Crisis Communication
Easterseals Midwest Crisis Communications Plan Overview The Easterseals Midwest Crisis Communications Plan outlines the roles, responsibilities and protocols that structure the organization’s handling of a crisis. The plan will be administered by the [title/role]. For the purposes of this plan, a crisis is defined as a significant event that causes or has the potential to cause news coverage, public inquiries, and/or damage to the organization’s image, reputation, and stability. Though each incident will require a unique response, this plan provides roles and procedures for the coordination of external and internal communication.
Crisis Communications: Core Team Chief Executive Office [Default Primary Organizational Spokesperson] Executive Vice President of External Relations [Default Secondary Spokesperson] Vice President of Marketing and Communications [Default Tertiary Spokesperson] Board Chair or delegate Marketing and Communications Manager Senior staff member(s) from the division experiencing the crisis [possible spokesperson]
Regional and Expert Representatives* Division Experts / STL Vice President of Community Living Services Vice President of Autism Services and Early Childhood Vice President of Employment and Vice President of Community Living Springfield / Joplin Community Living Services Director Autism Services Director
Kansas City / St. Joseph Community Living Services Director Children’s Services Director Autism Services Director Vice President of Community Living Columbia Vice President of Autism Services and Early Childhood Autism Services Director Poplar Bluff / Cape Girardeau Autism Services Director *Staff members will receive media training in the event that they need to serve as spokespeople
Advisors Legal Lawyer Compliance and Quality VP Quality and Organizational Learning Director of Quality and Organizational Learning Finance and Operations Executive Vice President of Internal Relations Human Resources Vice President of Human Resources Law enforcement representatives may also be consulted. For contact information, please refer to Appendix A: Emergency Directory
Crisis Communications Policies The organization’s first priority is the safety of staff, individuals, and anyone else present at the crisis site. All staff should immediately report a issues to the public relations team. No information will be distributed until the Crisis Communications Core Team has met, developed a strategy, and assigned all necessary roles. Only designated spokespeople are allowed to speak to the media or the public regarding a crisis. Staff, board members, and even non-designated, media-trained leadership should refer inquiries to the Communications team and/or designated spokesperson. Please refer to Appendix B: Anticipated Crisis Situations
Response Objectives The Easterseals Midwest Crisis Communications plan seeks to quickly respond to crisis situations with accuracy and sensitivity, while safeguarding the Easterseals Midwest brand and reputation. Honesty and speed are the best tools for protecting the organization. At the same time, we realize that not all the details may be readily available rightaway. It is our goal to be accessible and open to all audiences, while also respecting any privacy and legal concerns that may arise.
I. Immediate Action The CEO and the Executive Vice President of External Relations will assess and verify the scope of the incident and determine whether or not it qualifies as a crisis situation. The CEO and Executive Vice President will also decide whether or not to inform the board, legislators, and major donors of the issue, and on what timeline that communication will take place. The Executive Vice President of External Relations will alert and gather members of the Crisis Communications Core team and brief them on the situation. The Executive Vice President will also relay any information regarding resolution of the crisis state (e.g., all staff and individuals evacuated). The Core Team will determine whether to bring in additional spokespeople from the designated regional and expert representatives list. The Core Team will also designate a spokesperson, secondary spokesperson, and expert representative (as needed).
The Core Team will develop the key messages and delivery channels used in all organization communication, both internal and external. Messaging may change as the situation develops, but all versions must be calm, confident, and true to the Easterseals brand. The Marketing and Communications Vice President, Director and Manager will brief all relevant staff and provide instructions for logging media inquiries, and a script for responding to families, individuals, and the public. Staff members who answer the phone, manage reception, or interact with the public in any direct way will have priority. The CEO, Executive Vice President, and Vice President of Marketing and Communications will determine the frequency of such internal/external updates, and decide whether additional actions (press conference, website message, etc) are necessary. If warranted, the Marketing and Communications team will develop answers to likely questions. Please refer to Appendix C: Crisis Meeting Agenda and Checklist, and Sample Messaging Work Sheet Appendix D - Media Prep: The Media’s 77 Most Frequently Asked Crisis Questions and Basic Media Training Overview (to serve as a refresher for media trained staff or for any unexpected situations) Appendix E: Crisis Comms Best Practices
II. Continued Action The CEO and Executive Vice President will track the situation and work with those involved (e.g. senior leadership, law enforcement, staff, etc) to resolve the crisis and relay timely updates to the Vice President of Marketing and Communications. The Vice President of Marketing and Communications will collect and distribute information to Marketing and Communications team members and colleagues as necessary. The Marketing and Communications Director and Manager will monitor all press, social media, and staff communication in order to quickly correct misinformation and provide the appropriate updates. The Marketing and Communications team will distribute and manage all communication with representatives, staff, the public, and the press as directed by the Executive Vice President and the CEO. The Core Team will jointly evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the enacted strategy and course-correct as necessary.
