CRISIS MANAGEMENT

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CRISIS MANAGEMENT

• Chapter TWENTY-ONE

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Issues Management

• Is the capacity to understand, mobilize,
  coordinate, and direct all strategic and policy
  planning functions and all public affairs/public
  relations skills, toward achievement of one
  objective meaningful participation in creation
  of public policy that affects personal and
  institutional destiny.
• W. Howard Chase, l976

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Issues Management is a five-step process that

• Identifies issues with which the organization
  must be concerned
• Analyzes and delimits each issue with respect to
  its impact on constituent publics
• Displays the various strategic options available
  to the organization
• Implements an action program to communicate the
  organizations views and to influence perception
  on the issue
• Evaluates its programs in terms of reaching
  organizational goals

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Issues Management contains the following elements

• Anticipate emerging issues
• Identify issues selectively
• Deal with opportunities and vulnerabilities
• Plan from the outside in
• Bottom-line orientation
• Action timetable
• Dealing with the top

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Implementing Issues Management

• Tactical implementation of issues management
  consists of four specific tasks
• Identifying issues and trends
• Evaluating issue impact and setting priorities

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Implementation of Tasks continued

• Establishing a company position
• Designing company action and response to achieve
  results

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Risk Communication

• An outgrowth of issues management began in the
  l990s
• Modeled on the concept that perception is
  reality
• Emotions and the lack of understanding and
  knowledge is at the base of risk.
• Frequent, forceful communication is needed to
  inform, educate, and lessen emotion.

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Planning a risk communication program

• 1. Recognize risk communication as part of a
  larger risk management program and the program is
  based on politics, power, and controversial
  issues.
• 2. Encourage management to join the
  communication loop and help them to deal with the
  news media.
• 3. Develop credible outside experts to act as
  news sources for journalists.
• 4. Become an in-house expert in your own area of
  risk to enhance credibility with the media.

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Planning a Risk Program continued

• 5. Approach the news media with solid facts and
  figures before they approach you. Verify the
  veracity of data.
• 6. Research perceptions of your organization by
  the media and other publics to gauge credibility
  and help determine if your messages will be
  believable.
• 7. Understand your target audiences and how the
  news media can help you communicate effectively.
  

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Managing a CrisisWhat is a crisis? A crisis is
a situation that has reached a critical phase for
which dramatic and extraordinary intervention is
necessary to avoid or repair major damage.
Harvard Business Review
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Questions..

• What organizations can you identify that have
  faced a major crisis?
• What type of crisis were they involved in?

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What are the warning signals that appear?

• Surprise
• Insufficient information
• Escalating events
• Loss of control
• Increased outside scrutiny
• Siege mentality
• Panic

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Can you plan for a crisis?

• Planning can be done with the following
• 1. For each potentially impacted audience,
  define the risk.
• 2. For each risk defined, describe the actions
  that mitigate the risk.

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Planning continued

• 3. Identify the cause of the risk.
• 4. Demonstrate responsible management action.

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Former Red Cross PresidentBernadine Healy
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Do you know what the watchwords are for any
crisis plan?

• Be prepared
• Be available
• Be credible

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Communication in a Crisis

• Do you know the rule?
• Tell it all and tell it fast!

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Goals of Crisis Management

• Terminate the crisis quickly
• Limit the damage
• Restore credibility

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Media Relations Steps

• During the Crisis
• Set up media headquarters
• Establish media rules
• Media live for the box score
• Dont speculate
• Feed the beast
• Speed triumphs
• Cable rules

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General Principles for what should be said to the
media

• Speak first and often
• Dont speculate
• Go off the record at your own peril
• Stay with the facts
• Be open and concerned, not defensive

• Make your point and repeat it
• Dont wage war with the media
• Establish yourself as the most authoritative
  source
• Stay calm and be truthful and cooperative
• Never lie

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• Trent Lott

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Exercise

• In your estimation, were the three goals of
  crisis management met during the crisis involving
  Elian Gonzalez?
• Explain and defend your answer.