Crisis Management and Protecting Your Reputation
- 1. © 2017 Julie Davis 614-410-0032 jdavis@arnlaw.com 115 W. Main Street, Ste 400 Columbus, Ohio 43215
- 2. 2 1. Learn how to develop excellent decision making skills and manage a crisis action plan. 2. Find out the importance of guiding credible communications with stakeholders. 3. Understand how to prevent crises when you suspect problems or vulnerabilities. Today’s Mission “After all, crises can be fertile opportunities for learning and change….” - Managing Crisis: Risk Management and Crisis Response Planning, http://strengtheningnonprofits.org/resources/guidebooks/Managing_Crisis.pdf
- 3. 3 Three elements are common to most definitions of crisis: • A threat to the organization – a significant negative event • The element of surprise – not routine Elements of a Crisis • A short decision time – not routine management procedures
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- 5. 5 Crisis Typology Internal Issue that rises to crisis status and originates from within the organization • Major harm from products/malfunction/error/service/ management • Financial misconduct or misappropriation • Employee misconduct – alleged or confirmed • Workforce unrest or work stoppage • Massive IT infrastructure failure • Major shortage or critical supply • Facility failure • Major regulatory sanctions External Issue that rises to crisis status and originates from outside the organization • Fire - COOP • Natural or manmade disaster- COOP • Violent perpetrator (gunman, hostage) • Malevolent accuser • External investigation by govt./reg. agency/watchdog group/media • Chemical/biological/other terrorism - COOP • Massive utility failure (electric, gas, etc.) - COOP • Epidemic/pandemic - COOP • Mass casualty incident – COOP • Cyber attacks
- 6. 6 OBJECTIVES: COOP planning is an effort to assure that the capability exists to continue essential agency functions across a wide range of potential emergencies. The objectives of a COOP plan include: a. Ensuring the continuous performance of an agency’s essential functions/operations during an emergency; b. Protecting essential facilities, equipment, records, and other assets; c. Reducing or mitigating disruptions to operations; d. Reducing loss of life, minimizing damage and losses; and, e. Achieving a timely and orderly recovery from an emergency and resumption of full service to customers. Continuity of Operations - COOP
- 7. 7 PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS: In accordance with current guidance, a viable COOP capability: • Must be maintained at a high level of readiness; • Must be capable of implementation both with and without warning; • Must be operational no later than 12 hours after activation; • Must maintain sustained operations for up to 30 days; and, • Should take maximum advantage of existing agency field infrastructures. Agencies should develop and maintain their COOP capabilities using a multi-year strategy and program management plan. The plan should outline the process the agency will follow to designate essential functions and resources, define short and long-term COOP goals and objectives, forecast budgetary requirements, anticipate and address issues and potential obstacles, and establish planning milestones.
- 8. 8 Excellent decision making skills in a crisis First Actions: Start with The Who • Immediately notify them and begin crunching • Decide what is and could be at stake • Decide who must be involved – Board, Officers, Executives, Counsel, Experts, Disciplines, Stakeholders • Decide how they are involved – the tiers of decision, work, approval, information only • Decide if and what initial communications can or should be made, internal and external Involve your most excellent decision makers* * If you don’t have any/enough, go find them!
