Week 2: Handling Crisis Communication

Question 1

List of crisis events. (Pick 4 to be safe)

Answer 1

• environmental accidents
• products failures involving large # of units
• products failures involving customer failures
• hostage/hijacking
• terrorist/sabotage
• major litigation
• severely negative media coverage
• abrupt or controversial changes in senior management
• bankruptcy filing or severe reversals

Question 2

5 People in the crisis-communications team are:

Answer 2

• external advisors
• internal advisors
• issues advisors
• legal advisors
• constituency managers

Question 3

How to handle crisis communications. (10 steps)

Answer 3

• anticipate/define before it happens
• plan strategies
• maintain contact with media
• have internal/external advisors as part of your team
• decide in advance who should be informed + order
• Don’t be afraid to call it a crisis
• Plan symbolic-communication strategies
• Plan your senior executives visible
• Talk to your employees early + often
• Say crisis is over when it is