Meat Market Prospects Seminar
Michael Bland
Crisis Analysis: A look at major crises which have affected other companies and
organisations; the common trends and lessons.
The Preparation Checklist:
The best crisis communication plans evolve from the communication team (and others)
developing answers to the right questions. This section looks at a logical approach
Modern Crisis Handling:
The action checklist: how to freeze the action; the strategy checklist; how to assess how
the many ‘audiences’ will react; formulating the right messages; working as a team;
dealing with hostile audiences and the media.
Crisis communication:
Communication psychology
Handling the media and other audiences
Message formulation.
Crisis Checklists
Checklist 1
Planning
• What crises could hit us?
• Who are the audiences?
• How do we communicate with them?
• What are the messages?
• Who will form the crisis communications team?
• How do we co-ordinate them?
• How good is our internal reporting?
• What are the resources and facilities?
• What training do we need?
• What provision is there for stress counselling?
• What do we need in our crisis manual?
• Does our crisis procedure work?
• Have we built bridges with our audiences?
Checklist 2
Audiences
Media
National
press: general and specialist
TV
radio
Local
press: general and industrial
TV
radio
Trade and/or professional media
Wire; international; internet
Official
Government
Authorities
relevant department(s)
MPs (especially local)
MEPs
regulatory bodies
local councils
Police
Fire
Hospital
Ambulance
Remember that the support services have their own PR teams, who are often very
professional – and who may also have a vested interest in deflecting unfavourable
publicity.
Support
Corporate
Employees; alumni; pensioners
Group: head office; parent company etc.
Trade unions
Lawyers
Insurers
Shareholders, investing institutions and analysts (City & product)
Business
Customers
Competitors
Suppliers
Trade and professional associations
Other
Relatives
Local community
Environmental and pressure groups
‘The general public’ is also an audience, but it can usually only be reached via your
communications with other target audiences (e.g. media).
Checklist 3
Messages
Consider communicating some or all of these core messages in a crisis:
• Details: As much information about the incident as possible.
• Human face: ‘We care’ – sympathy, concern, understanding; maybe regret; possibly
even ‘Sorry’.
• What we are doing about it – especially a thorough (independent) investigation.
• Reassurance: No further danger; not harmful; what to do if worried; one in a million;
etc.
• Track record – and the good your company/product does.
• Further information: When and where further information will be available.
Numbers for information hotline or helpline.
• Background briefs: Details of products, processes, chemicals, company etc.
Wherever possible give details and practical examples. If you simply say ‘Our safety
standards are among the highest in the industry’ it lacks credibility. But if you describe
how often the HSE team examines the plant in minute detail; how much you invest in
safety; how many people; some examples of what they do to ensure safety – then people
will start to believe you.
This principle applies to all messages (e.g. Reassurance; Track Record) where your own
side of things is not going to be taken for granted.
Checklist 8
Handling the crisis
Here is a list of the key ingredients:
• Take holding action
• Issue a holding statement
• Assemble and isolate the crisis team
• Assess the situation (see Checklist 9)
• Decide on the strategy
• Identify the audiences
• Decide on the messages
• Prepare and effect a plan
• Brief relevant people
• Centralise information
• Understand your audiences
• Give information
• Resist combat
• Be flexible
• Think long term
Checklist 9
Crisis strategy
These are the questions to ask when assessing the crisis and formulating your strategic
approach:
• What is the crisis and what are the implications? What precisely has happened? Do
we all have the same understanding of the situation?
• Is there a more fundamental problem? Could this be the tip of an iceberg? How
could this incident call into question the reputation of the whole company, the group,
the industry? Does it call our safety standards into question? How could this become a
broader issue?
• Is there more to come? Are there likely to be more of these explosions, product
tamperings (especially copycat), dishonest sales executives etc?
• What is the worst case? Think how much worse it could get. And be ready for it just
in case.
• What is actually at stake? If the worst comes to the worst, what will we actually
lose? How loyal are our suppliers, our customers, our shareholders – and will they stay
with us in bad times? How long are people’s memories? Are we panicking
unnecessarily? Or is there something really big at stake here that we hadn’t thought
of?
• What is the context? What else is in the news? What are the crisis ‘vogue themes’ of
the day? What is the backdrop against which this crisis will be seen?
• What are the audiences likely to make of it? Step outside the crisis and imagine
what it’s like looking in from the outside – for the worried local community, the staff
who are only just learning what’s happened, the opportunist politician, the official the
other audiences – especially the media. What would you make of it if you were in their
position? Can you ask them? Have you thought, for example, of sounding out one or
two tame journalists to see if they regard it as a major or a minor story?
• What are the likely timescales? First: how long is there before the deadlines for the
various media – daily, weekly, trade, TV, radio? Is our holding statement all they will
have to publish or do we have a little time to develop a more detailed brief for them?
And by when do we need to have established communication with the employees, the
regulatory bodies, group headquarters, the insurers? Second: how long is the crisis
likely to run – the initial burst and then all the follow-ups: litigation, clean-up
campaign, dealing with pressure groups etc?
• Can any allies be brought in? Would our messages come better and more credibly,
for example, from our trade association? An independent research department? If the
local politician praised us last month for being a good member of the community, is he
or she prepared to say it again now? The Health & Safety Executive gave us a clean
bill of health recently and they owe us one – can we persuade them to put their heads
above the parapet on our behalf?
• Who else is (culpably) involved? Another party to the accident? Slack regulatory
bodies? Suppliers? An extortionist? Vandals? This could affect your strategy. If
someone else is at fault, how can the public anger be diverted their way – without you
appearing to try to pass the buck?
• Can the spotlight be transferred? Are there other positive stories you can use as red
meat for the baying pack of press hounds? Human interest stories, for example, such
as personal heroism or how your safety people ensure your products are safe.
• How can the crisis be contained? In a broad sense: how can our actions now put a lid
as quickly as possible on the speculation and publicity – and stop the crisis running out
of control? In a narrow sense: can the crisis be identified with a single plant, a
subsidiary or a product? If you only refer to, say, the geographical name of the plant
and give all spokespeople a title relating only to the subsidiary, you can sometimes
keep the name of the parent company and/or its other products out of the picture – or
at least reduce the damage.
Extracted from ‘When It Hits The Fan’ by Michael Bland (Centre Publishing 2004)
© Michael Bland 2006
info@michaelbland.com
www.michaelbland.com