- 9. 9 “Nothing in the world causes so much misery as uncertainty.” -Martin Luther
- 10. 10 “People would rather have bad news now than wait three weeks for good news.” -Julie Davis
- 11. 11 First Actions: Immediate Internal Actions/Communications • Data preservation • Avoidance/understanding of internal/external digital communications • Limitation and direction to identified spokesperson • Hot line for internal suggestions • Method(s) of delivering internal communications • Determine need for immediate external communication Excellent decision making skills in a crisis
- 12. 12 Data preservation and analysis Scope Depth Expense ACPO Good Practice Guide for Computer Based Electronic Evidence and Forensic Regulator Guidelines Principle 1: No action taken by law enforcement agencies or their agents should change data held on a computer or storage media which may subsequently be relied upon in court. Principle 2: In circumstances where a person finds it necessary to access original data held on a computer or on storage media, that person must be competent to do so and be able to give evidence explaining the relevance and the implications of their actions. Best Practices
- 13. 13 • The deciders • The project managers • The information gatherers • The communicators/ reputation protectors/social media managers • The subject matter experts (internal and external) • The lawyer(s) Excellent decision making skills in a crisis First Actions: Assemble the Full Crisis Reaction Team
- 14. 14 • What other decisions have to be made • Issue identification/sphere identification • Information gathering and analysis of your crisis and how others have managed same/similar crises • Strategic analysis • Actions to be taken • Resources needed for decision- making or actions • How the War Room and communication network will work and be managed Excellent decision making skills in a crisis First Actions: Move to The What
- 15. 15 • Follow your First Principles, your mission, vision and values that drive maximum impact • How will you best preserve your reputation, and your reputation for what? • Test all decisions in this framework • Test all decisions and communications for coherence Excellent decision making skills in a crisis First Actions: Channel The Why “More than 65% of manager respondents said it was a significant challenge to bring day to day decisions in line with their organizations overall strategy.” -Harvard Business Review, The Cure for the Not-for-Profit Crisis, October 11, 2011
- 16. “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” 16 -19th Century. Helmuth von Moltke
- 17. 17 • The decision makers may have to change, depending on who is implicated • The commercial or political landscape may require changes Manage a crisis action plan If you have a plan: Use it, but know you will be adjusting it If it doesn’t work with your crisis, discard
- 18. 18 Manage a crisis action plan Manage to expedite all actions with all deliberate speed and efficiency Investigation and information gathering • Internal or third party investigation • Transparent or privileged investigation • Involvement of stakeholders or influencers or hostile parties in investigation
- 19. 19 Making decisions based on phases and outcome of investigation • Project Management and what is effective process for you can drive decision making • These will be iterative, you will have interim communication and other decisions before most is known • Examine and consider short-term and long-term impacts • Constantly examine and test each conclusion you believe true o What if you are wrong or do not have the whole picture? o What if new facts or acts are revealed? o What if new events occur – good or bad? o What assumptions, motivations, biases and logic issues are involved? o Are these decisions consistent with our mission and values? o Are these decisions consistent with our legal obligations? • Don’t make decisions beforetime – hard but smart to get right • Be fluid and flexible, to change, reassess or intervene when change occurs Manage a crisis action plan
- 20. 20 Guiding credible communications with stakeholders Outgoing communications • Establish the message(s) o Early – express concern, describe plan to obtain facts, emphasize your reputation and values o Middle – possible updates on status of investigation, issues, decisions, explanations, emotions, commitment to values and social impact o Later – comprehensive decisions and direction and positions • Establish the channels for most effective direct communication • Understand and use indirect channels as feasible • Control and manage social media messaging using all affordable data management techniques • Understand and test if your message is being heard • Analyze and understand reaction to your message
- 21. 21 Guiding credible communications with stakeholders Incoming communications • Plan how incoming messages are received, assessed, and delivered to decision makers • Plan how sources of communications are prioritized for response if any • Prepare for a conversation, and manage that conversation in the most appropriate channels • Loop reaction to incoming messages through your communications strategy
- 22. 22 How some crises can be prevented Reasons why we don’t avoid “Predictable Surprises”* • Our desire to maximize short term returns • We discount the future – ignore looming problems, underinvest, underprepare or prevent • We indulge positive illusions v. sustainable reality • We have ego-centric, biased blind spots of what is real or fair * Predicable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, Watkins and Bazerman, Harvard Business Review, April 2003
- 23. 23 Making Lemonade • Positive coverage and reputational boost if crisis is managed well • Relationships with stakeholders and consumers can be strengthened • Internal relationships can be strengthened • Strategic learning and change o You identify your excellent decision makers! o You address structural and human gaps or build improvements o You can strengthen alignment with mission and values o If needed, you can fix your mission and values