Having such a plan is crucial to managing crises because it is easy for mistakes or omissions to occur in response when control over communication is lost and panic sets in. A crisis plan serves as a guide on what to provide and treat in an escalated situation.
What does a communication crisis plan contain?
Guidelines for convening a crisis team
Contact list
Information gathering
Division of responsibilities
Identification of contact person(s) for the public, media, etc.
Guidelines for managing internal communications
Pre-prepared scenarios and responses
Templates for press releases, responses and statements
Media monitoring
Guidelines for debriefing
Now let's go through it point by point.
Crisis team
The top management of the organization must be part of the crisis team because they are the ones who are responsible for the organization and make key decisions. The composition of the crisis team is determined by the scope of the crisis and the structure of the organization, which determines who in management should be involved.
The person with the most information about the situation is responsible for writing up or otherwise communicating all input about the crisis to all parties involved. This team member also updates the documentation as the situation evolves.
The subject matter expert is the person who best understands the issues related to the crisis. For example, this may be a finance manager, a lawyer, a project manager, an HR or other specialist. This expert works together to address the crisis and to formulate communication outputs.
A spokesperson is a colleague from the communications team who becomes a contact for the media and the public. He or she will be the only person to comment on the situation, ensuring consistency in our communications and avoiding the complication of someone speaking for the organization without all the necessary information.
The communications team are the professionals who take action, formulate and prepare communication outputs and monitor the situation.
Contact sheet
A contact list is a list of all relevant colleagues for a given situation, including their job titles, phone numbers, email addresses and information on where and when they can be reached. Above all, this list is practical and saves time, especially when time is short. It makes it easier to navigate for those who are being brought into the team gradually.
It is advisable to have the team clearly set out the platform on which the crisis team is convened. Typically, if a crisis happens during days off work, many colleagues may have their company communication channels turned off and will not be there to be reached. It is therefore advisable to agree where the whole team will be accessible in the event of a crisis - for example, apps such as Signal are often used.
Information gathering
At the very beginning of a crisis, it is essential to prepare a document describing everything that is known about the crisis. This document needs to be constantly updated as the situation evolves.
The document ensures that all team members have complete and consistent information. In moments of panic, everyone cannot be relied upon to pass on all the information and proactively seek it out.
In addition, this document saves time and makes it easier to navigate for those who are added to the team gradually.
The document will contain a description of the entire development of the crisis and can then be used as a basis for debriefing, i.e. an assessment of the management of the crisis. It can also be used to prepare for any future crises that may come up in the future.
Division of responsibilities
As we have mentioned several times, confusion and panic often reign in a crisis, which can lead to important issues being overlooked. Therefore, it is more than advisable to have clear responsibilities for individual team members in advance.
For example:
Who convenes the crisis team.
Who manages the information document.
Who communicates with the public.
Who informs the staff.
Who prepares press releases.
Who plans meetings.
This avoids duplication of effort, where two or more people on a team are dedicated to the same task and wasting time.
Designate a Spokesperson and Contact Person(s)
In the event of a major crisis, it is easy to find yourself overwhelmed with questions and messages from members of the public, journalists, donors, supporters and clients. In order to successfully manage the situation, it is advisable to identify one specific person to centralize communications. Alternatively, you can designate several people to work together and provide the same information in a consistent manner.
This contact should be the only one listed on the website and other public platforms. In addition to ensuring consistency of communication, this approach also saves management time so they can focus fully on resolving the crisis instead of fielding questions.
Guidelines for managing internal communications
Sooner or later, information about the crisis will reach the organization's employees, who may react in different ways - for example, they may comment in the media or on social media, or they may rebel and demand an explanation. Either way, they will be unsettled and will rightly feel entitled to information because they are part of the organization.
It is therefore extremely important to inform employees of the crisis in a timely and appropriate manner. Explain what has happened, how the organization is trying to resolve the crisis and what it means for them.
The guidelines should specify the appropriate channel for communication and the person responsible for internal communication. It is generally advisable to inform employees sooner rather than later, as a situation where they learn about what is happening in the organization through external channels is inappropriate and leads to assumptions and unrest.
Pre-prepared scenarios and answers
We now come to the most comprehensive part of the crisis communication plan, which deals with the creation of communication outputs in response to a crisis.
The good news is that a large number of potential crises can be prepared for in advance and their impact minimized. A good form of preparation is the development of scenarios of the occurrence and course of expected crises.
