Ch 3: Planning Procedures

While no one can predict a crisis, every organization can and should identify its vulnerabilities. Preparations for a possible crisis should include forming a Crisis Communications Team (CCT) to implement the communications part of the response plan. These measures give an organization the best possible chance of engaging fellow responders, stakeholders and the public during any crisis quickly and effectively.

3.2 Create a Crisis Communications Team

An organization should designate a small group of people who have the authority to make and implement decisions and the training to act as spokespersons. The CCT should include senior-level representatives from:

• Senior leadership, including senior or deputy directors
• Corporate communications/public affairs
• Legal affairs
• Human resources
• Investor relations
• Government relations, community affairs
• Security and/or risk management
• Information technology
• Operations management

The team may also include consultants, used on an ongoing basis, for areas such as communications, legal affairs and security.

Finally, the CCT should have support staff to perform the following functions:

• Media queries/media log maintenance
• Media monitoring
• Research
• Editing/writing
• Website updates
• Equipping and maintaining a Crisis Center and press conference area

Crises that threaten an organization and/or a community are often of concern to many different stakeholders with diverse or even conflicting information needs. During the initial phase of a crisis information coming from on-scene personnel and the media is usually incomplete. Therefore, if information- gathering and communications response procedures are not already in place, confusion will impede the entire response process.

3.3 Crisis Communications

Team Leader An organization needs one point of contact to bulld a consensus on its communications strategy and to articulate its crisis response strategy. Additionally, the CCT needs someone to prepare, implement and evaluate a communications strategy or standard operations procedures. The CCT Leader usually manages these functions.

Role of a Crisis Communications Team Leader

During an incident, the CCT Leader must communicate with internal management while meeting the information needs of the public and key stakeholders. The CCT Leader is responsible for these core duties:

Internal

• Assembling the CCT
• Arranging strategy meetings or conference calls
• Briefing senior management on the CCT strategy and actions
• If necessary, briefing specific departments or the entire staff of an organization on the CCT strategy and actions
• Training staff on media relations: interviews, press conferences, press queries
• Informing the staff of ongoing developments and of changing organizational positions on an incident
• Tracking media and stakeholder responses to communications activity
• Evaluating the overall communications response to an incident
• Coordinating third-party spokespeople

External

• Fostering relationships with the media before during and after an event
• Representing the organization to the public, the press and key stakeholders
• Serving as the main point of contact for external queries, especially from the media
• Acting as the primary spokespersons
• Sourcing all handout material, such as background video, fact sheets, talking points, staff biographies and so on

In government agencies, the CCT Leader is often the Public Information Officer (PIO) or Public Affairs Officer (PAO). In private organizations, the CCT Leader is often the Public Relations (PR) manager or a corporate communications manager or another communications staff member. Many organizations, however, do not have a dedicated staff member due to budget or staff limitations or a perceived lack of need.

In the public sector, the spokesperson may be a volunteer or assigned to the job. Either way, the person should have a desire to be in that position. Before selecting an individual to fill the role, an organization should identify internal needs and priorities:

• What are the organization’s communications objectives?
• Does the communications strategy require a full- or part-time commitment?
• How large is the media market surrounding the organization, and will it require a large or a small communications staff?
• How much will the CCT staff requirements increase during a crisis?

Characteristics of a Crisis Communications Team Leader

The following skill set represents the qualities of an effective CCT Leader:

Internal management

• Possesses thorough working knowledge of the organization and sector/industry
• Has credibility within the organization, and will not hesitate to tell leaders what to say publicly during a Crisis
• Understands hat enior officials act as spokespersons for milestone events only. (Senior officials should be close to the response effort as much as possible,)
• Understands senior management goals to increase the organization’s effectiveness through public understanding and support
• Listens closely
• Quick to follow-up on queries
• Possesses or can manage a staff with multilingual capabilities

External relations

• Speaks to the public and on camera comfortably and with aplomb regarding routine’ crisis issues:
• Media ground rules, briefing schedules
• Information verification eeno
• Basic n incident response and mrecovery questions: who, what, where, when, why
• Establishment of toll-free numbers for further information and/or feedback
• Fits the organization’s desired image
• Writes and edits clearly and quickly
• Understands how the media operate, including their access and technology needs
• Knows how to build relationships with reporters, editors and producers
• Listens closely
• Quick to follow-up on queries
• Well groomed, professional appearance

Overall, a CCT Leader must be able to multitask operationally and also to balance the internal and external demands for information. If he or she does not understand the nature of internal management and operations, the CCT Leader will not be a credible representative of the organization.

