BUILDING YOUR TEAM
For Crisis Communications

By Agnes Huff, PhD

Designing a team to skillfully communicate and respond in a crisis is one of the most important things you can do to safeguard your company’s reputation and survival. The right crisis team members will ensure that your responses instill public confidence in your company, rather than cause irreparable damage.

So where do you start? How do you determine who your team members are, what their responsibilities will be, and how to help them respond in a crisis? Now is the time to decide. It is best to begin selecting your team members and thinking about their roles before your company needs to respond to an emergency.

DECISION MAKERS
Your first step is to identify the decision makers in your company and establish a crisis chain of command. This will help to eliminate potential problems of authority and conflict once a crisis occurs. Usually, there are multiple decision makers who need to coordinate closely with each other on a regular, timely basis (hourly, twice daily, etc.) in order to appropriately manage the crisis and the reputation of the company.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Identifying the most appropriate and skilled members for your crisis team is, to say the least, challenging. Often, the best team members are not necessarily the people with the highest-ranking titles, but those who possess the required skill and talent to handle each function of crisis management. Carefully screening and selecting individuals who are "right for the job" will be one of the most critical decisions you can make.

Being identified as part of the team mobilizes people into action. Team members who have a role to play are more likely to prepare for a crisis. They take time to think through potential responses. Depending on the type and magnitude of your crisis, you may need to mobilize your entire team, or just a few select members. Be sure you have established a fail-safe method of notifying team members for quick response.

TYPICAL TEAM MEMBERS
Just as a football team is made up of players with special skills, so must your crisis team follow a similar organization. Top managers, key communicators, technical advisors, legal counsel and operational staff are just a few of the individuals you should consider. (This list is not meant to be all inclusive; your team must be custom tailored to your organization and your particular industry.)

CEO/Senior Official
One of your key team members, whether yours is a small or large organization, is your CEO or senior official. In a crisis, this is the person who most likely will make the initial statement communicating corporate responsibility and regret if an accident has occurred which results in injuries, loss of property, life or resources. Your top executive is also in the best position to make crisis decisions which will ultimately affect how the public perceives the company and its actions. Subsequent statements and on-going crisis updates may best be made by the corporate communications representative.

Corporate Communications/PR Director
After the initial statement, crisis team members generally look to the PR director to speak to the press. The PR director is in the best position to take advantage of already-established relationships and credibility with members of the media. While it may be the PR director’s job to represent the company to the press and the public, it is a job that depends heavily on support from the rest of the team to ensure that information is up to date and completely accurate.

Operations Manager/Customer Service Executive
If the crisis involves an accident or incident that interferes with normal business operations, the operations manager is in the best position to provide ongoing information to team members about exactly what occurred and what is being done to correct the situation. The operations manager serves as the main link to updated crisis management information.

Legal Advisors
Your team needs immediate access to legal advice and to a clear picture of potential liabilities that your decisions may incur. However, keep in mind that it is often part of an attorney’s job to discourage communicating about responsibility for actions which may lead to lawsuits. In my practice I suggest that attorneys provide counsel and guidance only, and that they not become ultimate decision makers in the management of the entire crisis.

Human Resources Director
Issues such as timely employee communications, notification of next of kin (in the case of injuries or fatalities), and workplace trauma are best handled by someone with expertise in human relations. Human factors in crisis situations are often overlooked, and the human resources director is responsible for debriefing, employee assistance counseling and other personnel matters.

Finance Representative
Handling a major operational crisis or a natural disaster requires access to emergency funds. Having the finance representative on your team will ensure that this funding is available and appropriately allocated. Whether it is a cash advance to an injured customer, plane or hotel costs, or obtaining food or communications equipment, the finance director’s responsibility is to provide needed funds. This helps the PR director further establish the company as well prepared and able to handle the crisis, operationally, financially and from a public relations perspective.

Technical Experts
Don’t underestimate the media’s knowledge of and familiarity with even highly technical matters within your industry. The need to understand why and how an event has occurred is great following a crisis. To ensure that your company is presented in the best possible light, use your technical advisors to communicate the whys and hows of the technical issues. Depending on your industry and the particular crisis, this may include experts such as engineers, doctors, psychologists, or accountants. Sometimes you may want them to speak directly to the press; other times it may be most appropriate to have them as resources to advise and prepare the spokesperson.

DETERMINING ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES & RESOURCES
You need to designate roles and responsibilities for each member and an alternate. This is done by developing a checklist of critical functions for each member, which will keep even the most stressed-out executive on track in the midst of a crisis. Checklists also provide a foundation for a coordinated response, eliminating the question of who is doing what.

Appropriate resources allow your team to communicate professionally in a crisis. This includes such things as standard operating procedures manuals, spokesperson guidelines, access to up-to-the-minute information, communications equipment and sufficient support personnel.

CONCLUSION
Crises, by nature, are generally complex and extremely dynamic. They leave only a small window of opportunity to do the right thing. Having your team in place is the most important step you can take to effectively manage a potential crisis. A well coordinated crisis team response, combined with forthright and credible communications, will go a long way toward alleviating or minimizing damage or injury to your publics and to your company’s reputation.

About the author:
Dr. Agnes Huff, is Senior Vice President of Fraser/Young, Inc., a full-service advertising and PR firm in Santa Monica, California. Dr. Huff has over 20 years of experience in crisis management and counseling, including work as an aviation psychologist specializing in strategic communications for Singapore Airlines and USAir, Inc. Dr. Huff’s current responsibilities include media relations and crisis communications counseling for a variety of consumer and business-to-business accounts. Dr. Huff can be reached at (310) 899-3373. Copyright 1996 PRSA. Reprinted with permission from Public Relations Tactics, 33 Irving Place, NY, NY 10003