Page 54 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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Proactive Crisis Communication Planning 35

More communication notes – being
unavailable

In many cultures, you’ll find members of the crisis team who put
themselves into circumstances where they are not reachable.
Whether that is a round of golf, surfing, skiing, being on a plane
or going to the opera, all team members have to be aware of it.
If your favourite pastime does not allow for easy communica-
tion, then make sure your team know this and document when
you are likely to be out of touch and for how long, allowing the
team to move forward with the plan without your participation if
they cannot reach you.

When you have a crisis directory, in theory anyone can pick it up and
communicate effectively with the team. Send each member a soft and
hard copy.

More communication notes – letting
everyone be ‘in the know’

While not everyone in the organization will be in the crisis team,
it is a good idea to let everyone, or everyone who matters, know
what to do when a crisis occurs. If your organization provides
employee handbooks, then the handbook should emphasize
that unauthorized press communications are forbidden and list
contact information for the ‘communication point’ in your crisis
team for referral if a reporter calls.
If your company has office managers or front reception secre-
taries, these key people should also be informed who the ‘com-
munication point’ in your crisis team is. For smaller offices where
an office manager keeps a telephone directory of staff members
or similar, it would be sensible to log the crisis directory with
them.

2. Communication flow
Everyone in the team should be aware of the communication flow in a
crisis situation. It should be agreed and then written down and placed