The
idea of returning to “business as usual” when you’re in the middle of a
disaster can seem impossible. While it
is absolutely possible to make a full recovery, especially with the resources
available to your business, many business owners overlook one of the most
important parts of disaster recovery and business continuity – communication.
How
your business communicates during and following a disaster can directly affect
your business’s ability to recover.
Misleading information, even from outsiders, can drive speculation about
a damaged business – which is why precise, effective communication – both to
the public and internally – is absolutely critical during and following a
disaster.
Crisis
Communication 101
Planning
is a key component of disaster preparedness and recovery, especially when it
comes to communication. Don’t wait for
disaster to strike to create a crisis communication plan. Your plan should not only consider the
various avenues you have to communicate, but also your different audiences –
customers, employees, vendors, your community, etc.
We
depend so much on digital communication and electronics, but a traditional
phone tree can be immensely helpful during a crisis. Ensure that your business has alternate
contact information for everyone you might need to reach, internally and
externally, and provide hard copies that are easy to access.
You
may also want to consider an alert notification system of some kind to send out
text, email, or phone alerts through systems that are separate from your
primary systems. Similarly, you may
want to have a standard operating procedure in place for communication via
Facebook, Twitter, and other social channels.
Social media gives us the ability to push out information quickly to
large groups of people, and should not be overlooked as a critical tool for
crisis communication.
Top
Tips
Here
is a simple list of tips to get your company’s crisis communication plan
started:
- Develop (and keep
updated) an emergency contact list that includes home phone numbers,
alternate mobile numbers, personal email addresses, family contact
information, and a phone tree assignment system.
- Establish an evacuation
plan and review it with employees on a regular basis.
- Look into email and/or
text alert systems that can facilitate multiple means of communications to
both employees and customers – and be sure to test the system on a regular
basis.
- Develop an SOP for your
online social networks for Web-based crisis communications on Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
- Develop a plan to work
with local media when you can. With
proper planning, the media can serve in a support role as your business
works to rebuild after a disaster.
This means you’ll also need to designate a spokesperson/group of
spokespersons and provide some sort of basic media training. All employees should know which members
of the staff are media trained, and create key messaging points for these
individuals to ensure consistent voice and message during a disaster.
- Similarly, as best you
can, monitor what is said and written about your company during and after
a disaster – it may provide more insight on the strengths and weaknesses
of your business strategy than you realize.
The
Bottom Line
Beyond
communication, it’s always smart to conduct a debrief following a disaster to
evaluate any lessons learned and to work to improve your crisis communication
plan for future use.
By
sfield, Contributor - https://www.sba.gov/blogs/contributors/sfield
Published:
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