It is very interesting to study how the organizations, and also the public, react when things go wrong and the media start to spread the news. In this situation the trust of the public – the ultimate goal in strategic communication– is at stake.

As a scholar and strategic communication researcher, crises are, as I said, fascinating. Still, for practitioners they are the worst possible scenario. During a crisis, the communication staff needs to do overtime in the most stressful conditions.

What is a crisis?

To define what is a crisis and to analyze the different phases a crisis goes through, I will follow the book by Steven Fink:

“Crisis Management. Planning for the inevitable”

This book is, without doubt, the most interesting and influential approach to crisis management.

In this link you can find very cheap copies of this book, in case you want to start building your own library.

Fink defines crises as follows:

“Crises are forewarning situations that run the risk of escalating in intensity, falling under close media or government scrutiny, interfering with normal operations, jeopardizing organizational image and damaging a company’s bottom line.”

There are some important elements that need to be discussed in Fink’s definition of crisis.

“Media or government scrutiny”: Even more dramatic and dangerous than the government is the media scrutiny. Actually, a crisis only exists if the case is in the news. The toughest part of the crisis is when everybody is reading or listening to negative information about the organization.

“Damaging a company’s bottom line”: The negative media coverage “jeopardizes the image of the organization” and can destroy its “bottom line”. What does “bottom line” means in this context? When Fink talks about the bottom line of one organization, he is referring to the factor the success or failure of a company depends on: the trust of the organization. We have already mentioned that the most important strategic communication goal is to build and maintain the trust in your organization. Without public trust, no profit or non-profit organization can thrive.

Anatomy of a crisis

Steven Fink compares a crisis with an illness.

When you are sick, sometimes, you only need 24 hours to recover, and then you are fit again. Sometimes the illness can long for days or even weeks.

The illness may become chronic too, an illness for life – or even it can kill you.

The same might happen with crises. There are short crises, long crises, crises with chronic results and crises that can destroy you, your company or your organization.

Fink differentiates 4 stages in the development of a crisis. There can be fewer stages, but no more. That means, not every crisis has to go through all four stages, but there cannot be more phases.

THE PRODROMAL STAGE

It’s quite possible that you have never the adjective “prodromal” before.

The term comes from the substantive “Prodrome”, which is used in the medical jargon to refer to the symptoms or warning signals of an illness.

So, the prodromal stage is when warning signals start to appear that would allow us to anticipate the crisis.

Fink also calls it the pre-crisis stage.

This Warning stage is, according to Fink, the most important moment in the development of the crisis. If we are able to detect the warning signals of the crisis, it would be easier to manage it.

Sometimes the prodromes are evident, but not action is taken. In other cases, prodromes may also be harder to recognize, or even impossible. But even in cases in which there is no warning signals (such as accidents, terrorist attacks, or natural catastrophes) it will always help to have a crisis plan.

THE ACUTE CRISIS STAGE

The acute crisis stage is described by Fink as the point of no return.

At this moment of the crisis development, some damage has been done to the organization. The work of the communication department will determine how much additional harm can occur.

Again, with proper advance planning you may be able to avoid the total destruction of the credibility of the organization.

But even with correct planning, this stage is the most difficult to manage, because it falls on you like an avalanche. News about the crisis is constantly appearing in different media outlets. And when you are trying to react to some of the news, the media will keep generating scandals about the crisis.

In this stage of the crisis, the priority is to control the flow of information. The communication staff needs to make sure that the organization becomes the most important source of information for the media, and thus, also for the public.

THE CHRONIC CRISIS STAGE

Fink defines this stage as “Clean Up phase” or “Post-Mortem phase”.

Of course, as I wrote, if something remained to be cleaned up, because the crisis may bring your company to the death – and yourself to a situation of unemployment!

The chronic crisis stage is the period of recovery, self-analysis, and self-critic.

It is the perfect time for further crisis management. You can analyze what went right and what went wrong, so that you crisis management plan will be more effective in the next crisis. (Be sure, there will always be a “next crisis”).

THE CRISIS RESOLUTION STAGE

The stage is the crisis management goal during the preceding three phases.

Now, the storm is gone – and the name of your company or organization is clean. The reputation was to a certain degree restored.

However, Fink points out that crises historically evolve in cyclical fashion. And one crisis may be the cause of the following crisis.

That is frequently the case because one crisis uncovers or reveals new aspects of your company that may also damage its reputation – or the people working for it.

Anticipating the crisis – Crisis Survey.

As I said, it is especially important to be well prepared before the crisis comes. You will find this statement in every crisis communication textbook.

Still, most of the organizations are not prepared for a crisis

Fink interviewed in his book a representative sample of chief executives in communication departments of the most important companies belonging to FORTUNE 500 (A magazine of American largest companies). The outcomes are very interesting:

89% of the top executives said a crisis in business is inevitable today.

50% said they do not have a crisis management plan.

42% of the companies that had a crisis in the past still do not have any plan. (Companies without a plan had an average duration of crises two and a half times longer than those who had plans).

97% felt confident they could respond well to a crisis. (what is contradictory and Logic defying).

70% have turned or would turn to outside help during a crisis. (Outside help means Law Firms, Media Consultants and, of course, Strategic Communication Firms).

As you see, the companies do not always contemplate the possibility of a crisis. They prefer to believe:

It cannot happen to me!

It cannot happen at this company!

Crisis Management (a brief introduction)

The first step in the design of a crisis management plan is the creation of a CRISIS MANAGAMENT TEAM.

The CENTRAL CORE of this team consists of:

The Chief Executive officer (CEO)

The Chief Internal Communicator (Head of communication department)

The Chief External Communicator (Head of your communication consulting firm)

Head of the legal department (you will always need a lawyer in time of crisis).

The first task of this central core is to designate the names of those who are going to be part of the team (so that you don’t have to loose time when the crisis comes). The different members also have to name replacements in the case that they cannot be reached if the crisis happens unexpectedly.

The Central Core provides the team with a list of possible crisis. They have to create plans to solve each and everyone of the hypothetical crisis.

Some companies hire consultants and psychologists to formulate crisis scenarios to see how the company performs.

(The US Department of Defense does this on a regular basis. The Pentagon calls it “War Games”).

The Crisis Team should elect a spokesperson and create a hot line.

As soon as you foresee the crisis you have to prepare answers for the public. There is a battery of question you will need to constantly have in mind.

These questions are:

How did this happen?

Why weren’t precautions taken to prevent this from happening?

What is being dome about it?

How is it dangerous and how dangerous is it?

What is the actual damage?

Will the victims recover?

When will the situation be under control?

When will the situation be under control?

Can it happen again?

These are the questions you will hear in the many press conferences that you will have to organize. Press conferences are vital in crises because they are the most immediate way to control the flow of information. And as I already wrote, this should be the priority in crisis management.