What’s currently the toughest crisis communications job in the world of public relations and public information? It very well could rest in the hands of one Brian Sibley who is the hired gun from his very own Sibley PR who is currently in the uneviable position of serving as spokesman for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Incident Command post, the central information command for everyone involved in the Gulf coast oil spill clean up.
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When we look at any crisis communications scenario we work hard to anticipate the unanticipated and deal with it using the best knowledge base we have accumulated over the years. Maybe a certain technique we learned at an industry seminar or college class, maybe a case study of another crisis incident that we garnered good intelligence and experience from.
While it’s great to be book smart and learn from others experience, the top element, in my mind, of dealing with any crisis communications incident is to have COMMON SENSE. Yes, PR is allot about COMMON SENSE. There are many out there who make good livings in PR, are book smart and savvy, but totally lack COMMON SENSE.
This lack of COMMON SENSE can be traced to both the doors of the White House and hallowed hall of BP corporate headquarters in the way these two organizations blatantly lacked any tact in three incidents that happened over the weekend.
I’m sitting in the airport setting sail for some business in south Texas. Two areas to cover while I wait for the flight.
First, I’m honored that my Brothers at Firefighter Netcast have asked me to be a guest on their program this Thursday, June 17th. John and Rhett will be interviewing me at 9:00pm EST.
To get the link to the broadcast visit http://www.firefighternetcast.com/ Call in and say hi!
Banned for Life
There was a time when a good crisis communication plan addressed the situation at hand in a timely transparent manner. The plan owned up to admitting and confronting the bad, showing a solid plan for rectifying the situation and giving folks confidence that the best and brightest were working to develop the best resolution.
In the BP debacle the crisis communications plan of both the oil giant and the federal government seems to be constructed around a template of protecting our image to protect our stock and assets on BP’s front and blaming the other guy and passing the buck on the federal end to protect political assets. Neither plan as it stands is giving much solace or sorely needed answers to the American public.
I’m in Las Vegas this week attending a conference. Last night I went to dinner with a bunch of guys from Medina, Ohio who are huge Cleveland Cavalier fans. We positioned ourselves near a mega screen monitor so we could see the Cavs ultimately pounded by the Celtics 120-88.
Early on, when the game was relatively close and spirits were higher, the LeBron James rumor mill was the talk of the moment. Facing July 1 free agency everyone at the table had an opinion on whether LeBron will stay or go. With each opinion came a rumor about what someone told someone about LeBron’s status. Also with each rumor and opinion came blame. Who to scapegoat and take to task if LeBron seeks mega millions elsewhere?
As a PR guy this got me thinking. It’s not about just LeBron, it’s about sports in general. Each day is filled with stories in the paper and online, as well as sports radio and television, that are based on heated rumors and bashings about one team, coach, manager or athlete.
If these were stories about our fire departments, chiefs or firefighters we as PIO’s would be apoplectic! We would be in total crisis communications mode!! This would constitute one of the worst days of our careers.
I’m neither a stock investor nor regular viewer to CNBC but by chance I was speed clicking through the channels a couple of mornings ago and stopped momentarily to hear Warren Buffet talk about Toyota and crisis communications.
In about five seconds Buffet gave one of the greatest overviews of tackling a PR nightmare that I ever heard:
In the midst of an audience that looked like they were placed there as part of a juicer infomercial, and a script that sounded like a 19 year old killer reading remarks prepared by his lawyer before a death sentence, Tiger Woods failed as both a person and convincing communicator.
Pittsburgh EMS has been thrown into a controversy after a Hazelwood man died February 7th who had called EMS 10 times over a two day period seeking help for a stomach ailment. It is a terrible tragedy to be sure. From a Public Information standpoint, the Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Michael Huss and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl have been blunt with their reactions to the episode. It remains to be seen what happens over the next several days but initial reaction has fulfilled some of the main tenets of The Fire PIO’s 7 primary responses to a crisis.
In my humble opinion the quickest way for us to become instant villains as well as guilty until proven innocent is to utter the words “no comment.”
In a sticky situation that begs for solid crisis communication techniques the two most dangerous words you can ever tell a reporter is “no comment.”
“No comment” renders you powerless over a story involving your department. It invites reporters to talk to other people who might not hesitate to put their spin on your issue. Worse yet, it makes you look defensive and unsure how to truthfully answer.
