QUICK TIPS FOR “KEEPING COOL”
A monthly e-zine on crisis management
brought to you by Judy Hoffman

QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
Talk is cheap, because the supply always exceeds the demand!
— Anonymous

PLEASE STAND BY!

At the very end of the most recent media training workshop we did, the woman who had organized it asked her colleagues, “What are the Action Items we should work on right away in order to improve our crisis response capabilities?” The immediate response from several participants was that they should start developing some “stand-by statements” for the most likely types of crises they might encounter. I was very pleased to hear that, and I know it will stand them in good stead if they ever do experience another crisis. (The reason I had been asked to come was that they had experienced a crisis a little over a year ago and realized there were some things they could have done better.)

Time Is a Precious Commodity

As I have emphasized repeatedly in the workshops and this e-zine, one thing there is NEVER enough of in a crisis is time. When something goes wrong, both the media and your closest neighbors or most important audiences usually find out about it very quickly. Often they are at your gate (figuratively or literally) before you are. They could be inundating your phones or logging onto your website before you have had much of a chance to find out what has happened. They are demanding answers and expecting you to deliver information very quickly, particularly if there is a concern about health and safety issues.

If you have to start from scratch to put together a statement about the incident, you will be hard pressed to get it all done efficiently in a time frame they will find acceptable. You can be fairly sure that you won’t be able to think as clearly as you would like and remember all of the points you should make while in the midst of the stress and strain of a crisis.

A Better Idea

How much better to be able to go to a file you have on hand where you have your “stand-by statements.” These were developed in a non-crisis atmosphere when you and your colleagues could think through, with calm minds, the points that should be covered. You will want to answer the public’s most likely questions, make your major points or “must air messages” (including remembering to thank those individuals who would have come to your aid) in order to put your organization in the best possible light.

If you have followed my advice in the past (or read my book), you know that one of the first things you should do as an organization is brainstorm on the topic: “What can go wrong around here that would bring the media or unhappy people to our door?” When you have a nice long list, and you’ve prioritized the potential crises according to which ones are the most likely to occur and would be the most dangerous, you should pick out the top half dozen items and develop a “stand-by statement” for each. Leave blanks where the specific information related to the actual crisis can be filled in (usually the who, what, where, and when questions).

Review the wording carefully. Pass it by legal NOW — not just immediately prior to issuing it. Then put it in a place where you can find it quickly — hopefully on a computer that is easily accessible during a crisis. This way it will be even quicker to fill in the blanks and issue it to the media. You will also have quick access to talking points for those who answer the phones and be able to immediately post it to that “dark page” on your website which I advise my clients to set up.

The End Result?

The public and the media will perceive you and your organization as competent and responsible people who are capable of dealing effectively with the crisis. This is the way you want to be remembered, not as an organization stumbling over itself trying to figure out what to say, thereby delaying getting your message out to those who need to know.

PLEASE STAND BY!

Special Note: If you do not have a copy of the 2004 version of my book where a draft “stand-by statement” is found in Appendix A, please contact me at jchent@earthlink.net and I will send a copy of the statement off to you right away.

A Note of Explanation: For those of you who keep track of such things, you may have noticed that this edition of the e-zine is two weeks late. I was visiting my 92-year old mother in Sarasota and didn’t have a chance to work on it until now. As a matter of fact, I’m going to send this out and call it the “July-August edition” because I’ll be going back to Sarasota when the next edition is due, this time to help her move into an Assisted Living apartment. So let’s just say the August issue is early!

Until next month…KEEP COOL! (Easier said than done here in the Southeast where we’ve been seeing a lot of 100+ degree temperatures lately!)

Copyright (C) 2007 JCH Enterprises