Never “No Comment”

May 20th, 2008 at 01:18pm Kylie Crull

A favorable corporate reputation that may have taken years to establish can be destroyed in moments during a poorly handled crisis. While crises are not always preventable, with a strategic crisis management plan, your company can make the right moves to minimize the damage. The first step in building your plan is to be proactive and identify issues within your company that could potentially become a crisis. If you can identify the conflict at an early stage, you have a better chance of reducing the damage it may cause.

Have a designated spokesperson should a conflict arise. This doesn’t always have to be the PR person. Make sure internal personnel know what to do during a crisis and establish “who needs to know what, when?” within the company. During a crisis be reactive and respond to all media inquiries and provide updates on a regular basis. Hiding and ignoring the crisis won’t make it go away.

In your messaging, identify the problem, communicate your actions and develop a solution to the crisis. Of course, the last step in crisis management is recovery. Systematically assess the damage and begin to repair your reputation and credibility. Remember to keep your crisis plan current by updating it every 2-3 years.

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