Crisis communications checklist

The current situation regarding the Coronavirus means many organisations are hastily reviewing their business continuity plans and preparing for worst case scenario.

Although these are unprecedented times, the closest and most relevant experience I have to draw upon is the foot and mouth outbreak in 2007. At the time, the borough where I headed up communications was at the epicentre of the outbreak. While central government took the communications lead, with the countryside closed to the public, we had a role to play in disseminating information and keeping people informed. We also had our media management skills put to the test as reporters found ever more creative ways to find a new angle on a long-running story.

Based on my experiences, here is a best practice checklist for your crisis communications.

Preparation

Review your protocols for communicating during a crisis. Who will lead and who will deputise should the need arise?
Check you have up to date contact details for your main stakeholders so you can communicate without delay.
Decide how you will communicate. No one channel will reach everybody, so I recommend a mix. I found it effective to use the organisation’s website as the principal source of communication as it meant I had a record of what we had said, it was quick and easy to update in a fast moving situation and it was more accessible than social media in that people could easily refer back to it at a later date and find information. You could consider supplementing this with recorded answerphone messages, SMS, email and posted information.
As part of your preparations, ensure more than one person has access to the log in details for your website and social media and that they know how to update the various channels.

What you can do now

Communicate now with your stakeholders to inform them that you are prepared and what you will do to minimise disruption to service. Aim to reassure and advise how they can find out the latest information.
Assist with containment by reiterating government advice. Put up the hand washing posters in your washrooms, provide boxes of tissues and hand sanitiser in public areas, include links to government information on your website, reaffirm the advice on what people should do if they feel unwell.
Pre-prepare information for the website covering a variety of scenarios.
Agree your communications plan detailing what you will do in the event of a crisis.
Agree who will be spokesperson should the media contact you for a comment.
Think about how you might manage comments on social media.

What to do during a crisis

Activate your crisis communication plan.
Establish a morning briefing with key staff so all necessary people have the same information at the same time.
Where possible cascade information internally before it is released more widely.
Agree a consistent message.
Keep a log of all action taken.
Ensure there is a link from the home page of your website to your information pages and that information is written in plain English and is easy to navigate and understand.
Look for opportunities to share vital information about your service on local radio. During times of crisis local radio stations will often broadcast special bulletin.

Internal communications

Confirm your principal communications channel for cascading information to staff eg intranet.
Make sure staff are clear on what to do if they believe they have been exposed to somebody with the virus.
Ensure staff know what they should do if they feel unwell or they need to take time off to care for a dependant. Clarify what happens regarding pay in these situations.
Help with containment by explaining/reminding about the need for good hygiene especially if people share desks or you have communal spaces.
Revisit and share the policy on working from home.
Promote consistency by providing frontline staff with a crib sheet on how to respond to anticipated questions.

Finally, if I could only pass on one piece of advice, it is to aim for clear, consistent and transparent communication.

Next steps

If you need help with your crisis communications plans, please do get in touch.

Julie