Being prepared to handle a crisis is a necessity for every single organization today. 96% of businesses in a Global Crisis and Resilience Survey said they’ve experienced some sort of disruption to their operations in the last two years. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will at some point.
While each crisis is unique, and each organization will have unique needs in preparing for a crisis, there are steps you should take to ensure you’re ready.
Read on for our ultimate guide to preparing your organization for whatever comes your way.
Crisis Plan
If you don’t have a communication plan in place for a crisis, it’s a good place to start. Plans don’t have to be 50 pages long; it’s actually better if they’re not. The plan should map out who the players are, what stakeholders might need to be contacted, who’s making decisions, who the spokesperson (and backups) might be and templates for varying statements and social media posts. It’s less about having a fully-baked answer for every possible scenario in place and more about having a structure to walk you through the steps you’ll need to take. It’s impossible to predict every twist and turn a future crisis will take.
Organizations without a customized plan face longer recovery times when a crisis arises. Don’t pull a generic template or computer-created messaging out of ChatGPT and expect it to work effectively. A plan needs to be customized to your business. If you’re thinking about adding an external partner to help with your PR efforts, do it before a crisis hits. They’ll know your messaging and people and will be able to hit the ground running when something does go wrong.
Tabletop Exercises
If you already have a plan in place, you’re off to a great start! Now, it’s time to test your skills. When our team of crisis communication experts trains leadership teams, we present scenarios that are likely to happen specifically to that business or organization. What specific issue could cause a negative social media post to go viral? What’s an interaction that takes place at your organization every day that could go south quickly? Talk through how you would handle it. Who are you calling in to assist? Are you releasing a statement or waiting for someone to reach out to you? In today’s world of hybrid and remote work, it’s unlikely your full team will be in the same place during a real crisis. Work through these exercises virtually, if needed, so everyone is comfortable with the process. Talk about what messaging you might need to craft and what stakeholders you’d need to reach out to.
Full-Scale Simulations
If your plan is in place and you’ve worked through some exercises, it’s time to really test your skills. Come up with a scenario, and don’t let the full team know ahead of time what it is. Present the crisis, and have your team role-play every step you’d need to take in a real crisis. Craft statements, do mock media interviews, put together social media posts and any other communications you may need. Don’t leave anything out. Act like this is a real crisis you’re dealing with. This may expose weak spots you didn’t realize were there, or it could reinforce certain parts of your plan that will work well.
Congratulations, you’ve made it through! But now isn’t the time to sit back and relax. Dust off the plan and run your team through a simulation once a year. A crisis will never play out exactly the way you think it will, but getting reps dealing with one will make you more confident and ready to handle anything that comes your way.