Crisis Communications Principles

Almost every organization—large and small, for-profit, public, or non-profit—are likely to encounter a crisis at some point.

Some crises are large and obvious, such as health risks, security risks, environmental risks. Others may not seem like "crises" but really are because they impact an organization's reputation, brand or perception in its community. However it appears, one thing is certain: the effects of a crisis on your organization are worse if you aren't prepared for them. One major piece of crisis planning is your communication strategy.

Every organization should learn the basic principles for managing crisis communications…how to work with media, with customers, with response agencies and most importantly with its own employees.

The key principles of effective crisis communications are:

• Be first…to communicate the situation
• Be right…be accurate and truthful in communicating what you know about the situation
• Be credible…don’t obfuscate, mislead, or engage in denial
• Express empathy…say you genuinely feel for the affected
• Promote actions…this is what we are doing now and hope to do as we go forward
• Show respect…to those affected and to those who are working on the situation

These principles – combined with compassion, conviction, and optimism – are the bulwark of any good crisis communications strategy.

You may not be the public affairs office of your organization. But you never know when circumstances may thrust you into a position of needing to manage a crisis.