Ready for disaster? A new survey of IABC members reveals that crisis communication plans are not as widespread as expected.

If the unthinkable happens to your organization this year--a natural disaster, the unexpected death of an executive, a corporate takeover or a tragic workplace accident--are you ready to respond? A recent survey of IABC members conducted in collaboration with the IABC Research Foundation suggests the chances are one in three that you are not.

One-third of the survey respondents had no formal crisis communication plan in place prior to the natural disasters and organizational crises that seemed to occur so often last year. Almost half of those who were unprepared had to quickly put a plan together when a crisis struck.

On a positive note, those communicators who did have crisis plans used them, and 99 percent of survey respondents who used their plans found them to be effective in helping their organizations manage and respond to crises.

More than 600 IABC members responded to our survey, conducted in December, after a year of disastrous hurricanes in the United States, recovery from the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia, outbreaks of diseases such as the avian flu in Asia, terrorist activities, and the continuation of corporate scandals, labor disputes and industry upheaval around the world. It seemed the time was right to gauge the extent to which organizations have developed and used crisis communication plans, and whether the plans are worth the time and effort to create.

Forty-eight percent of respondents were from the U.S., which experienced an unusual number of hurricanes in the South and Southeast. Not only did the hurricanes and subsequent storm surge and flooding result in the loss of life and property and major disruption of commerce, but the disturbing news reports and images of New Orleans in particular that were seen by the rest of the world significantly damaged the United States' reputation abroad. A study conducted by Echo Research in six global markets found that 84 percent of international press comment in the two weeks following Hurricane Katrina was negative toward the U.S. A private task force, Business for Diplomatic Action, commissioned the study in order for businesses to learn how to communicate and respond in crisis situations.

Organizations around the world would do well to learn not only from the U.S. government's missteps after Hurricane Katrina, but also from the positive experiences of companies that implemented crisis communication plans throughout 2005. The survey found that:

* Sixty-nine percent of organizations that had a crisis communication plan implemented it in response to events affecting their organizations.

* Fifty-three percent of organizations implemented some elements of their crisis communication plans, while 47 percent fully implemented their plans.

* Of the organizations that partially implemented their plans, "communication with employees" was the most commonly implemented component (95 percent), followed by "coordination with other departments or units to determine appropriate communication responses" (93 percent) and "use of existing vehicles to communicate with various audiences" (91 percent).

* Communicators with crisis communication plans overwhelmingly feel the plans helped their organizations manage and respond to crises: 66 percent cited the plans as "very effective," and 33 percent felt they were "somewhat effective."

The results add further evidence of two trends: Communicators today are approaching their work with more business discipline, and internal communication is increasingly viewed as an important business function.

Communicators who seek a more strategic role in their organizations often find it difficult to link their work with critical business functions. Organizational crises--not just natural disasters, but also leadership transitions and sudden market changes--provide opportunities for communicators to demonstrate their skills in planning as well as tactical execution.

Not just nice to have

One of the authors of this article worked with a major organization shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to formalize its crisis communication plan. Although the organization's people and facilities were not victims of the attack, they were vulnerable. In fact, it was later learned they were on the terrorists' lists of potential targets.

The organization responded to the crisis very well, especially considering its crisis communication plan was skeletal and untested. However, the attacks served as a wake-up call to company leaders that a communication response was not just nice to have, but utterly necessary.

The revamped crisis communication plan was thorough and excruciatingly detailed. The communication team worked with the business resumption team to ensure that the communication plan dovetailed with the overall business resumption plan. Everyone who would have a role in implementing the crisis communication plan participated in practice exercises so that weaknesses could be identified and fixed.

Interestingly, the crisis communication plan further legitimized the communication department's role. Business leaders took greater notice of the important role communication played throughout the organization. As other, less tragic crises occurred, including a workforce reduction and a leadership transition, communicators were invited into the planning processes earlier than they had been before.

A matter of priority

Unfortunately, not every organization learns from crises. Of survey respondents whose organizations experienced a crisis with no plan in place, only 46 percent are beginning to develop crisis communication plans, and 42 percent are taking no action. Fifty-four percent of the communicators who work in organizations without a crisis communication plan said it is because senior management there does not consider it a priority.

However, 81 percent of respondents said their senior management does recognize the need for a crisis communication plan, and 65 percent believe their top management provides the resources necessary to develop and maintain a plan.

The survey also revealed good news about the integration of crisis communication plans into organizations' overall crisis response and business resumption plans. Eighty-six percent of respondents said their organizations have overall crisis response plans; 87 percent said the crisis communication plan is integrated into the overall plan.

Organizations that did not have an overall crisis response plan for the business generally have no plans to create one, even after experiencing a crisis (77 percent).

Half of the communicators whose organizations had crisis communication plans said they participated in a practice exercise of the plan; 93 percent said the practice adequately prepared them for its actual implementation. Whether or not they practiced, communicators who responded to the survey feel their organizations are well prepared to implement a communication response to a crisis (67 percent). And if a crisis occurred tomorrow, 80 percent said they believe implementation of crisis communication plans would help limit the overall negative impact on their businesses.

Will the world witness as many tragedies and large-scale crises in 2006 as it did in 2005? There is no way to know what the future holds. But there is a way for organizations to be ready in case catastrophes do occur. A business resumption plan should be de rigeur for most organizations--and a crisis communication plan should be an integral part of it.

survey methodology

The IABC Research Foundation Crisis Communication Survey was distributed on 7 December 2005 to 4,563 IABC members who identified their area of responsibility as corporate communication or employee communication. It was distributed via an e-mail containing a link to the online survey. The survey was active for one week and closed on 14 December 2005.

