CRISIS PLANNING AND AUDITS
Nearly 80 percent of businesses expect to face a crisis, but less than 60 percent create crisis management plans. Crisis management experts say all companies should prepare in advance because this preparation can help you navigate a difficult situation more smoothly. Tucker/Hall’s crisis planning audits help companies prepare for incidents which can help your organization recover more quickly and protect your long-term reputation.
Our firm performs crisis risk audits to discover where your vulnerabilities lie such as employee issues, IT, finances, environmental challenges, etc. We also prepare clients for the possibility of external crises, such as natural disasters and damaging social media. Companies that are prepared are capable of efficiently handling crises.
We evaluate the speed and effectiveness of your current communications infrastructure. For example, how quickly can you notify your employees of a crisis and what they should do? During a crisis, employees should be the first to know what’s going on, and how they can help. If employees are not trained prior to an incident, they may act boldly, or not at all, which can cause even more damage. Tucker/Hall can help you develop your plan and prepare.
Our crisis planning and audit services include:
Interviews with leadership to pinpoint potential crises and develop plans to mitigate their effects. Crises can include matters that develop quickly, such as natural disasters, security breaches, or employee matters. Slower moving crises can include questionable business practices, environmental concerns, and legal matters.
Spokesperson training for your communications, marketing, and executive teams. Ideally, every employee in the company should know how to react to reporter questions. However, that’s not realistically possible for most organizations. We can help you identify and train spokespeople from key departments, so they can address the media to provide accurate information.
Building relationships between your executives and the media. During a crisis, the media (and ultimately your customers and other stakeholders) want updated and accurate information. A best practice is to establish relationships with key reporters before any negative incident happens.
Communications planning, including internal and external messaging. Your communications should be consistent across all platforms and align with your company’s mission. Tucker/Hall can help you create compelling messages for all your different audiences.
To see if we can help you with your crisis planning needs, please contact Darren Richards at (813) 228-0652 ext. 1116 or via email at drichards@tuckerhall.com.