No matter how big, organized and supervised an organization is, it is not immune to crisis. Some crises are of natural causes while others are to be blamed on individuals in the company. When crises are not properly managed, it may lead to economic problems for an organization. It can even lead to its becoming defunct. Public Relations practitioners the world over may vary in their opinions, but they sure believe that the steps found in this article are always current when it comes to managing crisis.
Take your time to investigate
When crisis or rumor of crisis breaks, it is often accompanied by chaos. The management and other employees in an organization sometimes find it difficult to get organized and do something productive. There is much of running helter skelter on the part of those playing supervisory roles. This encourages liberty to to be lazy on the part of junior employees in an organization. For some organizations, the whole process becomes halted as long as the crisis situation is yet to be resolved.
Amidst this disorderliness, it is important that the Public Relations practitioners and the managers in an organization stay calm. This will prevent them from compounding the issues at hand. It will prevent them from taking hasty decisions that are not properly informed. While they stay calm, they should not be totally inactive. It is the window they have to investigate what the problem is. When investigating, their aim is to find the truth and be as objective as possible. If such investigations cannot be conducted with internal resources, they should endeavor to hire external investigators so they can get to the root of the matter as soon as possible. When the investigating seems to require more than a week, the management should not be unduly worried.
Inform The Press
This step should not be delayed whatsoever. Some organizations have even contacted the press right before they commence with their internal investigations. When you inform the press about the crisis situation and share knowledge of what you know with them, the public tends to trust you more in the future.
In managing crisis, silence is not golden. There is nothing that spreads false rumors more than the fact that there is no truth from the right source. So, public relations professionals and their employers should quickly design the announcement to be made and make it as soon as possible.
Speak the truth
If you think lying or half truth will save the day, think again. When you fail to inform the world truthfully about the condition of things, it will eventually boomerang. Businesses and political organizations that have made the mistake of deliberately misinforming the public by lying have serious regrets. They have come to bastardize their image more though their initial aim was to lie so as to prevent their image from becoming dented.
If the fault is from your channel supplier, admit it and apologize. If it is as a result of negligence on the part of your employee, take responsibility and assure them of steps that are being taken to salvage the seeming hopeless situation. It saves you a lot of headache than going through the shame of having to recant your initial address. As a matter of fact, speaking the whole truth shows you to be in control.
Use the right media
The impact that word of mouth can have on spreading rumors cannot be measured. As a matter of fact, rumors spread from an individual to another cannot be controlled. This used to be a major fear some decades ago. The advent of social media has compounded the work of crisis managers in the 21st century. Whether it is true or not, people do not hesitate to ping or tweet their friends about a news that they feel is weird enough to get their attention. Thus the image of an organization keeps going down the drain.
News disseminated through the mass media however can be controlled. A reporter knows what is at stake if he reports news that is unfounded. Even at that, such reporters go to any length to dig out the truth and get it aired during the evening news.
Your strategy in effectively managing the crisis that comes the way of your organization is to use the same media to inform them of the true situation of things. People easily see twitter handles as authority today, so do not hesitate to use it. Use blackberry messenger, use SMS. However, none of the mentioned social media can be as effective as radio, television and newspaper. So use the mass media to your own advantage.
Depending on the size of your organization and the level of havoc caused by the crisis, try and do a press conference as soon as possible. When the budget is slim, select few media reporters who will take turn to re-broadcast the message.
Assure of steps to prevent re-occurrence
As you tell the world the true situation of things, it is important you inform them that steps have been taken to prevent the occurrence of such disaster in the future. There is no point of being audacious to express the truth about a bad thing when the mind of the public is not put at rest that such will not re-occur.
As part of steps to prevent such re-occurrence, inform your publics of plans and strategies that your organizations have put in place. Before entertaining questions from your reporters, tell them on a last note that your organization has the situation of things under control.
If the crisis is a form of crime on the part of an employee, tell them of steps that have been taking to bring him to justice. If damages have been recorded, inform them of moves that have been made to carry out repairs. If death has resulted, express sincere condolences and inform them of steps you are taking to settle insurance problems.
Advertise corrections made
After the situation has been fully resolved, it is important that you use the media to send another message to the world of corrections made. At this point, your organization needs to be involved in a lot of social responsibility activities. To inform the world that you are not just interested in their money, you have the welfare at heart.
Be proactive
Seasoned PR people believe that the best way to manage crisis is to prevent it. As such, it is important that organizations take measures to foresee problems and prevent it. If the environment is an industry, your safety measures should be the best. When hiring, do a strict background check and ensure that your prospective employee does not have an ill intent or past. Give a stern warning to your employee never to grant any press interview so they do not get to say something negative about the organization. Prioritize the welfare of your staff and make them part of the team.
Crisis cannot be absolutely prevented, but the management and entire staff should be educated periodically about the need to be more preventive. It is more economical and stress free than being reactive to a crisis situation.
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