Crisis preparedness

A crisis handled well can enhance a company’s reputation. A crisis handled badly, on the other hand, can destroy it.

Planning for a crisis – including undergoing crisis media training – is an insurance policy that few organisations can afford to overlook. It doesn’t need to be hugely complicated or expensive, but it does need to be sufficiently detailed and thorough that, if the worst happens, the organisation is ready to act.

Testing your preparedess

Our crisis training workshops are the perfect means for testing your organisation’s preparedness and its senior executives’ ability to communicate under pressure. Based on a meticulously researched worst-case scenario, scripted in detail in advance, the workshop takes executives through the timeline of a crisis, complete with ambush interviews, press conferences, interventions from pressure groups and other key influencers, and the whole range of interview settings – from radio phone-in to down-the-line TV.

Avoiding traps

The main trap that companies fall into during a crisis is to give the impression that they are more concerned with their own reputation than acting to rectify any damage they’ve caused. Any hint that a company is trying to make excuses for itself or failing to do the right thing by its public is a recipe for a PR disaster. Our crisis training means that our clients can avoid this trap and the many others lying in wait for companies that find themselves in the eye of a media storm. We cover:

  • Crisis preparedness, including draft holding statements, chains of command and constantly updated out-of-hours contact details
  • Interaction with media that serve the interests of all affected audiences, such as competitors, customers, governments and industry associations
  • Internal communications, ensuring that everyone in the organisation knows who’s responsible for doing what, and where enquiries should be directed
  • Managing the message from all points of communication with audiences, including call centres, and dealing with emergency services and other external crisis-recovery teams
  • Systems for ensuring that information is passed on promptly and simultaneously to all who need it
Media

Media

Find out about Robert Taylor Communications in the Media...

Media details
Contact

Contact

If you’d like to get in contact, please call, email, or fill in the contact form...

Contact details