Crisis Management

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Crisis Management

• Pre-Planning and Fire Prevention
• For Managers and Property Owners of High Occupancy

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VIDEO CLIP

• West Hills Apartment Fire It can happen to you

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•  People dont judge good guys on whether theyve
  made mistakes, but how theyve fixed them.
• -Johnson Johnson and Tylenol.

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• During a crisis, however, this is most difficult
  to accomplish. As human beings, we usually seek
  ways to avoid or soften painful experiences. It
  is helpful to recognize some specific reasons
  people use to discourage open communication.
  These reasons are all logical, reasonable, and
  probably valid to some degree. Nevertheless,
  unless you deal with them effectively, they will
  become obstacles, making it extremely difficult
  to resolve the crisis.

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Objectives

• Logistical and practical media relations tactics
  to help communicate during a crisis, like a fire
• Suggestions for communicating with internal
  customers, key business leaders and associates
• How to predict and prepare for crises
• How to gather facts and quickly centralized the
  information flow, providing on-scene media with
  frequent news updates and responding to other
  media inquiries by telephone
• How to develop a working plan to help execute and
  track results of the crisis communications plan
• How to generate buy-in and support from CEOs and
  executives for developing a crisis communication
  plan

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Operational Priority 1 Limit the problem.

• This is our job.

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Operational Priority 2 Communicate with those
most affected - victims, families, relatives, etc.

• Take action quickly to resolve or stabilize
  victim issues
• Address the needs of victims and begin repairs or
  remediation of destroyed or damaged property ASAP
• Vocalize and act with empathy and sympathy
  constantly

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Operational Priority 3 Communication with
employees.
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Operational Priority 4 Communicate with those
indirectly affected

• Government, Neighbors, community leaders,
  customers, suppliers, etc.

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Operational Priority 5 Communicate with the self
appointed

• News media

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Crisis?A significant disruptionwhich
stimulates extensive news media coverage and
public scrutiny that disrupts the organizations
normal business activities.-Institute for Crisis
Management
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Common elements of a crisis?

• Sudden
• Demands quick response
• Interferes with organization performance
• Uncertainty / stress
• Threatens reputation, assets, bottom line
• Escalates in intensity
• Scrutiny
• Alters organization

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Some Types of Crises

• Sudden - Without warning
• Smoldering - goes public
• 63 Smoldering
• 37 Sudden

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Why have a CC Plan?  

• To provide a brain for moments when you might not
  have one.
• Ensure accurate, timely, consistent information
• Eliminate and minimize rumors and misinformation
• Protect your orgs reputation with stakeholders
• Maintain credible relations with community,
  officials, media
• Identify and clarify responsibilities AHEAD OF
  TIME throughout the org
• Provide guidance for decision-making.
• Initiate change / preemptive strikes and
  reputation insurance

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Technologys roleReputations are made or lost
within the first 24 hours. Now the first 5
minutes.
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Be prepared

• It is possible to list and prepare for those
  potential negative scenarios
• It is possible to set up a communication system
  that can be activated in almost any emergency
  situation.

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General principles that can positively affect
your actions and communication in a crisis
situation
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Before the crisis, successful communication will
depend, in large part, on the preparations you
make long before the emergency occurs.
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Having a system in place will allow you to deal
with the situation at hand, and not waste
precious time trying to decide how to communicate.
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An effective crisis communication plan puts you
in control of what may be a very volatile and
confusing situation.
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Elements of CC Plan

• Executive summary
• Objectives
• Target audiences / stakeholders
• Crisis team roles and responsibilities
• Crisis audit/inventory/research

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Crisis Audit

• What crisis situations have similar organizations
  had in the past year?
• What are the prospects for lawsuits, government
  investigations?
• How long will it be before they get the problem
  behind them?
• How would we have done if it had happened to us
  instead of them?
• What can be learned from their experiences?
• Have we made any changes in the way we do
  business as a result of what happened to them?

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Elements continued

• Appropriate lists
• Key messages
• Strategies
• Drill and rehearsal plan
• Drill feedback and improvements
• Evaluation strategies

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Tips and Techniques Crisis Planning and
Management
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Before the Crisis
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Develop a crisis management team

• Determine in advance a team to deal with crisis
  communication situations.
• Assign at least one individual to be a crisis
  communications team leader and have a back up.
• Decide which team members will gather
  information, notify families of victims, deal
  with emergency officials, and communicate with
  volunteers and staff.
• Determine a primary and secondary spokesperson to
  communicate with the media in crisis situations.
• Give these spokespeople media interview training
  if possible.
• Appoint people to monitor coverage in specific
  media outlets.