Within an organization, it may be hard to find someone with all these characteristics who is not already fulfilling the communications role. Many of the skills, however, can be acquired through training. Some training may come through public speaking, media relations or journalism courses. Learning about all of the areas of operations can also provide a good deal of training.

Overall, the CCT Leader must be able to promote a consistent message, exhibit empathy, answer questions knowledgeably and honestly and follow- through after an incident.

3.4 Communications planning procedures

The Team Leader, in coordination with the CCT, should create policies and procedures that give clear guidelines for communicating with the press and key stakeholders. In doing so, all staff should operate from the same set of information during a crisis in order to convey a consistent message. Outline these policies in an internal document and include input from legal and other departments to ensure compliance with appropriate laws, regulations and the crisis response policies.

Communications policies and procedures should:

• State the goals and the objectives of the media policy
• Demonstrate the organization’s highest authority approved the policy
• Identify the responsibilities of the CCT within the organization and its overall crisis response structure
• Provide all contact details for the CCT: work/home/ cell/fax phone numbers and e-mail addresses
• List the steps mandated when a crisis occurs or when members of the press or key stakeholders approach the organization. Write and distribute a script for dealing with these questions
• The CCT implementation of the communications component of the crisis response plan involves seven steps:

1. 1. Activate the CCT
   2. Gather and verify information
   3. Assess the gravity of the crisis
   4. Identify key stakeholders
   5. Implement a communications strategy
   6. Develop external materials
   7. Inform partners, stakeholders and media

See the following chapters for guidance on each component of the seven-step response plan:

• Chapter 5: Gathering and Verifying Information
• Chapter 6: Messages and Strategy
• Chapter 7: Engaging Key Stakeholders
• Chapter 8: Working with the Media

The CCT should craft a cover memorandum to these policies explaining the organization’s vision for an effective communications plan. The head of the organization and the CCT should sign this memo to reinforce senior-level commitment t crisis communications preparedness. See the following example letter.

MEMORANDUM

TO: All employees

FROM: Highest ranking staff member and CCT

RE: Media Policy

[Organization name] is committed to sharing its assurances of [customer, public] service through [state organization’s mission].

In the event we confront an emergency, [CCT leader] will manage our Crisis Communications Team, including [list team names]. Using the attached procedures they have created; we will have preparations in place to provide timely information as a part of our larger crisis management process.

At all times, employees and management should refer reporters to the CCT for any information they may need. This will ensure that our organization communicates clearly, while avoiding potentially inaccurate or conflicting reports. Employees should only participate in media interviews with authorization from [CCT Leader].

If reporters approach you directly, your response should be:

“Thank you for your interest in our organization but our policy is to have [name of CCT department] respond to all media inquiries. Please give me your name and number and I will have someone return your call, or you may contact our communications staff directly at [phone number].

If you have any questions on our communications policy, feel free to contact [CCT Leader, contact information].

While existing and new employees should be initially briefed and trained on the organization’s media policy the policy must be re-issued:

• In a crisis situation
• During heightened alert
• At the beginning of a particular weather cycle, such as hurricane, winter storm or monsoon seasons
• When staff are promoted

During an incident, distribute a summary document of the policies and procedures to ensure that more employees read the document and understand why they are being told to review the policies

Approval process to release information

An established process for timely review and approval of all external materials and statements is critical to a successful communications response. The media may call before the organization even knows about the crisis, or may arrive at the incident scene before a communications staff member. Therefore, maintain a robust review and approval process to ensure that the organization can provide information to the media as quickly as possible. The communications plan must assign a specific amount of authority to the spokesperson that will first speak to the media. If that person is able to release confirmed basic data, the media will be less likely to try to find alternative sources of information.

