Session 161 Principles of a Successful Crisis Communications Strategy Session 16 Slide Deck Slide 16-

Session 16 1

Principles of a Successful Crisis Communications Strategy

Session 16 Slide Deck

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Session 16 2

Session ObjectivesObjective 16.1: Review five critical assumptions concerning crisis communications.

Objective 16.2: Discuss the nine principles that emergency officials should embrace in order to design and implement a successful crisis communications strategy.

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Five Critical Assumptions

• Customer Focus

• Leadership Commitment

• Inclusion of Communications in Planning and Operations

• Good Information

• Media Partnership

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Customer Focus

• Focus on customers and customer service

• Guide communications with the public and with all partners in emergency management

• Placing the needs and interests of individuals and communities first

• Being responsive and informative

• Managing expectations


Leadership Commitment

• Commitment to sharing information

• Endorse open communications

• Model behavior


Inclusion of Communications in Planning and Operations

• Communications Specialist is included in senior management team.

• Communications is on equal footing with Planning and Operations.

• Demand is high for timely and accurate information.

• How to communicate what is going on critical to all phases of response and recovery.


Situational Awareness

• Key to an effective disaster response

• Collection, analysis, and dissemination of information from the disaster site

• Sharing this information is all important


Media Partnership

• Primary role in communicating with the public

• Greater reach to public

• Provide timely and accurate information

• Partnership between emergency managers and media


Characteristics of an Effective Media Partnership

• Communications network

• Media access

• Define roles

• Manage public expectations

• Speed the recovery


Principles Provide Guidance On:

• How to talk to their customers

• How to ensure that they can talk to their customers

• What to say and what not to say

• How to be accurate and timely

• When to talk and how to connect to your customers when you talk


Principles of Good Crisis Communications

• Focus on the needs of your customers.

• Make a commitment to effective communications.

• Make communications an integral part of all Planning and Operations.

• Be transparent in your communications.

• Ensure that your information is accurate.

• Release information in a timely manner.

• Make yourself, your staff, and others, where appropriate, available and accessible.

• Create an emotional connection with your audience.

• Build a partnership with the media and the “first informer” community.


Principle: Customer Focus

• Drives all actions

• Provide needed information

• Work on customer’s schedule

• Use language customers understand

• Work with trusted community leaders

• Recognize language and cultural differences

• Respect functional needs populationsSession 16 12Slide 16-

Customer Focus: Understanding what information customers need

• Response

• Preparedness

• Mitigation

• Recovery


Customer Focus: Work on your customer’s schedule and not your own

• Simple and common sense

• Small business example


Customer Focus: Use language that most people can understand

• No jargon

• Don’t use pronouns

• Use accessible language


Customer Focus: Recognize language and cultural differences among your customers

• Non-English speakers

• Translations and translators

• Tulsa Language/Culture Bank


Customer Focus: Identify trusted community leaders who can facilitate communications in

disadvantaged neighborhoods

• Messages ignored

• Identify trusted community leaders

• Communications hub and more


Customer Focus: Respect functional needs populations and take action to meet their

specific communications needs

• Sight

• Hearing

• Learning

• Cognitive


Customer Focus: Use the appropriate media to reach your customers

• Television

• Radio

• Internet

• Newspapers

• Social media


Principle: Leadership Commitment

• Be an active participant in communications.

• Include Communications Director on senior management team.

• Hire and maintain professional staff.

• Invest in ongoing training for staff.

• Invest resources in communications.


Leadership Commitment: Be an active participant in communications

• Principal agency spokesperson

• Campaign design and implementation

• Working with elected officials


Leadership Commitment: Include communications director on senior

management team

• Planning and operations meetings

• Communications issues considered

• Leadership priority


Leadership Commitment: Hire and maintain professional staff

• Communications Specialist

• Additional staffing


Leadership Commitment: Invest in ongoing training for staff

• Media training

• Media relations

• Marketing

• Web-related


Leadership Commitment: Invest resources in communications

• Information management

• Production expenses

• Consulting help


Principle: Transparency

• Don’t lie.

• Don’t talk about what you don’t know.

• Don’t talk about actions of other organizations.

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

• Be informed.

• Acknowledge the conversation.

• Focus on performance.Session 16 26Slide 16-

Transparency: Don’t Lie

• Critically important

• Credibility

• Never need to lie

• Unintentional


Transparency: Don’t talk about what you don’t know

• Destroy credibility

• Don’t make up an answer

• Investigate and respond


Transparency: Don’t talk about actions of other organizations

• Let them talk for themselves

• Misunderstandings

• Inclusion in your communications


Transparency: Don’t make promises you can’t keep

• Be 100% sure

• Close is not good enough

• Two days means two days


Transparency: Be informed

• Avoid misstatements and misleading information

• Pay attention

• Information management process


Transparency: Acknowledge the conversation

• Old and new media

• Be aware and acknowledge

• Public exchange


Transparency: Focus on performance

• Doing

• Done

• Hope to do


Principle: Accuracy

• Make information a priority.

• Invest in information collection.

• Invest in information management.

• Use only confirmed information.

• Make decisions based on good information.