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Organize Your Team

• Designate a crisis communications team
• There are many audiences to whom you will need to
  simultaneously communicate your company's
  messages, and time is limited.
• Organize a group of knowledgeable personnel and
  divide your team by audiences, such as employees,
  customers, partners and media.
• Consider front line employees for phones,
  message, etc.

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Reputation Management/Community Relations

• Build your reputation within the community.
• A solid reputation can also serve you well in
  times of crisis.
• The public is more apt to forgive missteps if a
  company has made an ongoing effort to be a good
  landlord.
• Communicate with your tenants.

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Decide on Spokesperson Strategy

• Comfort level
• Skill
• Appearance
• Know other Spokespeople
• Train and practice

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Who would be our spokesperson(s) in a crisis
situation?

• Who would be the alternate if they were not
  available or not appropriate for that kind of
  crisis situation?
• How good would they be in handling tough
  questions from reporters?
• How much confidence do we have that they will be
  credible and convincing?
• How would disclosures be handled at one of our
  facilities if they had a crisis? Who would be the
  designated spokesperson?

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Other Considerations

• How much information would we give out if we had
  a crisis?
• Who would decide what to say?
• What would be the approval process? How long
  would it take?

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Develop policies

• Minimize crisis situations
• Try to anticipate potential emergency situations
  and develop policies to avoid them.
• In many crisis situations you will be asked by
  the media what policies you have on that
  particular situation.
• You do not want to be put in the uncomfortable
  situation of stating that you have no policy.

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Identify potential issues

• Conduct Crisis Audit / Inventory

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Identify potential crises

• Hold a brainstorming session with key members of
  the organization to identify those scenarios that
  might result in unfavorable publicity for your
  chapter.

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Assemble and organize resources

• Have up-to-date and accessible information.
• current list of crisis team members and
  alternates with work and home telephone numbers
• each team member should carry the list
• updated media lists
• insurance company contacts
• lists of emergency services such as fire, police,
  hospital and ambulance
• a means to communicate with volunteers and staff
  (fax lists or a telephone network)
• copies of policies for potential crisis
  situations.

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Coordinate planning with other crisis planners in
the organization

• Every organization should have three crisis
  plans
• A crisis operations plan
• A crisis communication plan
• A business recovery plan.

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What is our corporate emergency response plan
like?

• When was it last updated?
• Has it ever been used or tested to see if it
  works?
• How well does it tie in with the response plans
  of our other facilities?

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How would we contact our management and employees
so they would hear from us before learning about
it from the news media?

• How about our customers, suppliers and other key
  audiences?
• How would we do it, and how long would that take?

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Have a Plan!

• Make it personal to your organization
• Use as an outline
• Goal minimize damage
• Get your staff working together
• Recognize the role of communication

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VIDEO CLIP

• BBQ Fire Footage

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During the Crisis
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Bring the situation under control, if possible.
Always protect people first and property second.
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During the crisis

• Focus on the situation
• gather accurate information
• communicate quickly.

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• Example
• A careless employee leaves oily rags in the
  storeroom/laundry room of an apartment building.
  Spontaneous combustion occurs. Luckily the fire
  is discovered and extinguished quickly by one of
  the building maintenance men.

Level 1 Can be handled by on-duty personnel
responsible for responding to and managing this
kind of situation.
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• The fire is out but heat and smoke damaged
  equipment and furniture in the storeroom.
• The employees and tenants are upset.

• Level 2
• Can be handled by the personnel who respond, with
  support from other employees on duty or who may
  have to be called in from their homes.

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• The fire was not discovered in time and spreads
  outside the storeroom/laundry room.
• The fire department is called and puts out the
  blaze but it has severely damaged the rooms and
  four units.
• Two TV news stations cover the story and report
  that the fire was thought to have been caused by
  a careless employee.

• Level 3
• Requires additional resources and people beyond
  the regular personnel. These managers and
  employees may be from other facilities or the
  Corporate office, and may be supplemented by
  outside vendors or consultants

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• Level 4
• The situation is out of control and will impact
  an extended area and numerous people
  indefinitely.
• Business will have to be curtailed or
  discontinued and employees diverted from their
  normal duties until it is resolved.
• Other employees may have to be furloughed,
  vendors ordered not to make deliveries, etc.
• Tenants will need to be relocated.
• NoteLocal emergency response agencies will be
  actively involved. State and federal agencies
  also may be called in.

• The fire spreads throughout the office building.
  High winds send cinders into nearby neighborhoods
  causing additional fires and forcing the
  evacuation of residents in the area. The fire
  department calls in all available equipment from
  the city and surrounding areas to control the
  numerous fires.
• TV stations feed the story to their networks and
  it is carried on the evening news programs, with
  the suspected cause of the fire mentioned in the
  reports.

