I.J. Hudson is the Communications Director with the law firm Garson Claxton LLC in Bethesda, Maryland.  He specializes in providing crisis management and media training services that draw upon his 32 years in broadcast journalism, most recently, 22 years at NBC4 in Washington, DC.

For this featured guest posting, we asked I.J. to touch on some of the points he stresses in his crisis management seminars and one-on-one training.

Why is crisis management so important?  “As a news reporter, I have interviewed a lot of people in crisis situations.  Many of them were just like you and me, private citizens.  Tragedy or controversy had pushed them into the limelight.  There were company officials from railroads, utilities, construction companies, airlines and others who should have been prepared to get out their message.  But some were like ‘deer-in-the-headlights.’ They simply tried to answer questions without managing the situation.  That’s very dangerous.”

“Reputations, credibility and brand are at stake, as are dealings with clients, vendors, stockholders, Boards of Trustees — and even employee trust.  A crisis is anything that could undermine those areas.”

Can you give us some specific examples of a potential crisis?  “A crisis is – your company just lost a laptop with the personal information of 25,000 customers on it, many of them high-rollers – and word is out.  A crisis is – you’re a government contractor, and one of your job sites was just raided by ICE – again.  A local congressman wants an investigation.  A crisis is – an employee is arrested for criminal activity of any kind.”
  
What should already be in place when a crisis occurs?  “The organization should have communications plan in place that allows them to quickly address some very important questions when a crisis occurs:

1. Who should be on the Crisis Communications Team and how can they be reached? 

Often the answer is the CEO, Public Affairs and General Counsel, and any employees who may have special knowledge of what happened.  The emphasis is on “reached.”  Leaving a voicemail is not “reached.”

2. What should we say? 

Lawyers may disagree, but the answer least favored is “no comment.”  The best response to the first reporter phone call may well be, “We’re still getting the facts together.  We’ll call you in an hour.”  Then do what you promise.

3. How proactive should we be? 

Thanks to the Internet, word of almost anything spreads quickly through employee emails and blogs.  The fact that a reporter hasn’t called generally means you’ve just got more time to get ready. 

Once that is decided, what do you advise your clients to do next when a crisis occurs?  “At the top of the list of things to do is to collect the facts from the people involved and any pertinent documents (contract, lease, etc.).  The Crisis Communications Team should go over the available information and decide at least three things:  what you will say, who will say it and when.”
 
Who should be the spokesperson?  “Often the CEO wants to be the spokesperson.  Sometimes the company has a marketing or PR person who handles media queries.  Sometimes they have no one – and there are instances when it’s actually best not to have someone from the company in that role.  An attractive option may be to engage a team from a law firm (like Garson Claxton) – an attorney and a communications specialist. Tell the attorney everything – it’s protected by privilege.  The attorney passes on the facts to the spokesperson who deals with the media.” 

What advice do you give regarding how much to say?  “Well, that is always a challenge.    My opinion is that the best approach is to go with as many of the facts as quickly as possible.  Yes, I know, Ouch!  You may have relevant information that does not cast the company in the best light, but if you withhold it – - – it will leak out. And each revelation casts additional doubt on the company’s reputation and bolsters anyone’s charge that you’re covering up — ‘What else aren’t they telling us?’  Better to get it all out there.  Obviously, there will be tough calls.”

I.J adds, “How you say something also makes a big difference.  Craft positive responses that convey the facts clearly and concisely.  Vet the responses with the appropriate people in your organization, and then use them consistently, regardless of media.  Be sure everyone in the organization is on the same page – literally.  It’s a matter of accuracy and consistency.” 

“Sometimes a statement read by a spokesperson is all that’s needed initially.  And it’s better to have it read by someone so there’s a human face associated with the company.  When the viewer only sees a graphic of the company statement on TV, it’s often interpreted as, ‘they’re hiding something.’”  

Concluding advice?  “The time to think about crisis communications is before you have a crisis.  And that means having a communications plan already in place – not starting from scratch – when a reporter is on line 1.”

Here’s a summary of the services I.J. Hudson & Garson Claxton LLC can provide:

They can help you set up an overall communications plan, including crisis communications.  Specifically, they can:
 
      1) Help you develop message points for your business.  This can be a great benefit, whether or not you ever have a crisis.
      2) Conduct media training with key executives so that they better understand how the media works — and learn how to best handle press interviews – live and taped. 
      3) Interface with the media for you.  Having them as your spokesperson and communications team during a crisis will free management and staff to concentrate on resolving the situation at hand.

I.J. Hudson can be reached at:  ihudson@garsonlaw.com  301-280-2700   www.garsonlaw.com