In the event that any of these happen, are you ready to respond? A recent survey of International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) members conducted in collaboration with the IABC Research Foundation revealed that there is a one-in-three chance you are not.
As Robert Holland and Katrina Gill reported in Communication World, 30 percent of the respondents had no formal crisis-communication plan in place before a natural disaster or organizational crisis strikes. About 50 percent of those who were caught unprepared had to quickly put out a rushed plan to avert the escalation of the unwelcome situation. Conversely, those communicators who did have crisis response plans (CRP) used them, and 99 percent of respondents who used their plans found them to be effective in helping their companies manage and counter the crises.
More than 600 IABC members responded to the December 2005 survey, after a year of damaging hurricanes in the United States, recovery from the disastrous tsunami in Southeast Asia, outbreaks of infectious diseases such as the avian flu in Asia, terrorist actions, and continuing corporate scandals, labor disputes and industry upheavals around the world. This year, earthquakes, floods, terrorism and war continue to plague many parts of the world. Indeed, the survey came at a time when countries and organizations have to measure the extent to which they have developed and used crisis-response planning and communication, and whether this process is worth the time and investment to create.
Forty-eight percent of respondents were from the US, which experienced a number of hurricanes, Katrina being the most prominent, which not only took lives and destroyed properties in the south and southeast states, but also damaged the US’s reputation in crisis preparedness. Echo Research’s study of six global markets disclosed that 84 percent of international press coverage and comment in the two weeks following the devastation was negative.
The IABC study presented a lot of findings from organizations around the world from which to get guidance, specifically on the US’s handling of events following Hurricane Katrina, and the way various organizations prepared for and implemented their CRP. The survey divulged that 53 percent put their CRP in action, while 47 percent fully implemented them. Of those who partially implemented, "communication with employees" was the most commonly implemented component (95 percent), followed by "coordination with other departments or units to determine appropriate communication responses" at 93 percent, and "use of existing vehicles to communicate with various audiences" at 91 percent.
Corporate communicators with CRPs overwhelmingly believe the plans helped their organizations manage and respond to crises; 66 percent cited the plans as "very effective" and 33 percent felt they were "somewhat effective." The results add further evidence of two trends: Communicators today are approaching their work with more business discipline, and internal communication is increasingly viewed as an important business function. Communicators who seek a more strategic role in their companies often find it difficult to link their work with critical business functions. Organizational crises – not just natural calamities but also leadership transitions and sudden market changes – provide opportunities for communicators to demonstrate their skills in planning as well as tactical execution.
Unfortunately, not every organization learns from crises. Of those with no CRP in place, only 46 percent are starting to develop their plans, and 42 percent are taking no action. Fifty-four percent who work in organizations without a CRP said it is because senior management there does not consider it a priority. Eighty-one percent, however, said their senior management does recognize the need for a CRP, and 65 percent believe their top management provides the resources necessary to develop and sustain a plan.
The study also shared good news about the integration of CRP into organizations’ overall crisis response and business resumption plans: 87 percent said the CRP is integrated into the overall plan. Organizations that did not have a CRP for the business have no plans to create one, even after experiencing a crisis (77 percent). Fifty percent of communicators whose organizations had CRPs said they participated in a practice exercise of the plan; 93 percent said the practice adequately prepared them for actual implementation. Whether or not they practiced, communicators who responded to the investigation feel their organizations are well prepared to implement a CRP (67 percent). And if a crisis occurred tomorrow, 80 percent said they believe implementation of CRPs would help limit the overall negative impact on their business.
In Dan Millar and Larry Smith’s Crisis Management and Communication, an 11-step process can be considered to start a CRP:
• A clear, focused message from top management
• Overview of crisis scenarios
• CRP team composition, duties and chain of command
• Employee responsibilities
• Designated spokesperson (a very critical element) and information disclosure guidelines
• Information verification and approval procedures
• Approved background information, video, and photos
• Letters of agreement for securing needed people and services
• Detailed checklists
• Documentation forms and procedures
• Procedures for debriefing: learning from the crisis
Crisis is no fun, but it can be prevented from happening. But if it is not prevented from happening, it can, at the very least, be controlled from getting bigger. As Annie Clerc de Marco, founder of Antaria, a high-risk situation management and communication group in France emphasized, "Crises are not accidents. They are extremely and slowly developing pathologies that can be diagnosed. They are therefore completely foreseeable and avoidable."
Will the world witness many more tragedies and large-scale crises in the remaining months of 2006? Will the Philippines (heaven forbid!) be in the eye of disaster? They are grim questions indeed, but they are questions that you need to ask. There is no way to see what the future holds. But there is a process for readiness that organizations and nations can follow in case catastrophes occur.
"A business resumption plan should be de rigueur for most organizations – and a CRP plan should be an integral part of it," stressed Holland and Gill.