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Do the right thing

• put the public interest ahead of the
  organization's interest.
• Your first responsibility is to the safety and
  well being of the people involved.
• Face the public and face the facts.
• Never try to minimize a serious problem or
  "smooth it over" in the hopes that no one will
  notice.
• Conversely, don't blow minor incidents out of
  proportion or allow others to do so.

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Communicate quickly and accurately

• Focus attention on the most important aspects of
  the problem and moves process forward
• Media have an obligation to provide reliable
  information to their audiences
• They will get that information whether or not you
  cooperate.
• If you won't comment on the situation, you can be
  sure someone else will.

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Analyze the situation to judge its
newsworthiness. Don't create a crisis by jumping
the gun.
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Good crisis management calls for open, honest
communication with various target audiences.
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Avoid panic

• control the flow of information.
• establish and maintain your credibility as an
  information source by communicating openly and
  honestly.

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Part of the challenge and opportunity of the
crisis is to show those affected that the
organization is using a reasonable, caring
process to resolve the crisis.

• You can show this process best when you are
  willing to communicate openly.

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What kind of information?

• You will need to find answers to some basic
  questions including what happened? when did it
  happen? where did it happen? how many people are
  involved? where are those people now? how
  dangerous is the situation? What happens next?

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Notify the families of those involved

• Handle with the utmost kindness, sensitivity and
  discretion - always in person.
• Members of your crisis communication team should
  be assigned this task.
• Never release the names of dead or injured to the
  media before informing members of their immediate
  families.

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Keep internal public informed

• Communication with members of the organization.
• The best policy?
• release information to people in the organization
  before, or at least at the same time, it is
  released to news media.

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Communicate with Media
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Communicate with the media

• Release information about the situation as
  quickly as possible.
• Comments should be of a general nature until all
  the facts are in, but then it is far better to
  get the full story out as soon as possible.

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Your spokesperson

• should be forthright in dealing with media
  questions.
• Tough questions
• money estimates of damage
• insurance coverage
• speculation as to the cause of the incident
• allocation of blame
• anything "off the record"

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Your spokesperson

• Avoid "no comment" because this answer can imply
  a lack of cooperation, an attempt to hide
  something or a lack of concern. There are more
  appropriate responses when he or she either
  doesn't have or is not at liberty to give certain
  information.

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Some examples might be

• "We've just learned about the situation and are
  trying to get more complete information now.
• "All our efforts are directed at bringing the
  situation under control and taking care of our
  tenants, so I'm not going to speculate on the
  cause of the incident.
• "I'm not the authority on that subject. Let me
  put you in contact with
• Keep a log of media calls and return calls as
  promptly as possible. A log can help you keep
  track of issues being raised by reporters, and
  give you a record of which media showed the most
  interest.

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Some Strategies

• Return calls first to radio and television
  stations, then to newspapers.
• Reporters provide few surprises in a crisis
  situation.
• They want to get the basic information easily and
  quickly, usually with some kind of human interest
  angle.

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Print vs. Broadcast Reporters

• Print usually will need and use more information
• Print more interested in basic facts for today's
  edition and background and implication for
  tomorrow's edition.

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Broadcast journalists, on the other hand, will
want less but will be in more of a hurry and will
seek more updates.  
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More strategies

• Sometimes the media will be on the scene. In
  other situations you will need to initiate
  contact.
• This should be done as soon as the basic facts
  are in hand.
• The initial contact should be followed with a
  formal statement, including any updated
  information and plans for what happens next.

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Media will expect

• complete honest information
• background material
• some indication of how the you plan to proceed
• information about the impact on your staff and
  tenants
• regular updates and after-the-crisis follow up

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Many times the situation doesn't warrant media
attention.
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Gather the facts - who, what, where, when, why,
how, what next.
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If necessary, activate your crisis management
team. Act quickly spare no expense to distribute
the information you determine the media and
others should have.
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Give the media as much information as possible
they'll get the information (perhaps
inaccurately) from other sources.
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Don't speculate. If you don't know the facts say
so and promise to get back to the media as soon
as possible. Then be sure to do so.
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Protect the integrity and reputation of the
organization.
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Report your own bad news. Don't allow another
source to inform the media first.
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Media Policy / Procedures

• Briefing area considerations
• Visuals
• Ground rules
• Control the interview process
• Id a logger
• Treat equally

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On Location Considerations

• Space - trucks/ppl
• Environment
• Incline/ barriers, backdrop
• Safe and central

• No pre-interviews
• Dont show up early or late
• Limit time
• Repeat questions
• Advise when its the last question
• Have notetakers

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Post Crisis Debriefing

• Good Interview/Bad Interview
• Identify all the WRONGS
• Review the RIGHTS

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After the Crisis
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VIDEO CLIP

• Reunited with Rescuers the long-term impact on
  victims

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Perform an act of goodwill during or immediately
after a crisis when appropriate and possible.  
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Follow up

• Make amends to those affected and then do
  whatever is necessary to restore your
  organizations reputation in the community.
• Change internal policies or institute new ones to
  minimize a repeat of the crisis situation.
• Revise your crisis communication plan based on
  your experience.

