A guide to legal crisis do's and don'ts
What to do – and what not to do – when your company comes under fire, as told by David Ball, James C. Donnelly Jr. and Douglas T. Radigan.
Do: Have a plan in place before anything happens. “That plan should be very comprehensive. It should look at a number of things, including procedures in crisis, who would be on a crisis team ... what the vulnerabilities are, and what can be done now in order to prevent crises.” - D.B.
Do: Respond. “It’s really important when a crisis does occur, or any kind of serious event occurs, to get out in front of it right away.” - D.B.
Do: Understand the situation. “Companies owe it to interested parties and shareholders, before they know what they're commenting on, before they attempt to address any issues or stories out there, to understand the situation.” - D.R.
Do: Have your public relations team release accurate information. “Nobody pays attention to the retraction – they pay attention to the headlines.” - D.R.
Do: Get information to a reporter well before his or her deadline. “I want to talk to a reporter far enough in advance so the reporter can absorb the information and come back to me before the deadline if they have questions.” - J.D.
Do: Learn from your mistakes. “Organizations after the crisis can sit down and dissect what happened, and try to prevent it from happening again.” - D.B.
Don’t: Lie. “It undermines your credibility and the credibility of the organization.” - J.D.
Don’t: Divert from the message. “Make it clear to other people that the organization has to speak with one voice, and others shouldn't comment.” - J.D.
Don’t: Respond to the message, lead the narrative. “If you are just responsive to reports, sometimes you lose a valuable opportunity to correct media misinformation that may be out there that can hurt a company’s reputation.” - D.R.
Don’t: Ignore the media in times of prosperity. “If it’s a negative situation, and they don't have all the positive background, their reporting won't be the complete picture.” - D.B.
Don’t: Be afraid to tell the reporter information he or she doesn’t already have. “Think in advance about what’s important. There can be situations where there are very important things that a reporter doesn't know, but you want to share with the reporter.” - J.D.
Don’t: Think it will just blow over. “I can think of many instances when the company went out of business because they weren't prepared to deal with the situation.” - DB
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments