The Importance of having a Crisis Communications Plan

Organizational disruptions are something every company will face. Sometimes these disruptions are easily managed, while other times they quickly morph into a crisis. How you manage and lead your team through a crisis begins with planning.

To effectively manage during a crisis, companies must first anticipate what could go wrong and create a crisis management plan, which is a blueprint for how to respond.“ The more you have preplanned, the better position you will be in to respond,” said Susan Matson, vice president of Atlas Marketing, a marketing and communications firm based in Pittsburgh that offers crisis communications services for the construction industry. “Planning takes a level of stress off the crisis completely.”

“It’s not the crisis, it’s how the company is going to respond and act and interact with their audiences. That’s what people will remember.” A crisis can result in significant costs, including loss of revenue, regulatory penalties, and higher insurance premiums. Not all costs are financial, though. Reputation may be tarnished. Customer loyalty may wane. Talented employees may lose confidence and depart.

In the construction field, crises are not limited to safety incidents on a jobsite or weather
emergencies. They can include everything from supply chain breakdowns and equipment theft to technology failures and cybersecurity breaches. A crisis is anything that interrupts regular operations. A plan should be developed to address all possible scenarios.

What a Crisis Management Plan Should Include

“The objective of the plan is to define people’s roles and responsibilities because, in a crisis, one of two things happens. It’s the deer-in-the-headlights moment where everybody stands and waits to be led or waits for a leader to show up, or everybody wants to be a leader and then it’s even more chaotic,” said Chris Martin, president of Atlas Marketing.

“The real purpose of a crisis communications plan is to define roles and responsibilities of the team and then plan the actions as a result of the various scenarios identified.”

Plans Should Include:

• a list of potential crisis situations;
• the names of individuals who should manage, communicate, and stay informed;
• the audiences that require communication;
• examples of message points to communicate;
• what should happen from an operational standpoint in the first 24 hours;
• what resources could be available to you as you manage through the crisis.

As you go through each potential situation, pay attention to the different communication needs and how your designated crisis team may be able to address those needs.

Developed crisis management plans should be as detailed as possible and stored in multiple formats in multiple locations. Digital copies should be available on the company intranet, computers, tablets, and phones. Paper copies should exist as well, in case the crisis is of a technological nature.

The plan should identify the team that will make decisions and the various audiences that will need information. Plans should include phone numbers, email addresses, social media channels, websites, and other avenues for sharing information so there is no added delay in communicating.

Roles and Responsibilities Within a Crisis Plan

Employees will need to know different information (should I report to work?) than customers and vendors (will my order be filled, or my project continue?) and the general public (is there a safety risk?).Internal audiences — employees, board of directors, owners, and other company locations — should be targeted first.

The goal should be to quickly gain control of the situation, build trust, and keep operations going as smoothly as possible during a crisis. While some work may have to temporarily pause, other work, both in the field and at the office, must proceed.

It’s critical to look at the company’s entire operation to determine what should be paused. For example, if there was a safety incident on a jobsite, the marketing team must make sure it does not proceed with planned promotions on social media about how safe your company is. Potential clients and the general public are perceptive and will not appreciate the conflicting messages. In fact, that could create a separate crisis.

Every team member must understand what their role is. Members can be issued a summary of their responsibilities. That summary can be on a physical wallet-sized card, a digital version they can keep on their phone, or both. For many team members, their role may be to proceed as usual, but not to make any public statements. A dedicated spokesperson should be identified to handle messaging, so it is consistent. The CEO may seem to be the obvious choice, but their time is better spent focusing on operating the business.

How to Communicate During a Crisis

It’s important to provide information to various audiences. At the initial stage of a crisis, the message may be that an investigation is ongoing, and that further information will be provided at a later point. “While we don’t want to ever say ‘no comment,’ it’s OK to stop and pause and gather the facts before we respond. We simply want to communicate that,” Matson said.

A crisis management plan should include a review process after the crisis has been resolved. Did the plan work as intended? What lessons were learned that could be used in the future? After a plan is written, it should be practiced so key players know their roles. “It’s always good to do a fire drill — just like we did when we were in grade school — and test the process,” Matson said.

The plan also should be updated regularly, at least annually. Updates should account for changes in personnel, additional corporate locations, or new scenarios for a crisis. “Be prepared. If you are not prepared, if you stick your head in the sand, it will be much harder and a lot more stressful,” Matson said. “Being ill-prepared will prove more difficult to address the situation.” How a company responds to a crisis can make or break the brand, so it’s important to be prepared.

• The business Of construction – Crisis communications

Originally published in the Keystone Contractor Magazine.