Crisis Communications: The Definitive Guide to Managing the Message

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Crisis Communications Plans

It should come as no surprise to readers of this book that I am an advocate of written crisis communications plans, but that recommendation comes with a number of caveats.

When I am working with new clients on proactive crisis management and crisis communications assignments, I generally ask to review any current plans, and some common flaws that I often discover are worth noting.

Many of these plans are simply too big and cumbersome. At some point, the writer of the plan decided to err on the side of all-inclusiveness and thought that adding the kitchen sink was better than omitting it. In a crisis, where speed is of the essence, having to thumb though the Manhattan phone book is counterproductive. Rather, people ...