Crisis Communication

Crisis communication is like the Indian parable about the blindfolded men trying to describe an elephant. Each man describes only the part he feels, which results in very different descriptions of the animal. Crisis communication is used in a variety of ways in crisis management. Depending what article or book is read, a person can discover very different uses of the term. Broadly, crisis communication is the collection and dissemination of information by the crisis management team. There are two general uses of the term crisis communication: (1) crisis communication as information and (2) crisis communication as strategy. Crisis communication as information refers to the need to collect and disseminate information during a crisis. The information is collected to fill the information void of a crisis and thereby allow the crisis management team to understand what is happening and what actions they need to take. Decisions in a crisis require accurate information if they are to be effective. Crisis communication as strategy refers to the use of messages to repair relationships with stakeholders. What an organization says and does after a crisis, crisis response strategies, affects its relationships with stakeholders. Thus, the crisis manager must carefully construct postcrisis response strategies. Crisis communication is a factor throughout the four stages of a crisis: prevention, preparation, response, and learning. (Refer to the entry “Crisis and crisis management” for a complete discussion of the crisis stages.) The crisis stages serve as a useful framework for reviewing the finer points of crisis communication.

The prevention stage involves identifying possible crisis risks and trying to reduce or eliminate those risks. Effective crisis managers are constantly collecting information about and assessing information about the crisis threats the organization faces. The crisis manager becomes the center of a crisis-sensing web. All information about crisis risks is directed to the crisis manager. For instance, the crisis manager would review safety data, environmental compliance, worker complaints, customer complaints, and other information related to crisis risks. Collecting crisis risk information is crisis communication. The crisis manager is receiving messages from other units in the organization. Collecting crisis risk information allows the crisis manager to determine what areas need further mitigation efforts and to monitor the success or failure of previous mitigation efforts. Safety data can be used to illustrate the point. If several similar, small chemical spills are occurring, this is a warning that a large spill could occur. The crisis manager identifies a risk that should be reduced. To mitigate the risk, employees could be given refresher courses in proper chemical handling and new incentives provided for reducing [Page 222]spills. Collecting follow-up information would indicate whether the new safety program was actually working to reduce chemical spills.

The preparation stage centers on the crisis management plan and the crisis management team. The crisis management plan has sections devoted to crisis communication as information. The crisis management plan will have complete contact information for the crisis management team near the front of the document. The crisis management plan also contains contact information for people or groups who might have information that the team might need during the crisis. Finally, the crisis team has been preassigned tasks for the crisis. The team members know whom they should be communicating with during a crisis. The crisis team must learn how to communicate with one another during the crisis. Crisis drills will indicate if there are problems with team members such as a team member not communicating or being overwhelmed by the experience. Team members not communicating effectively with one another erode the ability of the team to succeed.

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