Accuracy: Make information a priority

• Situational awareness

• Information management


Accuracy: Invest in information collection

• Build infrastructure

• Resources

• Staff

• Training

• Partnerships


Accuracy: Invest in information management

• Analysis and dissemination

• Information management system

• Staff, training, and technology


Accuracy: Use only confirmed information

• Don’t spread rumors

• Protocols– Types of information– Sources– Criteria to measure credibility

• Do not ignore public sources


Accuracy: Make decisions based on good information

• Use information.

• Confirm information.

• Be prepared to use incomplete information if needed.


Principle: Timeliness

• Don’t hold onto information – share it.

• Conduct regular updates.

• Make special updates when new information emerges.

• Reach out to as many media outlets as possible.


Timeliness: Don’t hold onto information – Share it

• Power in sharing

• Don’t let information age

• Examples of sharing:– September 11– Northridge– Hurricane Floyd– Oklahoma City bombing

• Mechanisms used to shareSession 16 41Slide 16-

Timeliness: Conduct regular updates

• Regular schedule

• Constant presence

• Opportunity for preparedness and mitigation messages


Timeliness: Make special updates when new information emerges

• Get new info out immediately

• Use all forms of media

• No need to hold back


Reach out to as many media outlets as possible

• Inventory community media outlets

• No outlet too small

• Internet and bloggers

• Media contact information


Principle: Availability

• Be available and accessible to media.

• Make the incident commander available to media.

• Work with elected and appointed officials.

• Support your Public Information Officer (PIO).

• Make technical staff available to media.

• Include officials from other emergency agencies.


Accessibility: Be available and accessible to media

• Face of the crisis

• Work with media to reach the public


Accessibility: Make the Incident Commander available to media

• Commanding presence and credible source

• Well briefed

• Media training


Accessibility: Work with elected and appointed officials

• Officials will talk to the media in a crisis

• Ensure they are:– On message– Providing accurate and timely information

• Coordinate


Accessibility: Support your Public Information Officer (PIO)

• Empower the PIO

• Works with media

• Part of management team

• Privy to all decisions

• Confidence


Accessibility: Make technical staff available to media

• Technical staff to the stage

• Well prepared and understand their role

• Talk to specific technical aspects

• PIO decision


Accessibility: Include officials from other emergency agencies• Partner agencies

• Full picture

• Don’t talk for others


Accessibility: Secure media training for yourself and staff

• Everyone who talks to the media

• Widely available

• Comfort

• Clear and consistent message


Principle: Connect to the Audience

• Give your organization a human face.• Assure audience who is in charge.• Be the source of information for media and public.• Share information.• Speak in plain and direct language.• Ensure that all parties are served.• Be emphatic.• Be accountable.• Be consistent.


Connect: Give your organization a human face

• People need it

• Trust and credibility

• Mayor Giuliani


Connect: Assure audience who is in charge

• Someone is in charge.

• Someone is accessible.

• Someone is a constant presence in the operation.


Connect: Be the source of information for media and public

• Establish your organization as the source

• Ensure your message gets heard

• Effective response to rumors and bad information


Connect: Share information

• Always, always share

• Resist not sharing

• Only valuable if shared


Connect: Speak in plain and direct language

• Talk plainly and directly.

• Don’t use acronyms or technical terms.

• Define and repeat new terms.


Connect: Ensure that all parties are served

• Meet the needs of all groups and individuals

• Functional needs populations– Individuals with disabilities– Non-English speakers– Children– Seniors


Connect: Be emphatic

• Help to ease pain

• Articulate how you will help


Connect: Be accountable

• You are responsible

• Embrace responsibility

• Don’t blame others


Connect: Be consistent

• Always have prepared remarks.

• Always have facts and statistics available.

• Always take questions.

• Always treat the media and the public with respect.

• Set a standard of conduct and information -sharing and stick to it.


Principle: Media Partnership• Maintain a trained media relations staff.• Be consistently accessible to the media.• Be the central information source for the media.• Provide the media safe access to disaster site.• Respond to media inquiries.• Understand media deadlines and information

needs.• Work with all media – traditional and new.• Monitor media stories.• Thank media for their help.


Media Partnership: Maintain a trained media relations staff

• Direct link to media

• Establish and maintain

• Expand when possible

• Use PIO from other departments


Media Partnership: Be consistently accessible to the media

• Talk to the media

• Take questions

• Share information

• Reliable and consistent source of information


Media Partnership: Be the central information source for the media

• Establish your organization

• Facts, statistics, and storylines

• Information flow, manage expectations, and define your role


Media Partnership: Provide the media safe access to disaster site

• Critical to media coverage

• Site not always accessible

• Share information


Media Partnership: Respond to media inquiries

• Top priority

• Respond promptly and consistently

• Opportunity, not nuisance

• Don’t allow someone else to tell your story


Media Partnership: Understand media deadlines and information needs

• All reporters have deadlines.

• Learn them and meet them.

• Information comes in variety of forms.

• Make information available in forms that the media needs.


Media Partnership: Work with all media

• Traditional and new media

• Effective and efficient

• Do not exclude or favor

• Maximize your reach

• Partnerships


Media Partnership: Monitor media stories

• Regular monitoring

• Contact media when problems

• Understand how your communications are being received


Media Partnership: Thank media for their help

• Acknowledge

• Thank


Documents

Session 161 Principles of a Successful Crisis Communications Strategy Session 16 Slide Deck Slide 16-