III. Post-Crisis Action The Marketing and Communications Vice President will provide a written report to senior leadershipanalyzing the organization’s post-crisis response report and estimated media impact, as well as outline a plan for addressing any brand issues. The Core Team will review the effectiveness of the crisis communication plan and make any necessary changes or additions. The Marketing and Communications team will handle all media follow ups and requests for information.
Appendix A: Potential Crisis Types Quality of Care Allegations Complaints regarding staff interactions with family members Extended outages (water, power) Diversity issues (lack of sensitivity to ethnic, racial, or cultural issues) Health/safety violations that endanger individuals, families, and staff Natural disasters (tornado, flood, earthquake) and weather-related incidents (ice, snow, and flooding) Criminal action (arson, armed intruder, terrorism, bomb or bomb threat) Violence committed on the organization’s property or involving its staff Missing individual under staff care Illegal/immoral acts committed by staff or volunteers Government investigation or allegation Allegations of financial fraud or mismanagement Layoffs, employee protests Serious or fatal accidents involving staff error Accidents or unlawful acts involving medications, medical waste or hazardous materials Chemical exposure/hazardous materials Child/abduction under staff care, and outside of staff care Staff member who is injured at the hands of a program participant
Appendix B: Crisis Meeting Worksheet, Checklist, and Sample Message Map Questions to help you assess the crisis and formulate messaging and action plans: #1. Communication Goal and Target Audiences Identify goal/desired outcome and key constituents. Who needs to be notified prior to public communication? (Internal, external). #2. Research What information is publicly known about the situation? What information is known internally but not yet made public? Who is affected by the situation? Is there the potential for the situation to worsen? Audience Characteristics Who needs to be notified of the situation? Identify key groups (Staff, families/ caretakers, the public, etc). How have these audiences been affected by the crisis? Action Planning Message construction Message urgency – how quickly does this message need to go out? (Minutes, hours, days). Message delivery channel(s) – decide which channel(s) you will use to deliver the message to different audiences. Communication Execute action plans Address feedback and course-correct as necessary (message construction and delivery).
Checklist (to be used before going public) Assess situation and verify known facts Determine key spokesperson(s) Prepare talking talking points points and and key key messaging messaging for for all all designated designated spokespeople spokespeople and and relevant relevant Prepare experts who may to speak to theorpress or important (legislators, who may speak the press important figures figures (legislators, donors,donors, etc). etc). Have all all crisis-related crisis-related social social media media content, content, press press releases, releases, and and website website updates updates ready ready to Have go live.live. to go Brief relevant relevant staff staff and and create create scripts scripts and and call call logs logs (priority (priority given given to to staff staff interacting interacting with Brief the withpublic). the public). Consult legal, legal, HR, HR, and and any/or any/or other other advisors advisors in in order order to to ensure ensure that that no no private, private, Consult protected, or secure information is compromised. Notify key key stakeholders stakeholders (additional (additional leadership, leadership, board, board, etc) etc) before before contacting contacting press press or or other Notify constituents. other constituents. Ensure that that when when you you speak speak to to the the press, press, you you are are able able to to accurately accurately present present some some Ensure action-oriented message – ie, “we have accounted for all missing staff and individuals, and and are are ensuring ensuring that thatthey theyreceive receivemedical medicalattention attentionand andhave haveaccess accessto tocrisis crisiscounselors.”
Sample Crisis Comms Message Map Crisis: Violent workplace incident between two staff Status: Past; not ongoing Crisis Level: Moderate Easterseals Midwest Communication Points Tone: Responsible, action-oriented, factual, transparent. Communicate the organization’s preparation for and response to the incident. Communicate the organization’s immediate handling and investigation of the incident. Communicate the organization’s post-incident plan (terminating employees, change in procedure, continued cooperation with law enforcement). Express empathy for those that were negatively affected by this incident. Show desire to use this incident as a way to make the environment safer. Main Messaging - What we want clients/the public to feel or think The organization is deeply committed to client care and wellbeing. The organization is doing everything it can to ensure that no such incidents occur in the future (read: the organization is a safe, responsible institution). Easterseals Midwest Communication Channels and Audiences Public: Issue press release. If media interest continues, CEO will answer questions in a short news conference (Vice President of Marketing and Communications will be present as well). Communication goals: The organization remains transparent, and genuinely dedicated preventing future incidents, the organization is a responsible caretaker and employer.
