Best Practices for Crisis Communications Toolkit

Transcription

1 Best Practices for Crisis Communications Toolkit

2 Table of Contents Overview Best Practices for Local Association Communications Post-Crisis Maintenance Communications Social Media Outreach Attachments o Best Practices for Crisis Communications Tip Sheet o Case Study Document #1: YWCA Oklahoma City Confidential Communications Plan o Case Study Document #2: YWCA Oklahoma City Board Statement o Case Study Document #3: YWCA Oklahoma City Press Release o Case Study Document #4: YWCA Oklahoma City Supporter Letter Additional Resources

3 Best Practices for Crisis Communications Toolkit Overview Like any organization, there are times when you may be faced with a crisis, such as a natural or manmade disaster that affects your facility or an injury to a staff member or client. This type of incident may require program closures or temporary office relocation. It also may require the rapid dissemination of information to parties impacted by the incident, such as clients and staff as well as a response to media who may be reporting on the incident. With our ongoing efforts to provide you with an array of resources to assist you in the work that you do, we have created a Best Practices for Crisis Communications Toolkit. This document outlines steps that can be taken in the immediate aftermath of a crisis to inform your Board members, staff, clients and public officials, as well as the media. The Toolkit includes best practices in the post-crisis phase for program and operational updates and some external resources on crisis communications that may be helpful. While your YWCA may have your own communications procedures, contacts within the local community and emergency staffing plans, we recommend that in the event that your association is impacted by some type of crisis, you take a moment to contact the YWCA USA National Office through your Director of Association Services. Where possible, we ask that this be done within 24 hours. In this way we can promptly offer your association all available support, and, as appropriate, provide needed information to other YWCAs nationwide. Serious crises can disrupt services, impact clients and staff, and garner national or even international news. The YWCA USA is here to help local associations with best practices, tips, information and other resources. We hope this resource is helpful and that you will share it with your Board members and staff. Preparedness is one of the best ways for an organization to handle an emergency situation in a calm and helpful manner in order to reassure your clients, staff and the public that you are doing the best you can to resume operations and continue the important work that you do in your community. Best Practices for Local Association Communications When a disaster or tragedy befalls an organization, it is important that you have a crisis communications plan in place, both for the immediate response period and for the longer term crisis management mode. Local Association communications plans, both immediate and longer term, should include the following protocols:

4 Call 911 If Needed. Safety first! Immediately after the crisis, ensure the safety of all staff and the site. Notify the CEO/Executive Director immediately with details of the incident and whether staff, program recipients or facilities are impacted. Notify the National Office. If the emergency impacts staff, program recipients or the local facility, the CEO/Executive Director is encouraged to contact your YWCA USA Director of Association Services about the incident as soon as possible. Identify Your Association s Spokesperson: Your spokesperson will be the public face for your local association, answering questions and issuing public comments about the incident or tragedy. Convene Your Association s Crisis Management Team to Assess the Situation: The crisis management team should include your local association s legal counsel, CEO or Executive Director and Board Chair. You should vet public statements with your crisis team in advance of public release. Key Questions: Is there any ongoing threat to any YWCA program recipient or staff? Does law enforcement need to be notified? What is the situation? What will happen next? Who on staff needs to be involved? What immediate steps need to be taken? What is known and who already knows it? Is there potential public interest? Does the issue have traction (i.e., will it become anything more than a blip on the evening news)? Who will be affected? What are people feeling what emotions need to be considered? What information is needed and who beyond YWCA staff need to get it? When will it be available? What CAN and CANNOT be said? What are the organization s privacy policies? Is legal or PR counsel needed? Who will communicate response as spokesperson? How will response be communicated? (Public statement, press release, press conference, social media, etc.) What media will be contacted? What legislators? What donors? Are there others to consider? Inform Impacted Parties: Be sure to reach out to your association s clients, staff and others impacted by the crisis with immediate information. Let them know where to go, if offices are closed, and if there is any action they need to take.

5 Contact the National Office: While your YWCA has its own communications procedures, contacts within the local community and emergency staffing plans, we recommend that in the event that your association is impacted by some type of crisis, you take a moment to contact the YWCA USA National Office through your Director of Association Services. Where possible, we ask that this be done within 24 hours. In this way, we can promptly offer your association appropriate support, including best practices and other resources. As appropriate, the National Office may also provide needed information to other YWCAs nationwide. Serious crises can disrupt services, impact clients and staff, and garner national or even international news. Distribute Your Association s Crisis Point of Contact: Make sure that your association s staff knows who to refer inquiries to during a crisis. Create a Notification Contact List: Have a list of who you want to notify immediately about the crisis. Your association s list should include your local media, government officials, donors and partners, in addition to your Board of Directors. Gather Information: Collect as much information about the crisis as possible so that you know what happened during the event. Interview staff who were present and debrief others who were involved as soon as possible. Prepare a Statement: Once you have gathered the basic details surrounding the event, prepare a short statement outlining the essential facts. Do not confirm or reference any aspects in your statement that cannot be verified. It is critical that you discuss any media statement with your legal counsel and crisis team before making a public statement. Vet this brief statement with your association s Board and legal counsel before public release as quickly as possible to obtain their approval. Release a Statement: If advised by your legal counsel, you may decide, within hours of an incident, to release the approved statement to the media outlining the event. Organizations that communicate immediately often have a much greater chance of becoming the media s main source for information during a crisis. Your association may also want to post this statement on your website and on social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter. Post-Crisis Maintenance Communications Assess and Share Crisis Coverage: As the crisis unfolds, assess and share the media coverage and social media coverage of the event with your association s crisis team. Present regular analysis of the coverage to your crisis team and work with them to evolve your communications strategy and messaging as necessary to accommodate any unforeseen developments as the crisis matures.

