Planning is beneficial in any organization, whether new or established. In almost every industry, organizations plan for future activities.
Avoiding future planning can spiral into complications during a crisis, ultimately leading to the demise of an organization or a company. That is why planning is essential in all areas of a business. However, this article discusses a Plan for Crisis Communication and the elements that it should include.
What Exactly is a Disaster/Crisis?
The typical definition of a crisis is that it’s an unforeseen occurrence. Such happenings necessitate a prompt answer, as well as loss of employment can lead to a loss of revenue and damage to the company’s reputation if mismanaged.
Elements to Include in a Plan for Crisis Communication
A Plan for Crisis Communication is not the same as a continuity plan for an organization. A Plan for Crisis Communication determines how the team will communicate about the crisis to individuals such as participants and the media. The following are some of the elements that must be included in any organization’s Plan for Crisis Communication.
1. Ensure That You Have a Comprehensive Strategy
A good plan should describe concisely how the organization will convey and deal with the crisis. A comprehensive plan should describe the plan’s purpose and why it is necessary, as well as an initiating procedure. Identifying a person has the ability to activate the program and precisely what condition acts as a good starting point.
Finally, the plan should detail how the team will communicate with people both inside and outside of the organization. The team should not overlook the strategies for carrying out the communication plan. Email, social media, and news releases can all facilitate communication.
2. Assemble a Proper and Professional Crisis Communication Crew
The crisis management team is in charge of gathering information, developing vital messages, and publishing or distributing them. The group later monitors the crisis response. The group’s members handling crisis communication collaborates with the media to ensure that everything is in order.
Crisis communication team members, as well as their responsibilities, should be identified during planning. The planning team should include contact information, such as the personal telephone contacts of everyone involved in this team. This team should include the following individuals:
● An eloquent spokesperson. Depending on your team needs, you can decide to have several spokesmen.
● The person to receive media calls.
● The internal communication person.
● People who will assist as backups in individual roles.
3. Key Messages
It is critical to create a crucial message that will assist in answering some of the questions that stakeholders or the media will ask. The key messages should include:
● Discuss the crisis origins.
● Describe a brief occurrence.
● Provide a time frame for upcoming plans.
● Send your condolences to anyone who has been affected by the situation.
● If necessary, make recommendations for safeguards.
4. Established and Approved Internal Communication Procedures
Employees must be made aware of the crisis. There should be a strategy in place to assist employees in receiving information about the situation that has occurred in the organization. The data can be passed through by the team;
● Nurturing a culture of departmental meetings.
● Voicemail.
● Email.
Employees should not discuss the crisis with the media. They should have been informed that a team is in charge of this, and this should be part of the organization’s policies and included when developing a Plan for Crisis Communication.
5. Essential Media and Contacts List
It is critical to collect all contact details for local authority offices, healthcare organizations, and other organizations, police, fire departments, and other organizations that will be needed to reach out during a crisis.
It is critical to collect all of this information when developing a Plan for Crisis Communication. There will be no time to look for department contacts whenever there is a need to assist in the resolution of a crisis. Connections for national, local, and trade press should be included on the media list.
6. Appendices
Appendices contain checklists, general procedures, as well as forms that aid and support in crisis communication. It includes the following items:
● Checklist for first steps.
● Policies on social media and general media.
● Call logs that document media and calls.
● Checklists on external communication and Internal.
● Key profiles for every supervisor.
● Logos and picture copies of the organization.
● Fact sheets and news release templates.
● Contact information of team members of the crisis communication.
Conclusion
A communication crisis plan should be simple and easy for everyone to understand. Nobody will read a document that is exaggerated. The prime objective ought to be to focus on the significant matters affecting the organization.
Again, both soft and hard versions should be provided by the team. Presenting a hard copy document during a crisis demonstrates the seriousness of the issue; additionally, no one will want to open their emails to check the soft copy document during a crisis.