{"id":1285,"date":"2025-11-28T16:29:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T05:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/?post_type=article&p=1285"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T03:10:15","slug":"are-you-ready-to-communicate-if-a-crisis-hits","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/article\/are-you-ready-to-communicate-if-a-crisis-hits\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Ready to Communicate if a Crisis Hits?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Article supplied by our valued SA\/NT Chapter PD Partner, Communikate et al<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n

There\u2019s never a good time for something to go wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Failing to prepare means preparing to fail in an environment where community expectations have never been higher for prompt and compassionate communications.<\/p>\n

A lack of preparation can result in significant reputational damage if you don\u2019t have the systems, tools and processes in place to respond quickly when crises hit.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s our top 5 communications tips to prepare for a crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Nominate your spokesperson <\/strong>\u2013 if someone needs to speak to media, or in front of parents and stakeholders, will it be your school\u2019s Principal? We recommend schools have at least two approved spokespeople, should one be on leave, unwell or unavailable when needed.<\/li>\n
  2. Identify your \u2018most likely\u2019 risk scenarios <\/strong>\u2013 think of what could go wrong at your school. A good starting point is what\u2019s been reported in the media previously at other schools. Situations such as students behaving badly, large increases in school fees, claims of staff misconduct \u2013 they are all issues that have had significant media coverage. By pre-empting what could happen, you\u2019ll be less likely to be caught off guard if it does happen.<\/li>\n
  3. Develop draft materials <\/strong>\u2013 pick the top three risks your school\u2019s most likely to face and develop draft communications materials to respond to them. That way, you\u2019re one step ahead rather than needing to workshop what the school will and won\u2019t say when you\u2019re 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.<\/li>\n
  4. Know what you can and can\u2019t say <\/strong>\u2013 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.<\/li>\n
  5. Practice makes perfect <\/strong>\u2013 develop your issues management framework and be comfortable and confident with the systems and processes you\u2019ll 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 \u2013 Principal, legal, marketing and communications, year level coordinators?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    By embedding a risk approach into your day-to-day activity, you\u2019ll move from reactive firefighting to crisis readiness. And your reputation will thank you for it.<\/p>\n

    To arrange an obligation-free discussion about your school\u2019s readiness to communicate in a crisis, email us at hello@communikate.net.au<\/a> or call 8331 1444.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Article supplied by our valued SA\/NT Chapter PD Partner, Communikate et al There\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-1285","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/1285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-sa-nt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}