Communication is an important part of any business’s crisis management plan. A crisis in business is any occurrence that interferes with business operations and that draws public scrutiny and media attention, and may be anything from serving a customer tainted food to finding a major error in accounting. In business, news of crisis spreads fast and a business that is not prepared to handle crisis could be in danger of tarnishing its reputation. Therefore, knowing how to handle a crisis when it arises could be necessary to a business’s survival. Follow these guidelines for how to communicate in a business crisis.
Prepare for a crisis ahead of time.
It is important to establish a method for handling a crisis before a crisis happens. The following steps will lead to an effective crisis management plan.
 – Identify what could go wrong. This list will be different for each company, and should be as thorough as possible. For example, a cake delivery business may experience a crisis caused by food allergens, an accident during transportation and/or a fire in the kitchen.  –  – Maintain a fact sheet outlining each and every crisis possibility, as well as the people who must be involved, the methods that must be used to divert the crisis and the audience you must deliver crisis information to.
Draft your messages.
When a crisis occurs, it is time to enact your crisis communication plan. Gather all of the information you can about the crisis in order to prepare your crisis messages – 1 tailored to each segment of your audience. A crisis message should include the following elements:
- An explanation of the crisis. Be as succinct as possible. Try to give the audience enough information to satisfy their inquiries but not so much information to seem as though you are trying to explain your way out of something.
- A revelation of your concern. Let your audience know that you are genuinely affected by the impact the crisis may have on everyone involved.
- A claim to responsibility, as applicable. Own up to your part in the crisis, and offer a sincere apology, if it is warranted.
- A pledge to address the cause of the business crisis, and to work to find a solution. Offer a firm commitment to preventing a future repeat of the crisis.
An assurance that the crisis is an isolated event – not to be confused with the company’s - overall efficiency – and that you are still confident in your company. However, you should only provide this assurance if you can stand behind it without reservation. Do not lie, exaggerate or twist the facts in a way that only provides false hope to your audience.
Deliver your messages as soon as you possibly can.
Your goal is to get information to your audience members before they get it from less reliable or damaging sources. Use the avenues outlined in your crisis management plan to communicate your messages to each segment of your audience.
