Crises can occur at any time and to any individual or organization. If you’re a celebrity, politician, corporation, or association you should identify and assess the risks of various potential crises, and prepare a plan to successfully navigate when a crisis does occur. Below, I list a variety of vital steps to take when a crisis hits. And just a quick reminder: in the midst of a crisis, you won’t have time to put the infrastructure in place to take these steps so make sure you plan for these ahead of time.
- Issue a quick, consistent, and open initial media statement
- Conduct internal investigations and express support for external investigations
- Express condolences and apologize to victims where appropriate
- Anticipate and answer questions from the news media
- Respond to Social Media
- Plan to provide compensation, counseling, or some other plan to support victims
- Sever ties with internal and external actors responsible for creating or escalating the crisis where appropriate (though their record is worth considering eg PWC wasn’t fired despite their 2017 Oscars blonder because they had a stellar history with the Academy)
- Select empathetic, media-trained spokespersons
- Develop and present a plan for preventing future incidents (eg customer bill of rights, employee training etc.)
CONTROL, by Fiayo. 