Individual scenarios are developed on the basis of risk identification. Risks are best described by senior staff in the organization who have organizational memory and experience in dealing with crises.
In developing scenarios, we progress from the more likely to the less likely but more severe. For example, we brainstorm together to identify risks and start preparing responses to the selected ones.
We prepare templates of possible responses and answers to the questions we expect. We will have these responses approved and stored in a shared place where they will be clearly available. The scripts must be added to and updated regularly, for example before the launch of any major campaign that will attract media attention.
The most common looming communications crisis for nonprofits are:
Accusations of inefficient use of resources
Accusations of corruption
Questioning expertise
Doubts about funding transparency
Disinformation narratives (e.g. the George Soros connection 😊)
These threats can significantly affect an organization's credibility and its ability to fulfil its mission. It is important to be prepared for these situations and have strategies to respond effectively.
FAQs or answers for questions from the public (especially on social media)
FAQs is a document with pre-made answers to the most frequently asked questions on social media. It serves for colleagues who work in direct contact with the public, such as social media managers and call center managers or workers.
An estimated 95% of questions from the public are constantly repeated, and an experienced community manager or manager can easily identify them. Having answers prepared in advance saves time and contributes to the peace of mind of communication colleagues. These answers are crafted calmly, without emotion, and are factually correct, discussed and approved. They can be virtually copied and used with minor modifications for most comments.
Ideally, this is a living document that is continually revised. Nowadays, we are also starting to see artificial intelligence tools that will soon be able to independently respond to comments based on the information they have entered. They can already detect and hide most inappropriate comments, and with the rapid development of AI, the time is approaching when they will provide complete community management.
Media monitoring
The use of media monitoring software to monitor and report on all mentions of an organization is now a standard tool used by almost all organizations. There are a number of programs on the market that can monitor mentions in online and print media and on TV. Some of them also offer the possibility to monitor social media mentions.
Thanks to these programs, an emerging communication crisis can be caught early. During a crisis, it is advisable to monitor the outputs of the monitoring at regular intervals or directly in real time and collect these outputs.
This will help us track the extent of the crisis and the evolution of the narratives, which is crucial for successful crisis management. It is therefore necessary to identify a person in the team who will systematically address this.
Here is a list of global media monitoring tools:
SentiOne - A tool that monitors brand mentions on social networks and in the media. Uses advanced algorithms to analyze sentiment and trends.
Brandwatch - A global tool that provides in-depth social media analytics and mention monitoring. It is suitable for large organizations looking for detailed reports and analysis.
Hootsuite - A popular social media management platform that also offers real-time social media mention monitoring and performance analysis, offered to NGOs with discount by the TechSoup programme.
Sprout Social - Offers social media monitoring, data analytics and engagement tools suitable for improving communications and marketing strategies.
Gorkana - Focuses on media monitoring including TV and radio stations, print media and social media. Also provides integrated analytics and reports.
ReputationUP - A tool that combines Big Data and AI to track brand mentions on the web and social media. It offers advanced sentiment analysis and reputation management capabilities.
Mention - Tracks brand mentions on social media, blogs and websites in real-time. Offers user-friendly reports and analytics.
Meltwater - A global media and social media monitoring tool that provides comprehensive real-time reports on mentions and sentiment.
Debriefing and lessons for the future
Once the communication crisis is over, the team may feel relieved and eager to put the crisis behind them and get back to business as usual as quickly as possible. In practice, however, we strongly recommend taking the time to revisit the crisis together, evaluate the process and use the experience to prepare for future crises.
Debriefing also serves to calm and resolve any heated emotions that may have arisen among colleagues during the crisis and to nurture those who were under the most stress and strain. If a really challenging situation has arisen, it is recommended to use an external expert (e.g. supervision) to moderate and guide the follow-up feedback meetings or to provide individual care and help team members cope with the situation.
The times are more favorable to crises
In conclusion, we would like to assure you that no one can avoid communication crises altogether. Nowadays, especially on social media, everyone has a voice, and algorithms are set up to spread messages that evoke emotions and demand a response. But things are almost never as bad as they seem. The job of the communications team is to manage the situation and not let emotions from outside or inside the organization pull them into ill-considered reactions. With each crisis you overcome, you gain valuable experience and each new crisis is easier to handle.
Author: Adriana Černá
Background illustration by: vegefox.com
This piece was published in partnership with VIA Association