The CDC, US Coast Guard and US Air Force have public information clearance procedures to consider including:

• If the organization has not yet developed an answer to an apparently urgent question, explain to the media and public that information is forthcoming
• Have three members of the CCT review every document before its release:
  • A person responsible for the organization’s reputation, typically the CCT Leader
  • A person directly responsible for the information being cleared
  • A person with subject-matter expertise on any technical information within the document
• Designate backup personnel for each function
• Clear documents in person, simultaneously and in private with the designated review team. If that is not possible, the CCT Leader must coordinate with those team members to ensure document clearance is as rapid and private as possible.
• As a part of the clearance ‘test:
  • Focus on any areas still in question and avoid speculation
  • Verify that the compiled information answers media/public/stakeholder questions and also covers points on which questions are anticipated
  • Integrate key messages into the document for release (See Chapter 6: Messages and Strategy for guidance on creating key messages)
  • Ensure that each review member is comfortable with the possibility that any part of the text could appear as a headline in the media
• Establish a timetable for clearance of information, distinguishing between ‘must-know and less urgent o ‘nice-to-know’ information Remember, it is better to release partial information with the caveat that more is forthcoming than to release none at all.
• Create pre-cleared key messages during the planning process to expedite the clearing process. If the organization knows that it may have to deal with losses of life or property, carefully craft possible response language beforehand. Tailor these to the specific circumstances of an incident before release.
• Determine what is non-releasable, to ensure the protection of the following information and liability of the organization:

General

• Classified material
• Details of law enforcement response
• Matters under investigation, apart from judicial proceedings
• Specific information covered by statute (such as certain financial records)
• Personal data of victims, family members employees, service officials including: names, age, residence, health history/status
• Identity of victims before family members have been informed
• Identity of children involved

Operations

• Internal discussion documents: memoranda, oisr e-mails, meeting summaries
• Response measures: evacuation procedures threat response policy
• Human resources: employee training background checks
• Information technology: disaster recovery plan, mitigation and recovery procedures
• Vulnerability assessments: checklists of areas assessed, identified deficiencies, mitigation of those deficiencies
• Company/sector statistics: numbers of people, goods, data and/or services managed processed, produced, tracked and so on

Financial

• Proprietary or confidential business information
• Financial projections: these may create unrealistic earnings expectations. Instead present general s information about the organizations state of operations: customers performance, past relevant experiences
• Unconfirmed product availability: financial analysts make predictions partly based on new product lines and there is a risk to breaking a delivery promise
• Large-scale customer relationships: negative press on a corporate relationship can increase tensions and/or depress the stock value of one or both companies
• Potential partnerships: comments may affect the other parties, especially during discussions on mergers or acquisitions
• Status of research and development capabilities: revealing internal strategies will raise performance expectations and give ideas to competitors

In general, do not release this information, since liability suits may result – especially if the organization cannot confirm a claimed standard of care for operations. Only use this information with the media and key stakeholders when it is clearly appropriate. For example, if a company’s operations statistics show its safety record to be high compared to the industry average, then this information may be helpful in establishing credibility.

Joint operations

• If the organization partners with other entities on an ongoing basis or as a part of its crisis response, designate a chain of command for the release of information
• Designate different levels and types of response as well as release schedules for each
• Document, distribute and update the procedures as agreed
• Conduct exercises to test cooperative structure and ensure seamless cooperation in the event of an incident

See section 3.7 Creating relationships with potential communications partners for more information on coordinating joint operations

Overall, pre-clearing what is releasable information will facilitate efficient crisis communications, especially during the initial phase of an incident. For quick reference, see section 10.1.4 Information release clearance and parameters.

3.5 Media policy for employees

Staff training

The CCT Leader and members should attend media training seminars to hone writing and speaking skills throughout the year. Budget permitting, CCT members and potential operational spokespeople should practice delivering statements and answering questions on camera and review their performance. Doing so will allow spokespeople to know and improve on how they appear to the public.

Keep in mind that the CCT Leader or members will not always be the only people in an organization speaking to the media. When an organization announces a major new policy, for example, the head of the organization not a CCT member, should be the speaker.

When information to be passed on to the media includes technical details about an organization’s operations, staff with operational expertise may need to assist the CCT Leader in communicating this information. In some cases, operational staff may have to communicate with the media directly. Communicating technical information in a widely understandable format during a crisis can be challenging. The media’s time and space constraints severely limit the level of specificity, even when details are essential to the organization’s communications response.

Understanding and adapting to media constraints beforehand can make the difference between a successful communications response and a failed one. See Chapter 2: Pre-incident Media Relations for a detailed look at how the media respond to a crisis and what constraints they face.

There will also be times when people who experienced a crisis first-hand should speak to the press. Someone who saved a life, found a lost child or led a successful mission will often tell the story the best. The media want to hear from these people, because they add human interest to the coverage. It is therefore imperative to train all staff in media relations. This includes conducting practice interviews and press conferences.