Bailey Sergott (777)
When a company encounters a crisis it’s something causing harm to their company or reputation. The best crisis is the one that never happens. A good way to prevent crises is to create goodwill so they don’t happen. There are eight different types of crises; technological, financial, natural, malice, deception, confrontation, organizational misdeeds and workplace violence. My favorite part about learning crisis communication is looking at businesses that have gone through a crisis and then watching how they handled it. The number one thing I have learned is the importance of being prepared. A crisis can happen at any day or time. Especially these days with everything being captured on smartphones anything can be posted online with a click of a button. When it comes to crisis communication there are five important steps. The steps go in the following order: Pre-work, initial event, action plan, maintain and evaluation.
Pre-work
Pre-work is the first step because it is preventing a crisis from happening. This is what companies do before a crisis occurs. This involves social media monitoring and also teaching their staff what is appropriate posting and what is not. Pre-work also involves answering many “what if” scenarios to make sure you have all possible crises covered. This step is mostly about preparing to make sure if a crisis takes place, then the company is prepared to handle it. This step can take days, weeks or months depending on how big the company is or how in depth they want to be prepared. This step is known as the behind the scenes work that the public wouldn’t know is happening or has already happened when a crisis hits.
Initial event
The next step is called the initial event because this is where the company looks at what the trigger was and how damaging it may be. This is when a company decides how big of a threat they are up against to determine the appropriate next steps. If a company is dealing with a smaller problem the solution may be simple. For example, if a customer is mad and they leave a nasty review, the company could just have someone reach out to them to fix the problem and remove it off of the internet. A lot of times in smaller situations, customers just want to be heard. If the company is dealing with a crisis that has blown up the internet with thousands of followers, they might need to take a different approach.
Action plan
The third step is called the action plan because this is the step that the company takes action. They need to decide in this step, who comes first? Will everyone receive the information at the same time? It’s important during this step to stay consistent and tell everyone the same information. If you tell the press one thing and your customers something else, it will cause more of an issue than a solution. During the action plan a company decides what is the best way to share information with the public. A company might post an announcement on social media or they may release a video message and it is often up to the company on what works best with their situation.
Maintain
The fourth step is called maintain but it’s also known as the adjustment phase because it’s when the company assesses what is needed. The company must look at if the crisis is contained and what was learned. During this step the company is constantly pivoting and adjusting to fix the problem and stay out of the spotlight. The last step is called evaluation and it is adjusting to the new normal. A company evaluates the damage that has been done and then circles back to step one to prevention from it happening again. A few years ago, Wells Fargo endured a crisis due to their employees making fake accounts without the knowledge of their customers. After the crisis cooled down they had to adjust to the new normal and part of that was rebranding the company. They acknowledged what happened and publicly rebranded their company in attempts to gain trust back with their customers. The last step is about taking the necessary steps to get back on track.
Final thoughts
Crisis communication happens all the time to companies around the world. It is important for companies to be ready and prepared for any possible misfortune. It’s also important when dealing with crises to remain transparent, open and honest with the public. So, when dealing with crises just remember to be overly prepared, create goodwill, and the best crises are the ones that never happen.
Comentários