Crisis Preparation in the Digital Age

Can you really be prepared for a “crisis?” After all, isn’t each one different?

They certainly are, but effective responses share common attributes: speed; openness; access to critical supporters; a supply of critical facts; teams that can work well together under pressure; and above all, a sense of command in the responses. Simply put, preparation boosts crisis performance. Without being prepared, even the best team and spokesperson are compromised.

Effective preparation begins by asking how one should act when a crisis arises, not if. Avoid being lulled into a false sense of complacency that it will only happen to your competitors, or that your company is insulated from crisis. They’re part of corporate life. Below you’ll find several exercises to prepare you for the crisis when it hits.

Form a risk committee. Your risk committee should include every executive who might have to deal with a company crisis: the CEO, CFO, other senior operating leaders, heads of sales, marketing, investor relations, human resources, and, of course, the general counsel. Depending on your company, the risk committee should also include a chief investment officer, chief scientist, chief medical officer and head of R&D.

The risk committee should meet at least quarterly to identify potential crises that might affect the business. In anticipation of one of the crises going live, contingency plans should be developed that include broad outlines of potential scenarios and, most important, the company’s designated spokesperson. These plans, of course, are developed before the crisis goes live and the spokesperson and responses may change to addresses the realities of the situation.

If your company doesn’t have a risk committee, try to form one. Financial firms must have one, (often several, in fact) to fulfill regulatory requirements, and many include the chief communications officer or CMO. If you’re a chief communications officer in a business that has a risk committee that doesn’t include you, discuss with the appropriate people in your organization about how you will join that committee. As the chief spokesperson, you’ll be on the line to deliver the company’s messages to the media. Your knowledge of the media’s requirements will be critical to developing an effective response.

Have a list of key company contacts and outside advisors written down and shareable. In the digital age it’s easy to do, but often gets forgotten. This list should include desk and mobile phone numbers, as well as e-mail addresses to reach the risk committee at any time. And choose a clear second-in-command should the CEO be unreachable when crucial decisions must be made.

Catalog previous crises and near crises. This list should include both recent emergencies and those that have a history. Be mindful of the media’s tendency to connect similar events. In addition to the list, evaluate how the company performed in the crisis, recognizing that many of the crises elements will not have transpired in the media’s eye. What was public? What happened behind the scenes to shape the outcome?

Determine which reporters are disposed toward the company, those who are not, and those who are neutral or mixed. There are no absolute rankings here, but the categories will be useful as the crisis unfolds. In particular, identify sources willing to go on the record, and those who are adept enough at media relations to go on background on your behalf.

Above all, write this down. At all costs, avoid keeping this crucial information only in your head or the minds of one or two people. When the crisis hits, your time will need to be spent in action, not in administration hunting for names, e-mails and phone numbers.

Evaluate, coach and choose your spokespeople ahead of a crisis. That includes you. Very often, the CEO may be the company’s chief spokesperson and may be exceptionally effective in this role. However, there may be circumstances when the CEO is not the right spokesperson for a particular crisis. The best person could be a chief scientific officer, the head of sales, or a local community executive. Every crisis is different. It might be that no one should be speaking at all, and the company should be delivering written responses to the media.

This is where having an outside advisor can be especially valuable. Each member and discipline on the risk committee may have a different perspective on a crisis, but ultimately only one response will be delivered. Companies perform best in a crisis when the competing interests are heard and a single response is developed and delivered. The upsides and downsides are carefully considered and known to all who might be affected. Above all, avoid “no comment” as a response.

People behave differently under pressure. A vast array of psychologists, as well as more casual observations, have shown that people behave differently in crises than they do in routine situations. This means you, your colleagues, and most important, your “C” suite executive team. Keep in mind that they will behave differently both individually and as a group. Many “C” suite executives have hard-charging, decisive personalities that may put a low premium on analysis. Yet, careful analysis can make the difference between a lukewarm response and a highly effective one.

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John McInerney is a Group Vice President at Makovsky.