“What Happens If” | Five Key Questions for Crisis Communications BEFORE an Emergency

“What happens if…” is often a dreaded exercise in a professional setting, but these three words and the following conversations on crisis communications can help communications teams prepare for an emergency. Our philosophy is that most problems in business and work start with communication; something left unsaid, misunderstood, or poorly worded can lead to significant headaches in sales or marketing. Communication problems can lead to property loss, injury, or death in an emergency.

Ideally, every organization has an emergency operations procedure (EOP) that covers all possible scenarios. Still, if they don’t include how to handle crisis communications, you could have a significant blind spot in your organization. If you’re in charge of communications, here are five key questions to ask your team to better prepare for the “what ifs.”

What is the Emergency Operation Procedure (EOP)?

Does your organization have an EOP? Is it recorded somewhere? If so, when was it last reviewed? Does your organizational leadership know what to do in an emergency? Do you have a communications lead to help coordinate in an emergency? If you’re unsure about these questions, finding out who has the answers to them is important.

If you don’t have a written-out plan, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) has many great resources on their website: fema.gov. You could also approach a peer organization or an association in your industry to see if they have industry examples to share. Once built, it’s helpful to review the plan and update it at regular intervals.

When your organization reviews or creates its EOP, review it through the communications lens. If a crisis happens, like an active shooter, fire or weather event, what public relations work is needed? What groups need to be notified? Thinking through these points will help your team effectively communicate in a crisis.

Has the organization practiced or trained in crisis communications & response?

If you have a plan, great! That’s a critical step, but quality crisis management requires practice. Ensure that those involved have had the chance to understand their role and train on responding to an emergency.

This includes the communications team! Training a public relations emergency or preparing statements in advance so they are ready will help make your job easier. You can even allow your spokesperson to train on taking questions from the media. Muscle memory is vital to effective crisis response.

Who’s in charge during a crisis? Does everyone have a role?

This fundamental question is incredibly important. In an emergency or a crisis, knowing who is in charge is incredibly important and can help to mitigate disaster. This is true whether talking about a safety emergency like a fire or a public relations crisis.

Identifying who sets the message, coordinates the media and updates social media or internal channels is an effective way to ensure all aspects of your crisis response are covered during an emergency.

Do you have a holding statement prepared?

If you have a crisis requiring public relations or media coordination, do you have a prepared statement ready? A holding statement is a piece of writing that you can give to the press, providing space for events to unfold and giving you time to uncover facts.

A general incident holding statement already prepared gives you peace of mind that you’re ready to go in an emergency. You can spend more time managing communications and less time writing statements.

Do you have public relations partner if you need it?

If things get intense and you need help managing the media or need to effectively your message in the aftermath of an emergency, do you have a partner who can help? Sometimes having a resource that can be your backup if you’re dealing with an ongoing situation or a complicated press event is the difference between a well-managed crisis and burnout.

These five questions are just a few to ask yourself to prepare BEFORE a crisis occurs. Crisis communications can be a challenge, but preparedness is the best way to get through any situation that might come up. Do you need help with how to answer these questions or move forward? We can help—contact a Maven today to learn more.