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After The Crisis

• Declare an end to the crisis
• Follow up - Stay in touch with the community
  after a crisis, especially with those directly
  affected.
• Keep the media informed of any updates in the
  situation, or let them know the crisis has ended
• Review internal policies to try to avoid a repeat
  of the crisis situation.

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Perform an act of goodwill

• Do this during or immediately after a crisis when
  appropriate and possible.

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Have a formal debriefing

• Debrief members of your crisis communication
  team.
• Analyze the outcome and the media coverage - both
  positive and negative.
• Revise your crisis communication plan to reflect
  what you have learned.

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Assessing the Severity of a Sudden Crisis
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VIDEO CLIP

• Archstone Apartment Fires Victim Impact, Media

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Public Information

• Process of informing the public about operations
  of and actions taken by fire department during
  emergency.
• Media
• Speakers
• Presentations

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Public Education

• Process of changing peoples attitudes and
  behaviors related to safety
• School presentations
• Community events
• Speakers
• News Stories
• Public service announcements

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Public Relations

• The process of developing positive relationships
  between the fire department, its members, and the
  people it serves.
• News
• Public service announcements
• Articles
• Presentations (school, public, etc.)
• Events
• Customer Service (day-to-day)

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What is news?

• Whatever the media says it is
• Hard News
• effects large number of people
• departure from the norm
• Soft News
• human interest, feature, changing social values,
  social mores

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Elements of News

• Conflict
• Immediacy
• Proximity
• Scope/Scale
• Oddity
• Drama
• Emotion
• Action

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Media wants to tell a story

• What happened?
• Anyone hurt or killed?
• Whats being done about the problem?
• How large will the problem get?
• Who is at fault? What was the cause?
• How will it affect the rest of us?

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The 5 Ws H

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why
• How

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Things to Remember When Dealing with the Media
Survival Tips!
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Things to remember...

• Always avoid being outwardly hostile

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Things to remember...

• Anything you say can and will be used against you

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Things to remember...

• Let the cops do their job at a scene.
• You focus on yours!

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Things to remember...

• Never give your personal opinion

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Things to remember...

• Always convey to media that you are trying to
  help them

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Things to remember...

• Reporters generally dont write the headlines.
• Grabbers get attention
• Content of article is reporters focus

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Things to remember...

• Be careful of gestures and body language

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Things to remember...

• Avoid the appearance of a cover up

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Things to remember...

• Remember chain of command.

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Things to remember...

• You Are Always ON
• Assume all calls from reporters are taped
• Dont feel obligated to respond immediately
• Fulfill your commitments

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Things to remember...

• Be careful of facial expressions and humor

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Things to remember...

• Ask for clarification if you dont understand the
  question.

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Things to remember...

• Short and sweet.
• But avoid Yes/No
• Danger in rambling!

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Things to remember...

• Be accurate
• If you dont know - say so.

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Things to remember...

• Only speak to your own experiences, tasks, what
  you just did...

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Things to remember...

• Dont volunteer negative information or opinions.

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Things to remember...

• Dont use phrases or words that will offend
  anyone.
• Be PC!

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Things to remember...

• Use analogies, anecdotes, to help people
  understand.

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Things to remember...

• Use visualization.

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Things to remember...

• Be aware of surroundings. They want action but
  not NOISE.

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Things to remember...

• No OFF THE RECORD
• An open foe may prove a curse A pretended
  friend is worse.
• -Farmers Almanac

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Things to remember...

• You have the advantage
• You have the information!

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Things to remember...

• No smoking, sunglasses etc.

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Things to remember...

• No meaningless expressions (etc. so on and so
  forth)

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Things to remember...

• Remember youre always on camera/ record when
  reporters are around.

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Things to remember...

• Posture

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Things to remember...

• Sincere and enthusiastic

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Things to remember...

• Look at interviewer - NOT CAMERA

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Things to remember...

• Be careful of off-the-cuff comments. They could
  become part of a news story.

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Things to remember...

• Treat reporters with respect - theyll usually
  return the favor.

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Things to remember...

• Avoid using jargon / lingo. Use common words that
  everyone can understand.

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Things to remember...

• Dont be defensive or lose your cool.
• You may have the last word at the interview, but
  theyll have the last word in public.

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Things to remember...

• If you make a mistake, tell them and then correct
  it.

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Things to remember...

• Dont be led down the he said/she said road.

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Things to remember...

• Keep your sense of humor and perspective!

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Role Play Exercise
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Questions?