What My Crisis Communication Project Will Be About

Living in Valley City makes it easier for me to write my crisis communication research paper on this community. I lived on campus all of my freshman year and the first semester of my sophomore year. The last semester of my sophomore year I moved into an apartment on the north end of town. It would have been interesting to experience the flood while on campus but the experience of being off-campus was interesting and “good” as well. Living on campus would have given me the experience of being around my fellow students as the flood crisis played out. The communication would’ve been considerably different had I been in the dormitories. I would have been in closer contact with my professors, my fellow students, and the staff of the university. I would not have had to worry about finding a parking spot when all of the lots were closed due to flood preparation, I would not have had to worry about whether I was going to be able to get to campus to make it to my classes if they were even going to be held, and I would not have had to check my email every five minutes to determine what was happening around campus and the city because I could have heard it firsthand. Living off of campus allowed me to experience both the community side of the disaster and the university side of the disaster. I was in the midst of how the community was fighting the flood everyday and listened to the radio announcements every time I drove from campus to my apartment, my apartment to campus, or to any other destination around town. I was also completely intertwined with how the campus community was fighting the flood. I was on campus for classes and meetings so I saw how the campus prepared itself for fighting the flood; I received all the emails about what the town meetings were deciding, and the emails about how sandbag central needed MORE help even though more than half the town was probably there almost every day.

The amount of communication that occurred within the community, between the community and the university, the university and its students, and the students and the community is what made the flood fight in the region so successful. There were no secrets, no information that went unshared and therefore no one felt excluded or mistreated. Everyone was on the same playing field which made for less rumors and more cooperation. That ladies and gentlemen is a success story for crisis communication.

Communication Is A Major Key To Life

Whether we're at home with your family, out shopping or eating, at work, or at a social function communication is the one action/task that we all must be capable of carrying out. Without communication, our friends and family do not know what is going on in our lives or how we are doing, our bosses cannot tell us what tasks are on the never-ending "To-Do" list (or we cannot tell our employees the tasks that must be carried out), and we are not able to inform others of what we like, dislike, want, need or think. Chew on this for a second: without communication of ANY form, how would we, well-for lack of a better way to say this-communicate? We couldn't tell our parents or spouse that we aren't feeling well, we can't tell anyone (friends, family, employees at the stores or restaurants we shop at) what we need or want, we can't, really, do too much of anything. Almost everything we do in everyday life is communicating in some shape or form with someone else. When we e-mail, text, call, write, talk, make eye-contact, sign, or use body language we are conveying a message to the receiver and without those, it would be every human for themselves. I personally think that in this world, that would be incredibly difficult and scary even.

 

One of the most important times in which clear and concise communication is critical is when there is a crisis on the verge of breaking or even already having broken. Now in order for communication to BE clear and concise during a crisis, everyone involved must know their tasks and their positions. They must understand their jobs and where they stand in the web of information passing. It is also critical to know the phases of a crisis so they know where they stand and what they need to know and pass on.

 

Here are the phases:

1) Initial Phase –

express empathy (notice—not sympathy—not “I’m sorry” but instead, “I feel your pain.” )

inform public about risks

establish organization spokesperson credibility

provide emergency courses of acton

2) Crisis Maintenance Phase –

Help public understand their own risks

provide more encompassing information

gain support for recovery plan

explain and make a case for recommendations

get and respond to public/stakeholder feedback

empower risk/benefit decision-making

Require ongoing assessment of event

3) Crisis Resolution Phase –

provide educational opportunities

Examine problems and mishaps

gain support for new policies or resource allocation

Promote the organization’s capabilities

4) Evaluation Phase –

ongoing in various ways during all phases

integrate results into pre-crisis planning activities.

 

It is also critical to know how to communicate during a crisis. Here is the proper way:

1) Verify the situation

Get the facts

Judge the validity of the facts based on the source of the information

Clarify the plausibility of the information through a subject matter expert

Attempt to discern the magnitude of the event.

 2) Conduct notification and coordination

Notification is the official chain of command

Coordination is with response peers and partners

Procedures will vary at the state, local, and federal levels and by event.

3) Conduct assessment and activate plan

Assess impact on communication operations and staffing

Determine your organization’s role in the event.

Activate the media and internet monitoring

Identify affected populations and their initial communication needs

4) Organize assignments (Continually reassess these steps)

 Who’s in charge of the overall responses?

Make assignments for communication teams

Assess resource needs and hours of operations

Ask ongoing organizational issues questions

5) Prepare information and obtain approvals

 Develop message(s)

Identify audiences

What do media want to know?

Show empathy

What is the organization’s response?

Identify action steps for public

Execute the approval process from the plan.

6) Release information to the media, public, partners, etc… through arranged channels.

 Select appropriate channels of communication and apply them simply, timely, accurately, repeatedly, credibly, and consistently. 

7) Obtain feedback and conduct crisis evaluation

Conduct responses evaluation

Analyze feedback from customers

Analyze media coverage

Conduct a hot wash (self-evaluation on your own effectiveness, and debriefing)

Develop a SWOT analysis (what were our Strengths? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats?)

Share with leadership

Revise crisis plans

8) Conduct public education (after the event)

 Highlight related public health issues

Consider audiences not directly involved in the crisis

Institutionalize the crisis materials (make them part of the institution)

9) Monitor events

Conduct media and internet monitoring

Exchange information with response partners

Monitor public opinions