By Elizabeth L. Boineau

You may remember that my last article focused on media training to help a company present its best image when it’s using the media to announce a new office, product or service, launch an initiative in the community, or advance other “soft” news or feature opportunities that the company is consistently mining to build reputation, awareness and credibility.

But what about the times when a crisis strikes, tragedy hits, products harm, customers rebel or employees revolt? A crisis can arise at any time and we watch as some stumble around trying to pick themselves up again, often ever so slowly. Then there are those who know how to fall and make sure they jump back up quickly.

In a business setting, the damage that sales and revenue may sustain from a crisis can completely alter the course of business and mean the difference between success and failure.

So what is a crisis? It’s defined as an unplanned event which triggers a real, perceived or possible threat to life, health, safety, and/or the environment. Its impact ultimately can affect the financial status of your organization and, perhaps its most valuable asset, its credibility.

A crisis will present a greater test of communications and management skills than will any other situation, and the way you deal with the incident will determine your organization’s veracity, validity and integrity, all of which may be destroyed or damaged within minutes.

Crises typically occur with little or no warning, create a lot of chaos and typically make the news—bad news, that is. In times of crisis, information changes swiftly, things change rapidly, and often there may be few to no facts early on, which can lead to speculation and conjecture, both internal and external.

Sometimes it’s the people you’d least expect to do so who expose a potential or new crisis, ideally to the CEO and communications/PR director before the news media.

You want to ensure that everyone in the company knows what to do when a crisis situation (or the potential for one) arises that could affect the company, its employees and their livelihood. That’s where crisis planning comes into play. If you have no plan in place, you risk your employee’s taking a concern home to discuss with a neighbor, and the neighbor’s taking it to work with her the next day Suddenly, what might have been a minor concern has escalated. If your employees are trained to manage crises and are aware of the potential damaging effects such information leaks could have on their company, they become your allies.

Most organizations fail to handle a crisis well for three primary reasons: They lack a cohesive plan, they don’t have a crisis management team, and they have not identified and trained a spokesperson before a crisis occurs.

In a crisis, it’s essential that a state of calm and an attitude of honesty prevail. You must recognize that members of the media are calling because those newspersons are doing their job, and you should give them information quickly and professionally. Giving the media what they need—access, facts, next steps and timely updates—almost always means the media will in turn offer fair and balanced coverage of the incident. Even before the media gets the “official” word on the crisis, stakeholders such as employees, board members and  shareholders should be advised of the incident, the consequences, potential damage, action taken, and what’s ahead.

So here are a few lessons for managing a crisis before it takes over and manages you and mars the reputation of your company:

• A cover-up job is never acceptable, so tell the truth and tell it fast—and that practice works in all aspects of life. They will find out, every time, and then you’ll have your credibility to regain too.

• Be sure you have all the facts and know just what IS true.

• Make it easy for your stakeholders (and the media) to communicate with you by setting up a special toll-free hot line with recorded updates and a special Web site, or use part of your Web site to provide frequent updates as information flows in. Two-way communication is important too so you know what’s being said out in the field.

• Media training is vital for your company’s key spokespersons in a crisis. Prepared statements, talking points and key messages become the job of the PR person and/or agency, in concert with senior management.

• If your company is directly responsible for a situation, apologize immediately. Accepting responsibility makes you more human too, and people become more forgiving if you admit mistakes up front and detail what you’re doing to improve or change the situation for those affected.

When all is said and done, we’re only human and we want to forgive and to be forgiven.

Over time we tend to forget the ills that befall us and others—but it’s the wise who learn from them. In looking back on our stumbles, it’s important to ask for forgiveness and get up quickly, for it’s not falling that’s the worst thing, it’s staying on the ground.

Elizabeth L. Boineau runs E. Boineau & Co., a strategic marketing communications and public relations firm based in Charleston. You may reach her at eboineau@ebonieauando.com.

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