6 Refer Status Calls to Public Affairs Office: In the event that the crisis has involved loss of life, casualties or damage to property, and the police and other public officials have been notified and are involved, refer calls about the status of any official public inquiry, investigation or findings to their public affairs office. Keep Your Association s Board and Counsel Informed: At every step, keep your Board members and your legal counsel apprised of any new issues, media inquiries or strategic shifts that may arise when the crisis moves from immediate to longerterm management. Investigations can be lengthy and patience will be required from your association s crisis team, staff and the public in the post-crisis period, when demands for answers will exceed the availability of an ongoing response. Remain Discrete: This period, when no additional press statements are issued, will allow officials to do their jobs without additional media coverage until the inquiries have concluded. Remember that any information given to your YWCA staff or other stakeholders may leak to the press, so discretion is paramount. Only release information with which your association is comfortable going public. Regularly Inform Your Association s Staff and Clients: In this post-crisis period, as with the initial crisis aftermath, you ll want to keep your YWCA staff and clients regularly informed about programmatic and operational updates, such as alternate facilities for programs, closures and reopening information and other relevant updates. You can post information about building closures and alternate facilities on your association s website, Facebook and Twitter. Develop an Outcome Statement: Once the formal inquiries and investigations by public officials are concluded, you should work with your association s crisis team, Board members and legal counsel to consider development of a statement that addresses the potential outcome of the public investigation and any impact on your YWCA. When the time comes, this statement can be shared on social media. Social Media Outreach Before Crisis: - Determine who is responsible for monitoring and posting on social media. Additionally, determine who needs to sign off on messages that are posted. - Use social media monitoring tools, such as Twitter or Google Alerts, to monitor sentiment about your association on a regular basis. - Identify social media influencers in your community, such as journalists and bloggers, and note their topics of discussion/interest. - Use your website, blog and other social networks to communicate regularly and build relationships with your audiences - not just at times of crisis.

7 During Crisis: - Stay in close contact with your legal counsel and crisis management team. - Use monitoring tools to determine how the crisis is being talked about online, and how people are responding. This includes the media. - Determine if a public response is necessary. If information cannot be disclosed right away due to a legal investigation or other situation, a statement acknowledging the crisis and that your association is working to solve it may be enough. - Post quickly, briefly and in a clear way so that your audience does not have to search for information and to prevent rumors from spreading. - Direct media inquiries and constituent questions to the designated spokesperson. - Answer questions as appropriate. Messages should be responsive and solution/action-oriented, whenever possible. Post Crisis: - Continue using monitoring tools to track the conversation about the crisis, and update the keywords you monitor as needed. Also, use these tools to track the effectiveness of your public response. - Continue to respond to legitimate inquiries by showing what has been done to solve the crisis, and thank those who are showing support. - Evaluate the event and how your social media crisis procedures should be updated. Attachments Best Practices for Crisis Communications Tip Sheet Case Study Document #1: YWCA Oklahoma City Confidential Communications Plan* Case Study Document #2: YWCA Oklahoma City Board Statement* Case Study Document #3: YWCA Oklahoma City Press Release* Case Study Document #4: YWCA Oklahoma City Supporter Letter* * Reproduced with permission from YWCA Oklahoma City. Additional Resources Institute for Public Relations, Crisis Management and Communications by W. Timothy Coombs, Ph.D.: While this book was published in 2007, many of the definitions, types and responses are still relevant today. Crisis Communications: The Definitive Guide to Managing the Message by Steven Fink is another well-read and well-respected resource. PR News Crisis Management Guidebook : While an expensive resource, this guidebook is the bible for crisis experts. You can also check to see if your local library carries it.

8 Before Crisis: Best Practices for Crisis Communications Tip Sheet Identify the crisis management team. Teams may include legal counsel, CEO/Executive Director, and Board Chair. They will direct the organization and vet public statements. Identify your spokesperson. This person will be the public face for your organization, answering questions and issuing public comment about the incident. Establish and distribute a staff protocol. Determine a staff point of contact. What actions does the staff need to take? Instruct the staff to refer all inquiries to the identified spokesperson. During Crisis: Convene your crisis management team. Put the established protocol into action. The team s approval will be sought to vet public statements in advance of release. Gather as much information as possible. Establish what happened leading up to and during the event. Interview staff who were present and debrief others who were involved. Reach out to those impacted with immediate information. Reach out to clients, staff, board members and others impacted by the crisis. Be prepared to give them instruction if there are any actions they need to take or if the facilities are closed. Create a contact list. Include the media, government officials, donors and partners. Prepare a short statement. Do not confirm or reference any details in your statement that cannot be verified. Get the approval of the statement before public release. Release the statement. Release a brief statement to the media outlining the event. If more information will be forthcoming, indicate when it will be made available. After Crisis: Assess and share the media coverage of the event with your crisis management team. Present regular analysis of coverage to your crisis team and adjust your communications strategy as necessary to accommodate new developments. Direct inquiries to appropriate outside parties. In the event that the crisis has involved police or other public officials, refer calls or any public inquiry, investigation or findings to their office. Refrain from status updates once an investigation has begun and direct inquiries to appropriate parties while the investigation is underway. You do not want to appear to be attempting to influence the process until formal public investigations are concluded. Regularly update your board, legal counsel, staff and clients. Keep them apprised of any new issues, media inquiries or strategic shifts that may arise as the crisis shifts to longer-term management. Only release information which you are comfortable going public. Develop a final statement. Once the formal investigation by public officials has concluded, develop a statement that addresses the outcome and any impact on your organization.

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18