QUOTE OF THE MONTH:  Men may doubt what you say, but they  will believe what you do.  — Lewis Cass

(Editor’s Note:  Last month I reprinted the first part of a very good article by fellow crisis communications expert Tony Lentini. In Part I, he discussed the first three mistakes: (1) No Plan and No Internal Notification System; (2) Putting the Lawyers in Charge, and (3) Shutting Out the News Media.   Here is the second part.)

4.  Using Untrained Spokespeople

As humans, we’ve been communicating all our lives, so we all should be experts, right?

Wrong.

As the saying goes, anything worth doing is worth doing well.  That’s especially true when a crisis is unfolding and your organization’s credibility and reputation are on the line.  When you are about to hold a press briefing, you’d better be ready.  That means having your facts down cold, anticipating the questions you’ll be asked and knowing what your responses will be.  This is definitely not the time to wing it.

There’s a scene from the old Bob Newhart television series that crisis communications trainers like to use to illustrate why “winging it” is a terrible idea.  Bob the psychiatrist has been invited on a television talk show and arrives completely unprepared.  The hostess is attractive, sweet and reassuring as she makes small talk while Bob’s makeup is applied.  But when the cameras start rolling, she turns into an aggressive, probing, hostile and cynical reporter who is highly skeptical of psychiatry.   She grills Bob unmercifully and his attempts to deal with the questions only make things worse.  Poor Bob gets his head handed to him on the air.

If you think this can’t happen in real life, think again.   There is another famous crisis training clip involving then Exxon-CEO Lawrence Rawl being oh-so-gently taken over a cliff by Good Morning America co-anchor Kathleen Sullivan after the Exxon Valdez spill.  He was stiff, wooden and talked in circles about “The Plan” for the cleanup.  When pressed to answer questions, he accused Sullivan of creating a PR nightmare for Exxon.  He was worse than ineffective.

If the chairman of one of the world’s largest, most successful companies could benefit from media training, chances are that your spokesperson needs crisis communications training, too.  Media training teaches you how to develop and stick to a limited number of messages that convey your company’s position in a credible, empathetic manner.  It provides techniques for “bridging,” or briefly answering (or not answering) an interviewer’s questions and then getting back to your messages.  It teaches you how to anticipate virtually any question you may be asked and how to stay on message no matter what.  It even teaches body language.

There are two schools of thought on crisis media training.  One, I call the “Boot Camp Approach” because it takes raw recruits (in this case your executives and spokespeople) and breaks them down, then rebuilds them into flawless media machines.

The only problem with that approach is the “breaking down” process, which generally involves humiliating the trainee by subjecting him or her to a hostile interview followed by a brutal critique of all the things the unfortunate spokesperson did wrong.  It makes most people never want to do another interview again, even though their interview skills improve as the training program progresses.

I prefer a kinder, gentler approach:  The would-be spokesperson is still subjected to an interview, but the reporter-trainer is not hostile and the critique emphasizes positives.  Negative aspects are noted, but more along the lines of:  “How could you have handled that question a little better?”  Most people undergoing the training are smart enough to know when they have made a mistake and are more apt to self-correct if treated in a respectful, rather than hostile, manner.

Crisis communications training should empower your spokespeople.  Knowledge is power and power breeds confidence.

Don’t skimp when it comes to media training.

5.  No Outside Perspective

I was contracted to advise the CEO of a major company facing a serious crisis involving possible bribery of foreign officials to facilitate business in their notoriously corrupt country.  The stakes were potentially enormous:  hundreds of millions of dollars in fines; SEC sanctions; jail time for employees; loss of significant business; and severe reputational damage.

A small group of senior executives and I were brainstorming likely media questions and answers with the CEO, who dodged a question I asked that was certain to come up in media interviews.  It got uncomfortable in the room as I repeated the question again and again, until the CEO finally snapped at me in anger.  He immediately caught himself and apologized, adding, “That’s one reason we have you here; so I don’t get frustrated and blow up on some reporter asking the same question.”

This real-life example illustrates just one reason why it is important to retain the services of a crisis management consultant when things go seriously wrong.  He or she can speak
freely whereas a regular employee might be reluctant to do so.

Other pluses include:

*  The consultant has probably handled situations similar to yours before and can put that experience to work for you;
*  An outsider looks at things differently and is therefore more likely to challenge long-held assumptions, break through groupthink mentality and offer creative solutions;
*  Many crisis communications consultants offer related services, such as media training;
*  A good consultant will have relationships with the media, government regulators, specialty legal firms and others that could prove helpful in your situation.

Surviving a Crisis

Bad things sometimes happen to good people and organizations.  The trick is to deal with the crisis at hand immediately and proactively in a direct and honest manner.  That sounds easy, but when you’re up to your neck in alligators, you might not be thinking clearly.  That’s why it is imperative to have a plan, test it regularly and follow it when a crisis occurs.

The other important thing to remember in any crisis is to investigate the causes thoroughly and then correct what caused the problem in the first place.  That could mean extra safety training for your employees, or equipment repairs and upgrades, or any number of things.  The more serious the crisis, the more important it is for you to determine the contributing factors and fix them so the same event doesn’t happen again.

Avoid the five big mistakes, fix the problem and the likelihood is that your reputation will survive its test of fire.

# # #

Reprinted with permission from “Risk Management Magazine,” Copyright 2009 RIMS, Inc.  All rights reserved

(Tony Lentini is president of Lentini Creative Communications,Houston, TX, www.CrisisManagers.com. He has more than 30 years of public affairs experience working with some of America’s largest,
most successful companies. Contact: tony@lentinicreativecommunications.com.

Hope you had a Happy Hallowe’en!  Until next month…KEEP COOL!

Judy Hoffman
JCH Enterprises, 116 Nelson Lane, Clayton, NC 27527, USA