to his or her “crisis toolbox,” here’s what Phillips says are 11 key ingredients:
1. Crisis communications plan.
The plan, says Ms. Phillips, is most important to help determine and anticipate needs and prevent surprises when crisis strikes. The plan should clearly delineate the communication process, internal contacts, media contacts, key communication vehicles, and any directions that might be critical.
As noted, a good plan is one that periodically is updated.
2. Statements.
Agreed-upon statements to the media and the public should also be part of the kit. In a crisis, all authorized spokespeople – and even those not authorized formally but asked for response – should know the “party line.” Statements, therefore, should be widely disseminated.
3. Employee/Leader communication.
In a crisis, it’s important that the people inside know first what is going on and how to respond to inquiries. This means priority should be given to spelling out for employees and internal leadership, the particulars of the crisis and the intentions of the organization in responding.
It may be a cliché to say that everyone needs to “be on the same page,” but in a crisis, it’s elemental.
4. On-hold messages.
Also called, “standby statements,” these are statements not-to-be-volunteered that are discussed and created in anticipation of forthcoming questions. The organization’s hope is that such questions are never asked, but you need to be prepared to preempt them if they are.
5. News stories.
It’s important, too, that crisis managers be familiar with what’s been written – both reactive and proactive – on the issue and by whom.
Optimally, public information officers should have knowledge of a reporter’s bias on the issues at hand before picking up the phone to talk.
6. Email blasts.
These may be the fastest way to disseminate organizational updates and positions to a “friendly” mailing list. In a crisis, misery loves company so that the more allies you can keep aware of what’s happening, the more support the organization might be able to muster.
7. Letters/Web Postings/Intranet Postings.
Once the organization has made progress, adopted a position, or clarified a crisis situation, it makes sense to distribute that information as broadly as possible. These devices should be used to accomplish that goal.
8. News Conferences.
News conferences are always tricky. They’re unscripted, encourage nasty or off-the-wall questions, and expose management to unforeseen risks. Nonetheless, in a crisis, the public needs to see that management is willing to confront the situation.
So a news conference might be unavoidable. Each news conference should begin with key messages the organization wants to get across.
Questions should be prepared for, and there should be a finite limit placed on the news conference’s length.
9. Social media.
Using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has become obligatory in a crisis. Twitter and Facebook are the most immediate ways to reach large numbers of constituents with key messages.
YouTube is a good way to record a CEO in a friendly, home field environment, and then broadcast the message to the world.
10. Gut instincts.
Phillips reminds us that professional public relations people should have solid instincts as to how and when to communicate and what to say.
We, after all, are the most knowledgeable in our organizations relative to the media. So we should not downplay gut instincts in making real-time crisis decisions.
11. Flexibility.
Finally, as anyone who has ever manned the communication helm at a plane crash, bank robbery or plant explosion can tell you --- events change quickly. And all the crisis plans and simulations and role plays in the world can’t compensate for the changing facts and opinions and reality of a crisis.
Thirty years ago, when the first Tylenol capsules were poisoned, the CEO of Johnson & Johnson, James Burke, said that his company “had to react to changing facts and situations on a minute-to-minute basis.”
At the time, he counseled, “flexibility.” And three decades later, that’s still the wisest advice.
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