Let’s face it, many businesses are ill-prepared to manage crisis communications when something bad happens.
Leadership is often “too busy” to take the time to prepare or they have a false sense that they know how to handle things if something should happen.
Unfortunately, most are not prepared.
In fact, they are far from ready to handle the variety of communications activities needed when a crisis occurs.
The following will help you determine if your business is ready:
- Do you have a leadership team identified, prepped and ready to react at a moment’s notice?
- Does that leadership team know their role and chain of command during a crisis?
- Have they identified and rehearsed with potential “real-world” scenarios?
- Do you have an updated list of media contacts prepared? Is it accessible from anywhere?
- Who will answer the calls from the media? What about angry customers, residents or concerned politicians?
- Who will be the face of the company when speaking publicly?
- Are they prepared to manage a potentially relentless media?
- Who will communicate to employees and vendors?
- Are key employees prepared?
- Have you established relationships with outside experts to assist during a crisis?
- Have you identified an off-site location as a backup meeting space?
These are just a few of the question you need to ask yourself and your leadership team. If you can’t easily answer these questions, your company is at risk.
The reality is that trying to coordinate these activities during an actual crisis is challenging at best, delays response times and creates opportunities for things to get worse. The result can be severe or irreparably damage your business.
Make sure you’re prepared!