Relationship management in a crisis PBRL 4019

A crisis is not the time to build relationships.

When a sudden event occurs there will no time to identify all the people who need to be informed about what happened, how it happened and what is being done about it (Ruff & Aziz, 2003, p.13).

An organization must have solid communications programming, outreach efforts and relationships in place with stakeholders prior to a crisis occurring.

Strong relationships with stakeholders will help to ensure their goodwill in a crisis (Thenell, 2004).

A continuing dialogue with publics marked by a give-and-take between both sides helps to build strong relationships, eliminates the gulf between the organization and its stakeholders, and makes the stakeholders feel like an integral part of the organization (Kathleen Fearn-Banks, 2001, p. 482).

Stakeholders, or key publics, are people/groups of people who have an interest in the organization and are affected by organizational decisions.

Before a crisis, it is integral to :

identify your stakeholders through research

segment them, which further defines and categorizes them into manageable and reachable bodies of people for ongoing communication (Fearn-Banks, 2001, p. 482).

rank them according to importance.

Four Corners of the Stakeholder Matrix(Cooper, 2006)

Internal Stakeholders

External Stakeholders

Community at Large

Other Communications Professionals

Employees

Retirees/Pension holders

Shareholders

Union(s) representing employees

Employees families

Volunteers

Legal representation

Customers/Citizens

Community

Advocacy Groups

Shareholders

Board Members

Lawmakers/Regulators

Financial Partners

Advocacy Groups

Suppliers/distributors

Neighbouring businesses

Industry/business organizations that your organization belongs to

Political Adversaries

Competitors

Subsidiary heads

Analysts

Adapted from Dougherty, 1992

Effectively an external stakeholder.

However, the community at large requires special consideration during a crisis.

Strong community relations and outreach is paramount.

A crisis can deeply impact a community.

Adapted from Cooper, 2006

Mainstream media

Community newspapers

Citizen journalists (ie. bloggers)

Magazines

Industry publications

Consider the communications representatives from agencies with whom you regularly do business and who may be directly or indirectly impacted by a crisis.

You do not want to be introducing yourself to your counterparts in the midst of a crisis.

Build your relationships with this key group well before a crisis.

Which groups have a stake in the issue?

What is their attitude towards your organization?

Who needs to be persuaded and is open enough to listen?

Who has the power to really hurt you?

McLoughlin, 1999, p. 20

How will you reach your stakeholders affected by the crisis?

Will you rely on your already well-established communications programming?

Will you have to devise new communications methods?

Are you able to reach out to them directly? If so, how?

Its not necessarily that one group of stakeholders is more important than the others.

PR professionals/crisis managers must prioritize their stakeholders based on the crisis at hand, and consider who needs to know what first.

They need to know about the crisis, your organizational response and your position before anyone else.

External stakeholders will look to your employees for answers.

Employees also need to be accounted for in dire circumstances (ie. Air Canada employees in New York during 9/11).

Cooper, J. (2006).Crisis communications in Canada: A practical approach . Toronto: Centennial College Press.

Dougherty, D. (1992).Crisis communications : What every executive needs to know . New York: Walker.

Fearn-Banks, K. (2001). Crisis communication: A review of some best practices. In Heath, R. L., & Vasquez, G. (2001).Handbook of public relations . (pp. 479-500). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

McLoughlin, B. J. (1999).Barry McLoughlin's overcoming panic and fear: Risk and crisis communications . Ottawa: McLoughlin Multimedia Publishing.

Ruff, P., & Aziz, K. (2003).Managing communications in a crisis . Burlington, Vt.: Gower.

Thenell, J., & Ebooks Corporation. (2004).The library's crisis communications planner: A PR guide for handling every emergency . Chicago: ALA Editions.

Final questions or discussion points?

Think critically about what we learned today and how you will apply this information and your newfound knowledge in the live blog on Thursday.

Relationship management in a crisis PBRL 4019

Education

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