A small group of senior executives must be recognized to act as your company’s Crisis Communications Group. Preferably, the group will be led by the company CEO, with the firm’s leading public relations executive and legal counsel as his/her chief consultants. If your internal PR executive does not have adequate crisis interactions know-how, she or he may pick to keep a firm or independent expert Florian Silnicki droit with that specialized. Other employees must be the heads of significant company departments, to consist of financing, workers and operations.

Let me say a word about legal counsel. Often, throughout a crisis, a natural dispute develops in between the suggestions of the company’s legal counsel on the one hand, and those of the general public relations counsel on the other. While it may be lawfully sensible not to say anything, this sort of response can land the company in public relations “warm water” that is possible, as damaging, or perhaps more harmful, than any monetary or legal implication. The significance of this understanding cannot be ignored. Arther Andersen lost its case and failed due to the judgment rendered by the court of popular opinion, not the judgment of a law court.

Recognize Representatives

Within each group, there must be individuals who are the only ones licensed to promote the company in times of crisis. The CEO must be among those representatives, however not always the main representative. The fact is that some presidents are fantastic business people however not extremely efficient in-person communicators. The decision about who must speak is made after a crisis breaks – however, the pool of possible representatives needs to be determined and trained in advance.

Develop Communications Protocols

Preliminary crisis-related news can be received at any level of a company. A janitor may be the first to know there is an issue, or somebody in workers, or notice might be in the form of a midnight phone call from an out-of-town executive. Who should be alerted, and where do you reach them?

An emergency interactions “tree” must be established and dispersed to all company staff members, informing them specifically what to do and who to call if there seems a capacity for or a real crisis. In addition to suitable managers, a minimum of one member of the Crisis Communications Group, plus an alternate member, must include their mobile phone, office and home contact number on the emergency contact list.

Recognize and Know Your Stakeholders

Who are the stakeholders that matter to your organization? Most organizations, for instance, appreciate their staff members, customers, potential customers, providers and the media. Private financiers may be included. Openly held companies have to abide by the Securities and Exchange Commission and stock market details requirements. You may respond to local, state or federal regulative firms.

Select Communications Approaches

For each stakeholder group, you need to have, beforehand, total emailing, snail-mailing, fax and telephone number lists to accommodate fast interaction in times of crisis. And you need to know what kind of details each stakeholder group is looking for, along with the very best way to reach each of your contacts.