Crisis communication crash course
Consumers sickened or worse, farms and food processors going out of business, large cash settlements paid to victims, and entire industries reeling from adverse public opinion.
Everyone knows what a food safety nightmare look like.
Along with the safety of the food supply itself, how companies communicate during a crisis has a major impact on the amount of damage. Poor communication practices can pour gasoline on the bonfire. A complete, well-rehearsed crisis communication plan can help tamp down the flames.
“Yesterday’s low-risk food may become tomorrow’s high-profile product recall,” said George Clarke, managing director of the issues and crisis group for public relations firm Burston-Marsteller in Washington, D.C. “Two good question that any company should ask are: ‘Can a crisis be anticipated and prevented?’ and ‘How does communication preparedness factor into mitigating risks and help your company or industry to rebound from an incident should one happen?'”
In a 2011 research project, business leaders from all sectors were probed for their readiness to respond in a crisis. Penn, Schoen & Berland, the research arm of Burston-Marsteller, found that 46 percent of the respondents said they had no crisis management plan. Responses were classified in three categories:
• Boy Scouts (20 percent) are well prepared and have plans sturdy enough to stand up to any crisis
• Tightrope Walkers (45 percent) have inadequate plans.
• Ostriches (35 percent) lack plans entirely and avoid creating them.
Making a bad situation worse
Not having a plan can attract the attention of the media, the government and attorneys. One behavior in particular sets off the radar of Bill Marler, a foodborne illness attorney who has recovered more than $600 million for clients in contamination cases.
“It’s the companies that dig in their heels and make it sound like they’re the victims,” he said. “They come off incredibly bad. They blame the victims or they blame somebody else. Those are the ones who generate more animus from victims who might not make a claim otherwise.”
Other moves that hurt a company, according to Linda Walter Cohen, CEO of The Caliber Group, an Arizona PR firm, include not having a plan, not training employees in the plan, waiting too long to communicate during a crisis, using multiple spokespersons or using an untrained spokesperson and providing false or misleading information.
Instead, said Cohen, a good plan mobilizes everyone in the company with the goal of “minimizing harmful impacts to the company and its stakeholders, so that the company and the audience impacted by the crisis can return to normalcy as soon as possible.”
Pieces of the plan
Getting through a crisis is easier if the plan contains these pieces, according to Clarke and Cohen:
• Identify your vulnerabilities. At what points in the growing, processing and distribution system are problems most likely to occur?
• Identify your audiences. Who are the people, both within and outside the company, who would be most affected by a crisis? Know how to reach these people at all times. For fresh cut, this means growers, buyers, government regulators, auditors, media and retailers.
• Identify authoritative sources. Assemble a team of experts that can quickly assess and comment on any problem that may arise. This multidisciplinary team may include customer relations, legal, toxicology and digital media experts, along with company spokespersons, said Clarke.
• Identify role. Clearly identify the people who are responsible for each role on the crisis communications team and include 24/7 contact information.
• Identify the holes in your plan. This is an assessment Clarke calls “stress testing.” These drills test a company’s crisis readiness with a simulation of an actual event.
• Identify a spokesperson, singular. Cohen said it is best to have one person, typically the company CEO or board chair, or a senior PR professional, to deliver the message. The rest of the crisis communication team works behind the scenes to help refine this message.
• Identify how social media will be used. Facebook, Twitter and blogs are responding with great speed to food safety crises – in some cases, far faster than conventional media. Companies can be first to set up their own social media pages, such as a Facebook “like” page, or on the company’s own website.
The best moves of all
If a company is not responsible for sickening someone with a food product, that company should never admit culpability, said Marler. But those who are responsible should move fast by reaching out to the victims and providing compensation for health care costs and lost income.
“That tends to calm the waters,” he said. “You are recognizing what the problem was and you are telling the public you will do everything you can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s a pretty powerful message in the middle of a crisis.
–Lee Dean, Fresh Cut contributor
