ILMA Compoundings - June 2020 - 24

critical stakeholders know first. But
don't wait too long before communicating with all the others; once you
create your messaging, disseminate
that messaging to everybody as soon
as possible."
In addition, make sure to deliver
the same message to all concerned,
Krakoff said. "You don't want to tell
employees, 'Don't worry, everything's
OK,' and then have a news report
come out that contradicts that. Then
people lose trust in your organization."
Knowing when to communicate,
with whom to communicate and
what to convey comes from having a
crisis-communication plan in place
long before it's ever needed.

Planning for Every Possibility

Researcher Agnes Lucy Lando has
noted, "A crisis can and will happen,
to any organization or individual,
at any place and time. ... Crises are
inevitable, and it is thus not a question
of if, but when, a crisis will happen.
When it comes to crises, organizations
are better off acknowledging the
'Murphy' factor: Anything that can
go wrong will go wrong. ... Organizations that have a crisis-communication
plan are better situated to appropriately address a crisis and return to
normalcy in a relatively short time."
Krakoff believes an effective crisiscommunication plan has two main
parts. Part one involves clarifying and
planning for an appropriate response
when something happens. What
comes next? Typically, companies
would designate a core crisis team to
step in at this point to help manage
the process. "It could be upper-level
management, your safety professionals, attorneys, and communications
and public relations people," Krakoff
said. "That team will determine
whether a situation is a true crisis, who
is affected and so on."
If they determine that something
requires a crisis response, then the plan

24

JUNE 2020

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

would define their next steps. "If it's
something that really is big news and
affects a lot of people, you may have a
news conference," Krakoff added. "If
it doesn't warrant a news conference,
then you look at who needs to get the
message, what media to use. Every
scenario is a little bit different. But
your plan should include the process."
Part two of the plan defines your
company's specific response to specific
events. It involves asking, "What are all
of the things that could go wrong for
our organization?" and brainstorming
everything imaginable so you can
address those events if the need arises.
"It can involve plants, facilities, buildings, things going wrong," Krakoff said.
"It could involve people - somebody
made a mistake, somebody got arrested,
someone's responsible for malfeasance.
Or it could be platform related: What
if the CEO makes public political or
religious statements that could affect
the reputation of a company?
"Take the time to prepare pre-written
statements that at least cover the most
likely or the most critical scenarios
for your company," Krakoff continued. These are "holding statements,"
kept updated and always on hand so
company spokespeople can respond
quickly when necessary. "I know some
people in manufacturing who carry
around with them four or five dozen
hard-copy and digital holding statements. If something happens, you're
90% of the way to having a statement;
just fill in the blanks with the details
of the situation."
Krakoff advises reviewing the
crisis-communication plan at least
once a year and revising it as needed.
"Organizations change. Product lines
change. Media outlets come and go,"
he said. "So, you review the plan
regularly and update it as necessary
to reflect any changes in the organization, changes to whom you need to
communicate with, etc. Keep it fresh
and top of mind."

That includes making sure the
relevant people know the plan exists
and know how to access it.

Making Up for Murphy's Law

Of course, no plan can prevent events
that truly are unpredictable. And
sometimes someone just plain drops
the ball, resulting in a crisis that
catches a company off-guard.
When that happens, Krakoff said,
"There is a lot of value in simply
admitting your mistakes. Now, there
may be legal issues we need to be
mindful of when communicating like
this, so I'd encourage you to talk with
your attorneys. Find that responsible
balance where you can talk about


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ILMA Compoundings - June 2020

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