Crisis Response Should Be a Reflex: 7 Important Steps for Your Organization

Everything gets more complicated the bigger your organization is, and crisis response is no exception. Nick Ludlum, senior vice president at Ogilvy Public Relations, compares successful crisis response to an involuntary reflex in the PR News Crisis Management Guidebook: "An incident is identified. A crisis team convenes. The circumstances are assessed. Crisis protocols are activated. A response is developed and implemented. Activities are measured for effectiveness, and the team cycles through these steps again and again until some form of equilibrium is reached. Someone flips a switch, and the machinery kicks into gear."

However, just as an elephant's reflexes are slower than a house cat's, it can take longer for a large organization to lumber into action and actuate an effective response to a crisis event. This can be mitigated with an effective crisis plan, though. Ludlum offers this seven-step outline for creating a crisis plan that will quicken your organization's reflexes:

1. Define what your organization is and the stakeholders who may be expected to represent it in a time of crisis.
2. Analyze how and if these stakeholders may be both audiences as well as channels for crisis communications. Define scenarios for each.
3. Understand how stakeholders’ needs change depending on the specifics of a given crisis scenario. Are they an audience, a channel, a mix of both? Ensure your communication strategy addresses those unique needs.
4. Create a crisis response infrastructure that can “flex” to accommodate different parts of the organization depending on circumstances.
5. Establish the appropriate methods and tools of communication to coordinate with the crisis team or share information with internal and external audiences.
6. Monitor and recalibrate. Pay attention to how your internal stakeholders are reacting to the crisis and how they using crisis management material.
7. Above all, focus on the emotional needs of your internal audience and those you are relying on to help communicate in a time of crisis.

To expand on identifying stakeholders and their needs, Ludlum points out that the very same person or entity might take on a different role depending on the nature of the crisis:

"In one scenario, the CEO of an electronics company is charged with a crime. The retailer is an audience for communications, but not a partner in crisis response. The retailer needs reassurance that the supplier will continue to operate despite upheaval in its business. Depending on the CEO’s actions, the retailer may need reassurance that it is not also a victim.