In a Crisis

Anybody who thinks sitting down and banging out a crisis communications plan on their computer is the end of that project has a lot to learn. Mostly because a crisis communications plan (CCP) is a living document and it is never at an end.

Well, arguably once you have to implement a CCP full scale you might consider it to have reached an end, but that just means you have all that real life experience with which to start a new CCP.

My experience with CCPs is quite extensive, having worked in two industries that face very serious, dangerous situations daily (forestry and agriculture) and another two industries that face very serious, reputation damaging situations daily (insurance and finance). Different types of crisis, but often the same type of response. And that response starts long, long before the crisis.

This is where having a truly strong brand in place makes a world of difference. If you have built a brand that includes a strong commitment to the community and social responsibility, based on actions not just words, it becomes much easier to manage public opinion in a crisis. And if, while building that strong brand, you have also built a solid relationship with the media based on the basics of media relations you'll find in another post on my blog, you're in a good position to call upon them to help you get out your message when in a crisis.

The thing with crisis is that you never know exactly what is going to be thrown at you - but if you and your colleagues on the crisis response team have done your homework - you have a pretty good guess. Preparation and planning involves a lot of 'what if' scenarios and research. The best crisis response team that I have been a part of was led by Mike Maida, a member of Agricore United's Risk Assessment Department. He was relentless (in a very good way) in making sure we had examined every possible crisis and disaster that we could face. It was great leg work and when we had a collision of an anhydrous ammonia truck with a civilian vehicle, we knew what to do. Everybody knew what their role was and who to call. It was a horrible situation that was made just a little bit less horrible by a quick and compassionate response from the company.

Most CCPs are designed for a massive disaster, such as an earthquake or explosion at your headquarters. It's a good way to think worst case scenario, whereby your entire plan would have to be implemented. In reality, though, most crisis are going to be a bit smaller in scale and will call upon only a portion of the entire plan. And taking it one step further, you could spend a lot of time drafting that plan, meeting with your crisis response team regularly to make sure it is current and understood, and never have to use it. That would be the ideal situation.