Survey questions were developed jointly by IABC, Holland Communication Solutions and Gill Research.

Six hundred ten IABC members completed the survey, for an overall response rate of 13 percent (a typical response rate for an IABC Research Foundation survey).

This sample size allows statistically valid results with a margin of error of 3.69 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. This is a typical response rate for IABC Research Foundation surveys and is believed to be representative of the views of the IABC member population.

step by step

In crisis Management and Communication, Dan Millar and Larry Smith outline the 11 parts of a crisis communication plan:

1. Message from the top

2. Overview of the crisis

3. Crisis response team, duties and chain of command

4. Line and staff responsibilities

5. Designated spokesperson and information disclosure guidelines

6. Information verification and approval procedures

7. Approved background information, video and photos

8. Letters of agreement for securing needed people and services

9. Checklists

10. Documentation forms and procedures

11. Procedures for debriefing: learning from the crisis

For more information, visit www.iabc.com/publications/library.

Internal communication during a crisis pays dividends by jimmy cagle

Keeping employees informed by being open and direct and by providing accurate, timely information is the foundation of good communication practice. Support from employees cannot be overvalued. They can be the company's best ambassadors, and this is particularly true when an organization faces a crisis.

If at all possible, employees should hear the bad news first. Providing them with information before the news is shared with external media helps them to understand--and appreciate the magnitude of--the situation. Individual employees may also be asked to respond to questions from media professionals. The better informed they are, the more apt they are to articulate the company's message. Their comments can help set the tone for the media coverage.

Keeping the communication flow open in difficult times has its own rewards, as the following company officials will affirm.

Maintaining morale

Jerry Green was the production manager of a 600-employee textile plant in northwest Tennessee when he was informed that his ownership group would have to move the enterprise to Latin America. That meant the plant would close within a year's time. He initiated a communication crusade with employees, meeting continually in large groups and in one-on-one sessions to answer their questions. His efforts paid off. Employees continued to meet orders for shipments even as the company started to downsize. Green is convinced that this was due to the ongoing dialogue with each individual in his workforce.

"I put everything else aside to work with our people and keep them updated as to how things were progressing," Green says. "It resulted in many long days for me. But I can't think of a thing that I would have done differently."

Addressing rumors and concerns

Patrick McGinn is manager of midwest public affairs for ExxonMobil operations, based in Joliet, Illinois. Three years ago, a barge exploded at the company's terminal in New York Harbor. Two people were killed, and another was seriously injured. The heavily damaged terminal was shut down for months for repairs. The scope of this tragic event expanded to include concerns about product availability to the company's thousands of retail outlets along the East Coast.

McGinn and his colleagues relied heavily on direct contacts and e-mail to get the word out quickly to employees around the world. While the company's PR staff was handling the flood of media calls, others worked to update employees with information from the scene of the accident and to assure everyone, including dealer and retail customers, that the supply of petroleum products would not be interrupted.

"I feel strongly that you should tell your people first what is going on," McGinn says. "You want them to hear it from you before they read about it in the newspaper or see it on TV that night. The more informed they are, the more they are able to carry the company's message to their families, friends and acquaintances."

Planning for the unexpected

On 1 February 2003, the NASA space shuttle Columbia exploded upon reentry, killing all seven crew members. As outlined in the NASA communication team's crisis plan, its public affairs personnel were stationed at the shuttle landing site, in the control rooms of the Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy Space Centers, and at NASA headquarters, tuned in to internal live coverage of the mission.

"An event like this was anticipated, but certainly not expected," says Robert "Doc" Mirelson, NASA news chief. "We were staffed during the mission to handle unexpected events, so we did not have to improvise. We initiated our crisis plan, which included establishing shifts for initial round-the-dock operations, and our people stepped up to handle the multimedia communications challenges we faced.

"The keys to our successful internal and external communications operations were planning, rehearsals, and everyone knowing their role in a crisis."

Taking care of your team

In 2005, FedEx faced a huge task in maintaining the flow of information to employees who were displaced in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

As is their practice in crisis situations, FedEx management brought together a team of representatives from several departments when Katrina hit to coordinate internal and external messages as well as relief and community outreach efforts. The team used e-mail, its nationwide internal satellite television network, external media releases, web pages and telephone hotlines to keep employees up-to-date and global operations running. A special hotline was set up to provide affected employees with much-needed information about how to use their benefits, get their paychecks cashed and plan their return to their homes. Relief supplies were sent using the company's delivery network, and executive management teams visited the areas hit by the storm. The relief and response efforts were so successful that FedEx was the first cargo company to resume service to the area.

"FedEx has a strong internal communications team, and we are networked with all other departments," says Scott Fiedler, a communications adviser at FedEx Express who played a key role on the internal communication team. "Communicating major adjustments to our operation while finding and helping our people who had been displaced was a tremendous challenge. But working closely with people across the entire FedEx organization gave us the opportunity to keep the information flow going. Reputation starts with your employees, and that is on the line every time you have a crisis."

Jimmy Cagle is manager of communications at the Goodyear tire plant in Union City, Tennessee.

about the authors Robert J. Holland, ABC, is the owner of Holland Communication Solutions LLC, of Richmond, Virginia, which provides communication counsel and services.

Katrina Gill is the president and founder of Gill Research LLC, a full-service research consulting firm based in Chicago, specializing in communication audits.