Week 12/2 - 12/4

Crisis Preparation

Diagnosing Crisis Vulnerabilities
- Every org will have specific crisis vulnerabilities -- org's industry, size, location, operations, personnel, and risk factors
- Assessed using a combination of likelihood of occurrence and severity of damage dimensions
- Rate each crisis from 1 to 10
- Likelihood = odds that the crisis may happen
- Impact = amount of damage a crisis can inflict an organization
- Likelihood x Impact = vulnerability score
- The higher the score, the greater the potential

Crisis Types
- accidents, activist actions, boycotts, earthquakes, explosions, chemical leaks, rumors, deaths, fire, lawsuits, sexual harassment, product recalls, strikes, terrorism, etc
- different crises require different actions plans
- Typologies: natural disasters, malevolence, technical breakdowns, human breakdowns, challenges, mega-damage, organizational misdeeds, workplace violence, rumors
- cannot create plan for each potential crisis but can create plan for each crisis TYPE

Crisis Management Teams (CMT)
- cross-functional group of people in the organization who have been designated to handle any crises
1) responsible for creating the CMP, enacting the CMP, and dealing with any problems not covered in the CMP
2) enact the CMP during the simulated or real crises -- CMPs must be tested to see if they work
3) must deal with factors not covered in the CMP

Task Analysis
- group decision making, functioning as a team, enacting the CMP, and listening
- need these skills in addition to media relations, organization, ability to act quickly, area specific skills,  etc

Application for Training
- must do an individual-level assessment for knowledge, skills, and traits to find out strengths and weaknesses as well as progress in acquiring skills and knowledge

Spokesperson
- voice of the organization during the crisis
- primary responsibility is to manage the accuracy and consistency of the messages coming from the organization
- should have a few selected
- must be able to work with the media and media training
- answer questions effectively, be pleasant on camera, stay calm, never say "no comment", never argue with reporters, present crisis information clearly
- recognizing difficult questions is easy but answering them can be hard
- ways to answer them: 1) choose which part of the question to respond to, 2) address all parts of the question
- number each part and answer each part

Crisis Management Plan (CMP)
1. Cover page
2. Introduction - typically written by the CEO
3. Acknowledgments
4. Rehearsal dates
5. CMT
6. CMT contact sheet
7. Crisis risk assessment
8. Incident report
9. Proprietary information
10. CMT strategy worksheet
11. Secondary contact sheet
12. Stakeholder contact worksheet
13. Business resumption plan
14. Crisis control center
15. Postcrisis evaluation
- Must adapt CMP to match precise crises
- CMP is a living document that can be changed and updated regularly