Six Questions About Your Crisis Communication Plan
Hurricane Isabel gave many US companies and organizations an unexpected chance to actually test their crisis communication plans.

Virginia-based communication consultant Robert J. Holland of Holland Communication Solutions LLC said the entire episode served as a reminder to businesses of the importance of planning for crises in advance.

"Hurricane Isabel is another reminder that it's better to plan ahead than to be caught short," he wrote in a recent article on Richmond.com. "For companies with a crisis communication plan, the damage is probably less than it might have been."

Holland invites companies and organizations that just bore Isabel's brunt (or any organization for that matter) to ask themselves if their plan addresses the following points:
1. "Who will communicate with all your company's stakeholders -- inside and outside?" asks Holland. "Besides employees, who will communicate with customers, suppliers, investors, regulators, the community, the news media and other groups?"

2. "What will you say to those groups?" he asks. "The time to develop a message about a crisis situation is before the crisis occurs. During an emergency, you will not have time to think about it."

3. You won't be able to talk to everyone at once, he says, so determine who needs information first. "Prioritize the groups of people, and the individuals within those groups, with whom your company will communicate during a crisis." Holland advises.

4. Determine in advance who is in charge of communicating and let everyone know it. "Someone must be in charge and be a spokesperson for your company, and everyone else must know who that person is." says Holland.

5. Select your channels of communication before hand. "E-mail and phone calls are great, but what if the power is lost? What if phone lines are down? What if cell phone satellites are disabled?" Holland asks. "You don't want hundreds of employees or dozens of customers left in the dark about the state of your business operations."

6. Hone your communication skills through routine tasks daily. "The best way to ensure your company is able to communicate during a crisis is to communicate well under normal circumstances." Holland suggests. A crisis is not the time to try your hand at effective communication."

To read the full article, visit Richmond.com

Robert J. Holland owns Holland Communication Solutions LLC in Mechanicsville, VA and is the president of the Richmond, VA chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). You can reach him at robert_j_holland@yahoo.com or (804) 368-0312. His web site is at www.hollandcomm.com.