Families and caretakers: Email from CEO Communications goals: Caretakers feel that situation is being appropriately handled, the organization is taking responsibility and acknowledging the impact on program participants, the organization is taking care to help restore trust and outline future plans for prevention. Location staff: Email from CEO, address from director. Communication goals: Staff feel comfortable in workspace, org cares about their
Appendix C: Commonly Asked Media Crisis Questions and Media Prep The following list was generated from a large database of news conference reporter questions following a crisis. This is a terrific resource for understanding and preparing for crisis questions: 1. What is your name and title? 2. What are your job responsibilities? 3. What are your qualifications? 4. Can you tell us what happened? 5. When did it happen? 6. Where did it happen? 7. Who was harmed? 8. How many people were harmed? 9. Are those that were harmed getting help? 10. How certain are you about this information? 11. How are those who were harmed getting help? 12. Is the situation under control? 13. How certain are you that the situation is under control? 14. Is there any immediate danger? 15. What is being done in response to what happened? 16. Who is in charge? 17. What can we expect next? 18. What are you advising people to do? 19. How long will it be before the situation returns to normal? 20. What help has been requested or offered from others? 21. What responses have you received? 22. Can you be specific about the types of harm that occurred? 23. What are the names of those that were harmed? Can we talk to them? 24. How much damage occurred? 25. What other damage may have occurred? 26. How certain are you about damages? 27. How much damage do you expect?
28. What are you doing now? 29. Who else is involved in the response? 30. Why did this happen? 31. What was the cause? 32. Did you have any forewarning that this might happen? 33. Why wasn’t this prevented from happening? 34. Could this have been avoided? 35. How could this have been avoided? 36. What else can go wrong? 37. If you are not sure of the cause, what is your best guess? 38. Who caused this to happen? 39. What more could/should those who handled the situation have done? 40. When did your response to this begin? 41. When were you notified that something had happened? 42. Who is conducting the investigation? 43. Will the outcome be reported to the public? 44. What are you going to do after the investigation? 46. Why was more not done to prevent this from happening? 47. What are you telling your own family? 48. Are all those involved in agreement? 49. Has anyone broken the law? 50. How certain are you about whether laws have been broken? 51. Has anyone made mistakes? 52. Have you told us everything you know? 53. What are you not telling us? 54. What effects will this have on the people involved? 55. What precautionary measures were taken? 56. Do you accept responsibility for what happened? 57. Has this ever happened before? 58. What would you like to say to those who have been harmed and to their families? 59. Is there any continuing danger? 60. How much will all this cost, and are you able and willing to pay the costs? 61. Why should we trust you? This resource was adapted from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site ( http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/news/news040207.html )
Basic Media Training Overview To supplement Media Training for relevant staff: Key Messages No more than three key messages and three supporting facts for each key messages (can be in bullet-point format). Message: stay “on-message” throughout the interview. Saturate the interview with your key messages. Take every opportunity to repeat your points. What to Wear A dark suit jacket is ideal. Do not wear a plain white shirt Keep ties simple in color and print If you have long hair, make sure that it is pulled back from your face. How to Prepare Don’t drink milk, caffeine or alcohol before the interview. Practice key messages and bridging with the Communications team before the interview (know your points inside and out). Delivery Tips Maintain eye contact with the reporter Don’t look directly at the camera, and try to speak fluidly and with composure Avoid saying “um,” “uh,” “like” and other “filler” phrases. Don’t ramble. If you feel nervous, focus on breathing deeply from your diaphragm. Deliver information “inverted pyramid”-style – deliver the most important, “high-level” information first, followed by supporting details in descending order of importance. Speak in sound bites: say your message in a 5-to-10-second sound bite. Say any more, and run the risk of having your message edited, or left on the cutting room floor. Be conversational, confident, concise, and patient. Never get defensive or let a reporter get “under your skin.” There is no such thing as “off the record.” Never tell a reporter anything you would not like to see on the front page of the New York Times. Answering Questions Prepare the five most likely and five toughest questions the reporter might ask. Remember: for every question, no more than three key messages and three pieces of supporting information per key message. Do not repeat negative phrases (spoken by the reporter when framing the question) when answering a question, as it could be used out of context. Do not speculate – if you don’t know the answer to a question, say so When answering questions not directly related to your message, follow this format: Answer-transition-key message. Don’t let the reporter take the interview in a direction that is not relevant to your key message.
Bridging (Transition) Techniques* Always respond to the question that you are asked, then, within your response, you can use a transitional phrase to get back to your main point. Here are some examples of possible transitions that will get the discussion back in the direction you want it to go: – “The bottom line is...” – “The takeaway here is...” – “The point that is really important in all this is...” – “I can’t speculate on that but what I can tell you is...” – “I’m not the right person to answer that question, but I can refer you to the expert. What I can tell you is...” *Adapted from Kidde.com. Media training. (n.d.). https://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/partners/tools-for-safety-educators/media-training//
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