Because of the stress and strain a crisis brings to any organization, having realistic, workable plans is crucial to success in crisis management. In a recent post on her blog, 2M Communications Ink, Margaret McGann provided an excellent list for ensuring your crisis communications plan is workable:
1. Avoid minutiae keep it high-level strategic and tactical
2. Use bullets and action directives
3. Break your plan into three phases – preparation, response, recovery
4. Avoid writing long-winded explanations of what to do in each phase
5. Create a one page bulleted checklist for each phase (i.e., set-up, activate etc.)
6. Don’t try to predict every possible scenario. Look at the most likely scenarios and degree of response required
7. Use appendices for lists (i.e., contacts, resources, templates, Qs & As, etc.)
8. Avoid printing binders for everyone have your plan available electronically and password encrypted
9. Have staff from other areas test your plan to see if it is easy to understand and execute
10. Constantly update your plan
When the well being of your organization is at risk, working on the fly is inviting disaster. A solid plan enables an organization to react with the speed and level of information the public now demands.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/