Are You Ready to Communicate if a Crisis Hits?

Article supplied by our valued SA/NT Chapter PD Partner, Communikate et al

There’s never a good time for something to go wrong.

You might spend all day in the office, but it always seems a crisis hits at the least convenient of time. Are you prepared if it does?

Failing to prepare means preparing to fail in an environment where community expectations have never been higher for prompt and compassionate communications.

A lack of preparation can result in significant reputational damage if you don’t have the systems, tools and processes in place to respond quickly when crises hit.

Here’s our top 5 communications tips to prepare for a crisis

1. Nominate your spokesperson – if someone needs to speak to media, or in front of parents and stakeholders, will it be your school’s Principal? We recommend schools have at least two approved spokespeople, should one be on leave, unwell or unavailable when needed.
2. Identify your ‘most likely’ risk scenarios – think of what could go wrong at your school. A good starting point is what’s been reported in the media previously at other schools. Situations such as students behaving badly, large increases in school fees, claims of staff misconduct – they are all issues that have had significant media coverage. By pre-empting what could happen, you’ll be less likely to be caught off guard if it does happen.
3. Develop draft materials – pick the top three risks your school’s most likely to face and develop draft communications materials to respond to them. That way, you’re one step ahead rather than needing to workshop what the school will and won’t say when you’re in the thick of a crisis. Also consider whether you will need a media statement, FAQs, and letters to staff, parents or a governing body like CESA.
4. Know what you can and can’t say – media training will help ensure your spokespeople can confidently communicate your key messages under pressure and in the heightened stressful and emotional environment of a crisis.
5. Practice makes perfect – develop your issues management framework and be comfortable and confident with the systems and processes you’ll use to support a crisis response. Do staff know when to escalate an issue, what to do if the media calls, and who should be involved in developing the crisis response – Principal, legal, marketing and communications, year level coordinators?

By embedding a risk approach into your day-to-day activity, you’ll move from reactive firefighting to crisis readiness. And your reputation will thank you for it.

To arrange an obligation-free discussion about your school’s readiness to communicate in a crisis, email us at hello@communikate.net.au or call 8331 1444.