The Leading Edge - Fall 2010 - PKF - 7

COVER

will go far to mitigate damage because crises are highly emotional events and very demanding, Paynter says. As she explains, the emotion during a crisis can make it difficult to think of all the details when scrambling to respond to the demands of reporters. The risk is that very important stakeholders may be overlooked. “We’ve run crisis drills in which we play out a scenario and, at the end, we’ll go through the list of critical stakeholders,” Paynter says. “Did anyone remember to call the mayor? How long into the crisis did they inform the regulatory agencies? It can be a real eye opener if they haven’t made a list of those audiences in advance and delegated responsibility.” Johnson recommends that companies have an internal communications plan ready to be put into effect when a crisis begins. “Stakeholders should be addressed with what the crisis is, what validity there is to the crisis, how the organization is dealing with the crisis, and what negative stories are anticipated,” he advises. “Meetings with employees, shareholders, and vendors or conference calls should be held as well as having these stakeholders ask questions and voice concerns. They should be kept up-to-date with any changes in message or the crisis throughout the process. Two-way communication is the best thing.”

“THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE WE GIVE CLIENTS IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS IS TO TELL THE TRUTH, TELL IT ALL AND TELL IT FIRST.”
a social media crisis plan,” Briguglio notes. “Consider the recent attack on Nestle’s Facebook Fan page, in which Greenpeace supporters were upset over Nestle’s use of palm oil,” Briguglio notes. “Greenpeace supporters altered their Facebook profile photos to antiNestle slogans incorporating one or more of Nestle’s logos and posted these images on the Nestle Facebook page.” When the Nestle Facebook page administrator responded in a sarcastic, hostile way, the situation spiraled out of control into a full-blown PR crisis for the Nestle brand, she says. Social media users whose comments had been deleted by the administrator were upset and a barrage of negative comments subsequently pummeled the company. Nestle soon conceded to Greenpeace on its palm oil sourcing policies by pledging it would end a contract with a specific company. All too often, crisis communication is reactive, says Kenneth Kracmer, managing partner of HCK2 Partners. “For example, a high-profile, damaging lawsuit shows up at the company’s front door at 5 p.m. on Friday or an in-house legal team does not alert you to a potentially damaging case until the issue appears on the local 6 p.m. news,” he says. “To address these combustible legal issues, companies must have a crisis communications plan in place that addresses various levels of potential situations with an offensive strategy.” Kracmer says based on years of experience and countless case studies, the sooner effective communications experts are brought in, the better the outcome for a company’s reputation.

boiled down to the top three and they need to be clear and easy to understand.” Strategic Vision’s Johnson says timeliness counts. “Organizations should communicate with their stakeholders immediately,” he says. “So often a company just develops the external crisis communication plan for the general public and they forget their most important audience—their stakeholders.” Bill Rosenthal, CEO of Communispond, says organizations must communicate with their stakeholders during crises because no one else will tell their story. Lack of communications may signal to stakeholders that the criticism of the organization is valid—or, worse yet, that the company is in such disarray that it’s unable to communicate.

Start right away
Walker recommends a company take a threepart approach in all crisis communications: 1. Define what the problem/crisis is and what we are doing to stop it. 2. Explain what we are doing to help those who may be hurt. 3. Identify what we are doing to make sure no one will be hurt in the future. He stresses that there is no margin of error in crisis communications. For instance, BP’s credibility was hurt when it underreported the severity of the oil well leak in the beginning and even in updates as the leak continued. Making lists is an important part of the initial response, Paynter says. “The most important advice we give clients in the midst of a crisis is to tell the truth, tell it all and tell it first. We begin by making a list of critical audiences and prioritizing, starting with those who will be most impacted by the news,” she explains. “For example, if a company is eliminating jobs, they must first tell those who will lose their jobs, their coworkers and employees at other locations. Paynter says her company puts together a chart with all the affected audiences, the method used to reach them, timing and the person responsible. “We try to tell those who are directly impacted in person, if at all possible,” she notes. She recommends placing phone calls to local elected officials and major donors when it’s a non-profit or regulatory agency, and then following up with written materials so they will have the complete story in case they are asked
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Expect the unexpected
Bill Rosenthal, CEO of Communispond, stresses that every communications plan must include a part that deals with unexpected problems. “Every organization should anticipate the possibility that it will have to announce bad news,” he says. “Misdeeds of any kind today are more likely to be exposed than they might have been when there wasn’t a 24-hour news cycle and an agglomeration of bloggers.” Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Public Relations, advises companies to expect the unexpected and look at things that could happen, such as civil disturbance, armed robbery, assault, accidents, natural disasters, an IT meltdown, employee misconduct, an industry problem or a situational risk. “Use your crisis plan to prepare for anticipated scenarios as well as the ones people think will never come to light,” she says. A crisis response plan should provide everything from scripts to use with reporters to the logistics of how to communicate in the event of a natural disaster. “In today’s world, that also means developing
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Get to the point
T.J. Walker, public speaking author and crisis communications expert, declared BP the worst in crisis communications and even made a video, “BP gets an F- for crisis communications,” that he posted to YouTube. “(Companies) need to communicate quickly before any stakeholders hear from the media,” he recommends. “The messages need to be

The Leading Edge - Fall 2010 - PKF

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